1994 8v timing belt tension

[Jason977]

I'm afraid I didn't explain myself very well. In steps 31-35, the belt is so short that it is difficult to install.  Then with both the idler pulley and tensioning stud are loose, the belt is already "tight" without any spring tension at all.  The spring exerts a force to pull the tensioning arm assembly clockwise to take the slack out of the timing belt, but with the assembly assembled loosely, the belt is already tight.  Spring or no spring, the tensioning assembly is rotated as far CCW as possible, and the spring tension isn't enough to move it.

I feel like either the belt is slightly short or the idler pulley is slightly large. I've already reassembled, but now I'm thinking I better go back in and check.

I finally got around to looking at this again after driving a couple hundred miles with the Gates belt.  I bought a second belt, a Continental and put that on with exactly the same results.

To recap, it just seems like the two new belts I have are too short. Even with the tensioner at the very loosest (spring not even attached) the belt feels tighter than the old one was. 
Here's a video showing the original belt before I removed it. The vehicle has around 100k miles, I have no idea if it is the original belt or not.
https://youtube.com/shorts/NeAvl16MfhY?feature=share

And here I am with the new belt installed and both the tensioner and idler loose.  Notice that I can force the tensioning mechanism tighter (to the right) but it overcomes the spring force and returns to the left.  The only reason it's not all the way over to the left is because the hook on the spring pushes it over a bit.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Yba7SuQaSMU?feature=share

I'm worried that the belt is too tight and could cause some damage. One good thing that I didn't document is when I first looked at the Gates belt it seems like it had relaxed substantially since new.

Any thoughts on this?