Hello Folks - I have the new water pump installed, TB on , cams locked and pin still on the tensioner.

the slack is now on the left side (thank you gdog) marks are off though by 5/8" clockwise.

clearly, if I rotate the crankshaft back on its mark, the slack will move to the right. i place arrows in the pic to show the position.

not sure if I missed something - thank you in advance for your help.

 

That is NOT the crankshaft mark. You need to look down to the teeth of the crank and get the mark on the oil pump, then align the cams to the cover, then put the belt back on.

You can likely pull the belt off of the cams and adjust the crank, etc.

 

thank you rspi - yes I am aware of the marks on the oil pump and teeth on the crank shaft. sorry i was not clear -the marks i pointed out with the arrows were also aligned with the belt, cams with the cover at the same time the oil pump with the teeth and the additional mark i made.
i think I was able to keep the slack on the left side with all the marks aligned. I will post the picture in a little while - thanks again.

 

When installing the belt, you need to have the crank on it's marks. Then you should pull the slack out of the belt and go to the idler roller FIRST. Then over the INTAKE CAM sprocket (front of car side of the motor), then over the exhaust cam (belt should be slack free on the idler roller side) with all slack on the water pump side of the belt. Then go around the water pump, then tensioner roller last. You shouldn't have a lot of slack but it should be on the water pump side of the belt path.

Double check the marks on the crank and cam sprockets to the cover. If the marks are on, pull the pin from the tensioner. Then roll the crank around 4 times to make sure you don't get valve to piston contact and recheck your marks. If the marks are still good, you can start the car (it will run even with the serpentine belt stuff off). Make sure you install the tensioner spacer (white piece) and lower crank guard before starting the car.

This video shows it at 4:20

 

ok - followed you instructions A to Z. here is where I am at with the position on the crankshaft and the oil pump mark. no slack on the right side of the crankshaft, pin still on the tensioner.

 

As long as all 3 of your marks are aligned pull the pin and roll the motor over by hand.

 

THANK YOU RSPI!!! - done!


drove the car today all day no issues.
I did find something interesting in the process though - although the sticker on the ECM box said TB replaced at 71,000 miles, the old timing belt on this 850R appeared to be the original belt - according to pictures on the forum/google the markings are exactly what volvo installed back in 97. The water pump aisin-volvo series also appeared to be original.

this 850 has 133,000 miles on it, is this even possible?

anyway, Thank you so much for your (and the other Forum Members) assistance, deeply appreciated.

best regards