Alternator v-belt tensioning question.

[Albert Ng <alng@purdue.edu>]

Hello Audi Fans,


During the winter break, I fixed almost all of the problems my 87 5kcst
had. I took the alt. and metal radiator to rebuild, I adjusted the
idle fuel mixture(the duty cycle was 85 degrees before my adjustment)
and also the water pump(I didn't fix it, but it........hahaha). Now, the
only problem left is the cold start rough idle.

Before I start attack the rough idle problem, I would really like to 
know how to accurately adjust the alt. v-belt tesnion. The guy, who
rebuilds my alt., warn me to be careful with the alt. v-belt tension. He
said if I adjusted the tension wrong, he will see me again after a year.
I think his advice is 100% right.

So, what is the best way to accurately measure the v-belt tension? Haynes
says "deflect the belt under moderate thumb pressure by 10 to 15mm". What
is supposed to be "moderate thumb pressure"? Any suggestion will be
greatly appreciate.   



Thank's for your time


Albert Ng
'87 5kcst (11 years old)

P.S If you guys have time, check out this link:

http://cyclone.mindspring.com/mercedes/archives/

Use the search engine there to search for "AUDI". You will found out there
were a lot of both positive and negative AUDI related discussions on the
MB list; some of those were pretty cool.