Tonight I torqued up and safety wired the alternator belt. To help apply tension I found a steel rod, slipped a silicon cap over it, and used it to level the alternator away from the engine. This worked fine, and I was super careful not to damage anything.
It took a few goes to get enough tension to pass the slip test. This is where the nut on the alternator pulls is rotated to see how much torque is needed to slip the belt on the pulley. For a new belt it is around 11 feet pounds (the number is in the lycoming manual), and I found I was almost at the end of the tension slot to get that much tension on the belt.
Once the tension was set correctly I torqued back up the bolts and safety wired where needed.
