i made the 3/4" serp. belt tensioner adapter out of 3/4" steel tube from Lowe's. i cut it about 1" long, and used a 3/4" wrench to relieve the tension. unfortunately, the shortest length Lowe's had was 36" for $8.50, so if anyone needs a 1" piece of steel tubing (i have 35 of them left), please send $2 via paypal to...
3 hours later, it's time for a nap... 90 degrees, sunny and humid here in VA today...
the only thing that's a real PITA is getting the timing belt off of the crankshaft pulley and getting the new one back on, as there's a tight squeeze. also, keeping tension on the crankshaft pulley while positioning the belt on the intake cam is a must (belt kept slipping off of the crankshaft pulley when tensioned, and took me about 6 tries before i was comfortable with the tension on it.) if there's ANY slack in the right side of the belt between the crankshaft and intake cam pulley, start over! edited to add: i'd read that somebody had done the t-belt without removing the spark plugs. i got tricked into thinking i'd screwed up when i hand-cranked the engine. once compression kicked in i felt some resistance, and stopped there, i thought maybe i'd run into the valve/piston interference. after removing the plugs it turned over with no resistance at all. removing the plugs, as simple as it is, is a good idea.
sticker on the cover noted 71k/1999, and it's now 2005 and i'm at 151k. although there's no record of the t-belt being changed between then and now, it doesn't look like it's 6 years old or has 80k on it- but it was a Volvo belt, and i imagine a dealer would have put a sticker on if it'd been replaced at another interval.
anyway- my conscience will feel much better now. whew!