Serpentine Belt issues

[joseb]

I'm having issues replacing the serpentine belt on my project car.

The car is a 1995 318ti, build date of 06/95 according to the VIN.

I replaced the water pump and thermostat housing and decided to replace the belt while I was in there. I looked up the part and landed on a Continental 4060653 (6PK1657) Poly-V Belt.

After putting the water pump and thermostat housing back, I have not been able to get the new belt on the engine. I checked the routing and it is correct, but there just isn't enough slack to get the belt over the tensioner pulley.

I noticed that realoem has the belt listed as a 1660mm belt and I have a 1657mm, thinking that might be issue, I went out to a local auto parts store and had them find a belt, their system came up with a 1665mm belt, thinking it would be OK, I brought that home and tried, still too small to get over the tensioner.

Then I remembered that the PO mentioned this car had an engine swap, so I figured maybe it's got the M44 engine. I went back to the auto store and picked up a belt for a 1997 318ti, this belt is 1740mm and of course it fits, but now it seems way too loose to be right.

I also tried the original belt, and I can't get that one to fit either. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here, any ideas? I didn't touch the tensioner or any other part of the system other than the water pump.

**EDIT** I just checked the belt that was on it, it is 1660mm so I'm probably doing something wrong, but for the life of me I can't figure out what. I've done belts before on my Audi and family members' cars with no issues.