Originally Posted by
night
(quickly typed while at work...)
You dont have to do anything special. I did this regularly for 15 years on single and dual cams. Put it to top dead, unbolt the cam, use 2 screwdrivers to slide the gear off (or belt off the gear) and do whatever you need. Can also use a small bungie to hold the belt out of the way too. Most honda tensioners bolt down and do not rely on the spring for anything but assembly assistance. The belt isn't going anywhere.
When putting it back, with the cam bolted in the head and off the block slide the gear onto the cam and use it to turn/make sure the cam is at top dead. Take it back off, set the head down, torque, etc. then slide the gear down into the belt and slip it over the cam nose. Just take your time lining it up over the key or you can push the key out and then have to fish it out of the timing cover.
(Small tangent.. You also don't need to have the cam bolted down all the way, in fact you usually can't with dual cam, giving some room by lifting the cam and 'setting' the gear into the teeth. But it does take some more finess because the gear will rotate some as it torques down. But, even if you do get it off a tooth nothing will be hurt.)
Once you get it on and cams down, give the crank a little turn to the right then back left (counter clockwise) to check the marks and belt tension. You don't need to spin all the way around.
Also.. a trick to tension the belt is loosen the tensioner bolt, bend a hanger into a hook and grab the tensioner arm and give it a tug while snugging the bolt.
