Cambelt tension check

[rbgosling]

Good morning all!!

Sun's shining, Croft is a few weeks away, time to spend the weekend doing a C service....

First attempt at changing a cambelt. The service notes specify a Burroughs Guage to check tension. I don't have one...

Do I need to get one? Is there a workaround? Will Halfords have one (or something equivalent that will work?)

Thanks!!

[robertverhey]

They are expensive and hard to come by.....I just use the 90 degree method, if the belt can just be twisted to 90 degrees from horizontal half way between the two cam wheels that's pretty much the right tension

[AndyC]

I have a Burroughs but also use a Facom DM16, does the job well, much easier access and is reasonably priced. There are ones that look identical which are not Facom, assume they are the same unit with a different brand for the blown plastic case.

[rbgosling]

Had time to dig through the archives, and answered my own question.

Cheap option is the Krikit 1 gauge, which is also sold as the Optikrik 1 by Optibelt. This would appear to be a German company, and the website of their UK base isn't that helpful (http://www.optibelt.de/index.php?id=1&no_cache=1&L=9).

However, the delightful Tiffany Price (t.price@optibelt.co.uk - her name is disturbingly close to Diamonds Are Forever Bond girl Tiffany Case ) was most helpful, and took my order over the 'phone. The gauge is £19.50, plus £6.95 for overnight delivery. Might be a couple of weeks before I find time to see how it works, hopefully before Croft!!

Instructions on how to use it are here:
http://www.lotusexcel.net/phpbb/viewtop ... 15&start=0

Those settings are also consistent with another discussion I found on Pistonheads, this time discussing an Esprit, which has the same Burrough's gauge settings as the Excel.

If anyone wants to borrow it (once I've got my belt on), give me a yell, you can get a loan for the price of postage, as long as you promise to send it back afterwards...

[AndyC]

If you have a smartphone another option is testing by resonant frequency.