Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Auxiliary Belt Change

I want to change the ribbed alternator drive belt on my 1600 Sigma because it sounds like an aviary full of canaries on starting from cold and particles of the existing belt can be found stuck to the underside of the bonnet. Has anyone done this and, if so, how is the belt tensioned?

There is a spring loaded tensioner built into the idler pulley.
Step 1 = work out the routing
Step 2 = Using a socket, slacken the tensioner
Step 3 = Remove old belt keeping the routing in mind.
Step 4 = Fit new belt
Step 5 = Release tensioner
Step 6 = Sit back and admire your work

Takes less than 2 minutes = if you can find the right socket.

Somewhere on TM IIRC there are pictures but once you try the idler with a socket it all becomes very clear.

New belt is Gates 6PK1203

Here is the original thread

Here

Thanks Paul.
Best wishes,
Don.

Excellent description that , have heared those caneries a few times under the bonnet !

How many miles have you done?

You should not have particles of rubber stuck to the underside of the bonnet. I would investigate to see if something is out of alignment or possibly a damaged pulley before replacing the belt.

They do start slipping once they exceed their useful life. Ours made an awful racket - lasted 5 years and 24,000 miles.

Bob - 2015 car which has done 10500 miles (in my defence 6000 of those miles have been added since buying the car in April!) The belt particles are in the form of dust.

I'll visually inspect the V-belt. After 75.000 km there are no complaints. Next year I wanted to change the timing belt and then the V-belt too. But 10,000 miles is actually far too short a lifetime for a V-belt.

I agree with you Heinz,

That, why I suggested checking for misalignment or pulley damage before replacement.