I just finished replacing my timing belt and when you run the car there's a loud whistling sound accompanied by the smell of burning rubber. My current theory is that the belt is too tight and it's running up against the housing, but I wanna run it by you guys before I do anything just in case someone knows something I don't. I reassembled the intake but left off the drive belts, fan and outer pullies. The car is still drained of coolant and I'm running it in 10-20 second bursts to gauge how it's doing. I know the timing belt is supposed to be a bit loose to allow for expansion of the heads but it feels like it's getting almost TOO loose, and I still have a loud whistling coming from it almost like a turbo whine. Is there something obvious I'm missing or is it just too tight?

mac, you need to keep covers off and do the best visual inspection before - during - and after "running" for any edge chaffing , etc. CAN"T do this too many times . Wait for DARK and view under TIMING LIGHT STROBE for a better FREEZE-FRAME visual ??? Wait for experienced zx replies - best somebody has definitive answer utilizing what you SEE from my suggestions ? Good luck G 4/15/2018

Is it okay to run it without the damper bolted on the end? It's kind of a pain in the a** to take on and off constantly but I didn't want to run without it since I don't know what it would do.

I'm noticing that there's a faint squeeking noise even when I turn the engine over by hand. I put in a brand new tensioner along with the belt but I'm wondering now if it might be the culprit...

mac,not for just the relatively slow and FEW , SHORT total duration that you'll wanna do in order to see something yourself - or "trade details with experienced owners who'll probably be the key.Of course- always ABORT when ANY occurrance that your "Gut" tells you to stop!

mac, I'm out of sequence here & before - but yeah your closing in. Maybe a little LITTLE,squirt of oil in the bearing of the tensioner wheel ( may or may-NOT) stops / reduces squeak to be positive ?

No, do not run the engine wiht the balancer off, especially given your issues. is the timing belt slingers in place? thee is a washer that fits up against the back of the crank gear, and on the front side a washer that bends outward at the outside, this si the slinger, they work together (when the balancer is in place) to keep the belt centered. If you have a squeaking burning situation either the tensioner is borked or your belt is walking.

mac, yeah evildky is stressing the point of IF 'n your belt may be "dancing around" lower down at the crank - is prudent to not advise , my bad ,someone to check without balancer - we don't really know if you'll run it more than 15-20 seconds as you said , all situations are different , we're (I'm) not there - don't know under what conditions your "bottom" was running for your test? I just did VG30DE belt and after "perfect alignment" marks and many rotational ,verification checks ran for 30 seconds at a time 4-times , and mostly to RE-CHECK alignment marks - then when balancer went on the PROOF-CHECK of 0-DEG on bal. as compared to ALL the other visual marks , of course lined up -for we were extremely accurate with just all the "Dots".
One thing I noticed in addition to very likely possibility what evildky states- on whether "dancing" @ the slinger; was that three pulleys (1 on tens.) with THREE different "Setbacks" go in my motor .The differences were around 1/4" 1/16" and 3/16ths " - and I know that IF the WRONG SETBACK was done BELT WILL RIDE CURLED over EDGE. And if it's running slightly to the backside - may not be so visible - probably CHAFFING front surface of engine. Also a Timing set may have been STOCKED WRONG or pulleys may have been purchased separately etc. - so you may not have the logical argument going "the OTHER WRONG PULLEY LOOKS FINE" . Close inspection of EVERYTHING the belt runs ON or especially AGAINST (interference).That's where the idea of a quick run under a Timing light for "stop action " on suspected areas may help to see it "rumbling". Yeah you smell rubber - rubber is RUBBING -CHAFFING-TWISTED -CURLING

Any guide washers MUST be on in the right place and with the right distance spacing. The guide washers will NOT control the belt past a certain point, the tighter a belt is the more drive friction is applied to it to make it walk. Modern engines like the Fords I play with use OUNCES of tension and pounds are too much and ZERO guide washers used except in one place only. Pulley wear on one end of it WILL make belt walk and you will not be able to stop it. Once the belt has walked enough (minutes only in most cases) to let it so much as fray even a little bit from edge riding then the belt is screwed as the fray makes belt thicker on that end and again causes it to walk. The guide washers only can control belt walking up to a light kiss, belt hitting harder than that WILL override the guide to run up the side wall of it. Any belt tensioner there will be waterproofed and oil should not go in to it unless part dropped in a bunch of it to smother it.

How do I know? 35 years of toothed drive belts on printing equipment spaced as far apart as 15-20 feet and ZERO guides on any of it. Also used for 500 horsepower drives too. The TOOTH is the drive mechanism there NOT the tension, the tension is only enough to keep the belt taut, anything past that is too much. People just never grasp the difference there in older V belt and a toothed one. 9 times out of 10 I loosened to fix any walking issues.

mac, that's the same way my Nordic Trac treadmill had the belt surface wanting to go - right - against too close to the edge , found out when loosened is when it stopped it's "radical" walking that way - walk this way ,talk this way ....Aerosmith for some reason comes to mind

The Ford zetec fours with VCT have the belts get loose toward end of life, they will still run fine all day long yet you can pull the belt off by hand using no tools at all.