Tweet
I found a thread in the technical section with some info on adjusting the belt in it, but it did not cover a number things I had to work out for myself.
Firstly this is work I did on my BRC, how it applies to other models I cannot say.
Tools I used-
Jack
Axle stand
Wheel chock
Fine nosed pliers
2mm Allen Key
10mm socket
15mm ratchet spanner
16mm Crow's foot wrench
3/8" ratchet and extension bar
big flat blade screwdriver
Aluminium rod - used as a soft faced punch
Hammer
First I put chocks behind the front and rear passenger side wheels then jacked up the rear driver side and put the axle stand in place.
I removed the rear offside wheel arch liner, this is held in place by three plastic 10mm nuts and three of the expanding plastic trim plugs. The nuts are on the top inner face of the arch and I found that these were easily removed by just turning an extension bar on a 10mm socket by hand, no ratchet required. The plastic plugs can be found under the rear bumper and two at the lower front of the arch. I found the simplest thing to do with these was to grip the Allen key in the pliers and push the central locking pin inwards from the domed face, you will want to support the bumper with your other hand to stop it from flexing as you do this. This allows the four legs to contract and the plugs will just pull out, do not forget to recover the central pins and keep them safe with the plugs. You should now be able to un-clip the inner arch from the outer skin, you can leave this resting on the wheel or you can rotate it to the rear and with a bit of manoeuvring remove it entirely.
Next take off the splash shield, as Fudge suggests, you need to prise out the inner plugs and the shield will come free, it is easy to drop it down and turn it to remove. I just wiggled the plugs using my fingers and pulled them out, if yours are tighter then you may need to lever them gently with something first.
Now the coast is clear you can get to the nuts and bolts. Specifically the top alternator pivot bolt and the lower adjustment lock nut, the male torx headed bolt does not need loosening just the nut on it. The nut is 15mm so just use your choice of tool to slacken this. The top bolt is where the 16mm Crow's foot wrench comes in, I found the belt crossing this rules out a socket and while you can get a spanner on it there is no room to move it, the CFW with the 3/8" ratchet and extension bar makes this easy.
With the nut and bolt loose you can try to lever the alternator to tighten the belt, there is small square block on the crankcase casting which I found was perfect to use as a fulcrum to push up onto the underside of the alternator with a big flat blade screwdriver. Do not lever from underneath against the sump, I doubt this would be a good idea. I found my alternator would not move so the hammer came into play...
I just put a piece of ally bar against the flat of the lock nut and gave it a tap with the hammer. I did not have to hit this very hard and it freed up the alternator so it could be moved.
All you need to do now is tighten the lock nut as you apply pressure to the lever to tension the belt. I set mine with about a centimetre of movement either way on the belt.
Tighten the top alternator bolt and put everything back together, you can always leave the splash guard and arch off it you want to go for a test drive first.
When you put the plastic nuts back on the wheel arch liner I just used the socket and extension bar again, I suspect the would be easy to split or strip the nuts so gently does it.
I bought the Laser 3282 10 piece set off ebay to get the 16mm crow's foot wrench, most of the other sets did not have the 16mm and the singles at a local shop cost the same as this set.
I noticed that you can get to the air con belt tensioner bolt from the wheel arch so I would guess you could adjust this or replace the belts using this method.
I hope this is useful to some of you, if anybody knows a better way of doing this then speak up.
Firstly this is work I did on my BRC, how it applies to other models I cannot say.
Tools I used-
Jack
Axle stand
Wheel chock
Fine nosed pliers
2mm Allen Key
10mm socket
15mm ratchet spanner
16mm Crow's foot wrench
3/8" ratchet and extension bar
big flat blade screwdriver
Aluminium rod - used as a soft faced punch
Hammer
First I put chocks behind the front and rear passenger side wheels then jacked up the rear driver side and put the axle stand in place.
I removed the rear offside wheel arch liner, this is held in place by three plastic 10mm nuts and three of the expanding plastic trim plugs. The nuts are on the top inner face of the arch and I found that these were easily removed by just turning an extension bar on a 10mm socket by hand, no ratchet required. The plastic plugs can be found under the rear bumper and two at the lower front of the arch. I found the simplest thing to do with these was to grip the Allen key in the pliers and push the central locking pin inwards from the domed face, you will want to support the bumper with your other hand to stop it from flexing as you do this. This allows the four legs to contract and the plugs will just pull out, do not forget to recover the central pins and keep them safe with the plugs. You should now be able to un-clip the inner arch from the outer skin, you can leave this resting on the wheel or you can rotate it to the rear and with a bit of manoeuvring remove it entirely.
Next take off the splash shield, as Fudge suggests, you need to prise out the inner plugs and the shield will come free, it is easy to drop it down and turn it to remove. I just wiggled the plugs using my fingers and pulled them out, if yours are tighter then you may need to lever them gently with something first.
Now the coast is clear you can get to the nuts and bolts. Specifically the top alternator pivot bolt and the lower adjustment lock nut, the male torx headed bolt does not need loosening just the nut on it. The nut is 15mm so just use your choice of tool to slacken this. The top bolt is where the 16mm Crow's foot wrench comes in, I found the belt crossing this rules out a socket and while you can get a spanner on it there is no room to move it, the CFW with the 3/8" ratchet and extension bar makes this easy.
With the nut and bolt loose you can try to lever the alternator to tighten the belt, there is small square block on the crankcase casting which I found was perfect to use as a fulcrum to push up onto the underside of the alternator with a big flat blade screwdriver. Do not lever from underneath against the sump, I doubt this would be a good idea. I found my alternator would not move so the hammer came into play...
I just put a piece of ally bar against the flat of the lock nut and gave it a tap with the hammer. I did not have to hit this very hard and it freed up the alternator so it could be moved.
All you need to do now is tighten the lock nut as you apply pressure to the lever to tension the belt. I set mine with about a centimetre of movement either way on the belt.
Tighten the top alternator bolt and put everything back together, you can always leave the splash guard and arch off it you want to go for a test drive first.
When you put the plastic nuts back on the wheel arch liner I just used the socket and extension bar again, I suspect the would be easy to split or strip the nuts so gently does it.
I bought the Laser 3282 10 piece set off ebay to get the 16mm crow's foot wrench, most of the other sets did not have the 16mm and the singles at a local shop cost the same as this set.
I noticed that you can get to the air con belt tensioner bolt from the wheel arch so I would guess you could adjust this or replace the belts using this method.
I hope this is useful to some of you, if anybody knows a better way of doing this then speak up.
Comment