Something to watch out for if you are about to embark on a cambelt change. With Alan M's help, we changed mine (the Gates HTD type, as sold by all the usual suppliers) last weekend. All went smoothly, we set the tension to 95 using a Burroughs Gauge, started up the engine and all seemed well. However, once the engine was fully warm, there was a strange pulsating whining sound, in time with the rotation of the belt. It appeared the tension was too high, but only for part of the rotation of the belt. On investigation, I found the width of the belt varied by about 1.2mm, which is about 4.3% of the total belt width (26.4mm). The portion of the belt in the photo has clearly been cut incorrectly, it's unfortunate that we didn't notice until it was fitted.
The supplier has been nothing but helpful and a replacement belt arrived within a couple of days. We fitted it today, tensioned it up, and had no further issues.
So if you have bought a belt recently and are waiting to fit it, check the width at several points along its length before proceeding. The faulty belt varied by 1.2mm. My original belt, and the new replacement, vary by no more than 0.5mm.
