I am glad you found out that it was worth a peek.

I was just sitting on the sidelines, like a fly on the wall. I imagined if this could happen to me, if I had done as much work as you did.

I think you painted this picture for me, as I might do it too. You forgot to pull the pin out to release the spring onto the belt. Questionable, if this is even a good habit, with grenades!

If you read the procedure, you will see that they recommend rolling the engine around a few turns and recheck all the notches, grooves and dots to line up on the engine before calling it all good to go.

On a new belt, I loosen and torque the tension bearing after about 50 miles. You can do this through the grommet access hole in the cover.
How much it actually make a difference, is anyone’s guess.

Thanks for the post back to all of us. We all are not carpenters or even mechanics. However, on some occasions, we can nail it.

Phil