Cut a hole in the inner wing to get at the belt tensioner?

[cheapo]

Has anyone else done this?
 I'm planning to cut a big-ish hole in my inner wing so I can replace my aux belt tensioner. It seems to have a slight angle on it and the belt tries to work it's way off almost every week. I'm keeping a new spare belt in the car all the time at the mo. Though the last thing I want to do is to try and replace it at any random point by the road side. I mean, no one wants to take two jacks into the shower, right?
 All I'm really after here is a possible set of measurements for a 100mm dia hole saw position. If not, I'll happily be the first to try it and post up the results. Along with pix of any missing fingers/blood/gore etc.

[Poodle]

You know you can get to it through the wheel arch if you remove the top engine mount and lower the block slightly, right..?

[cheapo]

You know you can get to it through the wheel arch if you remove the top engine mount and lower the block slightly, right..?

Hmm, I'm sure you're right. And when it comes down to it I'll have the engine resting on a trolley jack already to install a new belt. So, jack up, jack down, jack off, it's all one. (unless my back's out again, then it'll have to to my favourite garage for the job)
But I just liked the idea of cutting a big f-off hole in there and re-covering it with Tupperware or something.

[Poodle]

Hahahaha you animal.

[welshpug]

there isnt 100mm of chassis leg in the way i think so putting a 100mm hole in it is either not possible or will seriously weaken the chassis leg.

[Mighty306]

I have to admit I was puzzled by your suggestion too as was reasonably convinced the area between the engine bay n wing is all structural.  It's a frustratingly tight space to work in but do-able.

[cheapo]

I have to admit I was puzzled by your suggestion too as was reasonably convinced the area between the engine bay n wing is all structural.  It's a frustratingly tight space to work in but do-able.

Heh, I haven't even bought a hole saw yet, so I might consider a 60mm hole, or whatever will allow me to get the tools through. I'll almost certainly give the job to my mechanic if the hole isn't feasible.

[Mighty306]

I removed my air con pump & went to a manual tensioner set-up a few months ago.  Getting to the automatic tensioner wasn't the issue really, using very standard tools.  I found the idler (which is located where the manual tensioner subsequently goes on the non-AC set-up) to be more of a challenge.  You definitely can't put a hole there tho because it's by the engine mount cradle.  Not a problem for you if you're convinced the idler is OK though.

If I was closer I'd offer to give you a hand with it.  Have you got a reasonably decent set of tools?

[Toms306]

The access to the tensioner isn't that bad and it's just one bolt, I don't see what you'll gain from cutting a hole in the hole in the chassis tbh, it's not even that high up.

I kept the sprung tensioner with air con delete myself.

Edit - I guess pictures don't auto resize on here now lol...

[cheapo]

The access to the tensioner isn't that bad and it's just one bolt, I don't see what you'll gain from cutting a hole in the hole in the chassis tbh, it's not even that high up.

I kept the sprung tensioner with air con delete myself.

Edit - I guess pictures don't auto resize on here now lol...

Thanx for the thought bud. If I find a dry-ish weekend soon-ish, I'll get down to it. I have a suitable bag of spanners/axle stands/trolley jack..

 I just wanted to stand there with my reciprocating power saw and shout stuff like He Man!!!