Replacing a water pump on my 951.
Just bought the cam belt tool from Tom in lieu of the P9201.
Now I just need a foolproof way to set the tension on the other 3 belts as newbie.
Balance shaft belt apparently very floppy with 270 degree (?) twist. Any other, more quantitative P9210-less way of going about it?
And what about the power steering belt and the AC / Alternator belt? Could I use a Kricket tool instead of the 90 degree twist method?
Going through the forums, many different opinions…
Belt tension
'88 Porsche 944 Turbo S-Rose Silver
'01 Mercedes ML500-Brill. Silver
'16 BMW X5 40i-Space Grey
'20 BMW X1-M Sport-Blue
'20 BMW X1-Space Grey
21 Audi Q3 S Line -Cosmos Blue
Sold:
'06 Mercedes S55 AMG
'89 Saab 900 SPG Black
'86 Porsche 924S
'82 Porsche 924
'01 Mercedes ML500-Brill. Silver
'16 BMW X5 40i-Space Grey
'20 BMW X1-M Sport-Blue
'20 BMW X1-Space Grey
21 Audi Q3 S Line -Cosmos Blue
Sold:
'06 Mercedes S55 AMG
'89 Saab 900 SPG Black
'86 Porsche 924S
'82 Porsche 924
- Tom
- Site Admin
- Posts: 8955
- Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2021 2:04 pm
- Location: Silicon Valley, CA
- Has thanked: 936 times
- Been thanked: 4017 times
- Contact:
It's time-consuming, but you can reliably set the balance shaft by making it just loose enough that it stops whining. At the high end of the factory spec, 4.0, it will make a slight whine. By 3.5, the mid-point of the spec, the whine is all gone. I've been meaning to do a tool for the balance shaft -- need to get on that! For the p.s. and a/c belts, I'd just use your best judgement. When tightened to spec with the 9201, they are both super tight. So much so, that I don't use the 9201 on those belts and instead tighten them until they feel like normal fan belts.944TurboS wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2025 7:35 pm Replacing a water pump on my 951.
Just bought the cam belt tool from Tom in lieu of the P9201.
Now I just need a foolproof way to set the tension on the other 3 belts as newbie.
Balance shaft belt apparently very floppy with 270 degree (?) twist. Any other, more quantitative P9210-less way of going about it?
And what about the power steering belt and the AC / Alternator belt? Could I use a Kricket tool instead of the 90 degree twist method?
Going through the forums, many different opinions…
What would that tool look like? Similar to the cam belt one?
'88 Porsche 944 Turbo S-Rose Silver
'01 Mercedes ML500-Brill. Silver
'16 BMW X5 40i-Space Grey
'20 BMW X1-M Sport-Blue
'20 BMW X1-Space Grey
21 Audi Q3 S Line -Cosmos Blue
Sold:
'06 Mercedes S55 AMG
'89 Saab 900 SPG Black
'86 Porsche 924S
'82 Porsche 924
'01 Mercedes ML500-Brill. Silver
'16 BMW X5 40i-Space Grey
'20 BMW X1-M Sport-Blue
'20 BMW X1-Space Grey
21 Audi Q3 S Line -Cosmos Blue
Sold:
'06 Mercedes S55 AMG
'89 Saab 900 SPG Black
'86 Porsche 924S
'82 Porsche 924
- Darwin
- Posts: 317
- Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2021 4:17 am
- Location: Lompoc, CA
- Has thanked: 116 times
- Been thanked: 74 times
I'll start a gofundme for this! I have the arnworx tool and while I am confident in the quality of the installation I've never been able to get rid of the whine.Tom wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2025 8:03 pmIt's time-consuming, but you can reliably set the balance shaft by making it just loose enough that it stops whining. At the high end of the factory spec, 4.0, it will make a slight whine. By 3.5, the mid-point of the spec, the whine is all gone. I've been meaning to do a tool for the balance shaft -- need to get on that! For the p.s. and a/c belts, I'd just use your best judgement. When tightened to spec with the 9201, they are both super tight. So much so, that I don't use the 9201 on those belts and instead tighten them until they feel like normal fan belts.944TurboS wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2025 7:35 pm Replacing a water pump on my 951.
Just bought the cam belt tool from Tom in lieu of the P9201.
Now I just need a foolproof way to set the tension on the other 3 belts as newbie.
Balance shaft belt apparently very floppy with 270 degree (?) twist. Any other, more quantitative P9210-less way of going about it?
And what about the power steering belt and the AC / Alternator belt? Could I use a Kricket tool instead of the 90 degree twist method?
Going through the forums, many different opinions…![]()
Please help me Tom!
1984 VW Rabbit Pick-up - Not stock
1988 944 Turbo S - Really not stock (Chris White special)
2012 VW Tiguan - Kinda stock
2013 Cayenne Base - 6 Speed! Tastefully modified, mostly stock
1988 944 Turbo S - Really not stock (Chris White special)
2012 VW Tiguan - Kinda stock
2013 Cayenne Base - 6 Speed! Tastefully modified, mostly stock
- Tom
- Site Admin
- Posts: 8955
- Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2021 2:04 pm
- Location: Silicon Valley, CA
- Has thanked: 936 times
- Been thanked: 4017 times
- Contact:
Ok, I'll put it at the top-ish of my list. If it is whining, it's tight. The scale is 3.5 +/- .5 on the 9201. If you set it to 4.0, you will have a whine -- not super loud, but it will be there. By 3.5 it seems to stop whining, or at least that's been my experience.Darwin wrote: Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:04 amI'll start a gofundme for this! I have the arnworx tool and while I am confident in the quality of the installation I've never been able to get rid of the whine.Tom wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2025 8:03 pmIt's time-consuming, but you can reliably set the balance shaft by making it just loose enough that it stops whining. At the high end of the factory spec, 4.0, it will make a slight whine. By 3.5, the mid-point of the spec, the whine is all gone. I've been meaning to do a tool for the balance shaft -- need to get on that! For the p.s. and a/c belts, I'd just use your best judgement. When tightened to spec with the 9201, they are both super tight. So much so, that I don't use the 9201 on those belts and instead tighten them until they feel like normal fan belts.944TurboS wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2025 7:35 pm Replacing a water pump on my 951.
Just bought the cam belt tool from Tom in lieu of the P9201.
Now I just need a foolproof way to set the tension on the other 3 belts as newbie.
Balance shaft belt apparently very floppy with 270 degree (?) twist. Any other, more quantitative P9210-less way of going about it?
And what about the power steering belt and the AC / Alternator belt? Could I use a Kricket tool instead of the 90 degree twist method?
Going through the forums, many different opinions…![]()
Please help me Tom!
