Morris Minor Owners Club

Okay, this might help somewhat:



The whole section on adjusting the fan belt is at http://pyoor.org/photos/cars/fanbelt.jpg - if you find it helpful, the book it's from is called Minor 1000 Repairs by B.C. Macdonald. I think it's an excellent starting out book, but I already knew about basic car maintainance so it was more of a memory jog for me...

Of course, the fact it was published by "Elliot Right Way Books" has nothing to do with it ;-)

The adjusting nut is the bottom right one in Kate's diagram. You should not need to touch the bottom left nut as this just holds the adjusting bracket on to the dynamo.

Note that in Kate's excellent diagram, the second cylindrical object or coil is NOT shown. In most cars it's mounted to a bracket on top of the dynamo. It will have a thick wire going from the centre of the back end to the centre of the distributer cap, plus two thin wires. YOU DON'T NEED TO TOUCH THE COIL, the info is just to help in identification.

You do sometimes need to slacken the bottom left nut as the bracket has to pivot in order for the dynamo to move outwards, but usually you can get away without doing that. In all cases you leave the nuts and bolts in place, merely backing them off so that things move and then re-tighten; do NOT remove them altogether.

the only thing I'd say in addition to the very useful tips above is that it can be a lot easier to move the dynamo (to tension the fanbelt) if you use a lever between the dynamo and engine block.

I have a crowbar (wrecking bar) that is just the right shape/size for that but anything will do (jack handle, starting handle etc..)
If you stay leaning on the lever a bit when tightening the adjuster nut, or if you tighten it a little until it grips a bit then lean on the lever, it makes it easier to keep the belt tensioned. Otherwise you cn find the belt to be slack after doing up the nut.

How fab is all that!!? Many thanks to all for great tips.
I'll get a ring spanner as soon as (and lever) and check website.