Timing alignment question

Hello All,
Great reading/resources have really helped me in my timing belt/water pump replacement on my 97 SOHC passport so far. I have a question that was already asked and replied to but am still unclear.
My old tb is still on, and when i rotate the crankshaft to where it is aligned at 3 oclock, the psngr side camshaft mark (on the pulley) is 3 teeth behind the marks on the rear cover. The driver side camshaft is 3 teeth past the rear cover mark. The belt is shredding and im wondering if it skipped, but it was running fine.
It was noisy and after reading the postings, I'm attributing it to the hydraulic tensioner.
Do i leave the crank/cams where they are and put on the new tb? Or do what i believe another member did and align the cams, take of the tb then advance the crankshaft?
By the way the starter bump method worked great!:confused:

I've successfuly done this job twice over the years on my 3.2V6 SOHC.

Get the static marks (crank, cam pulleys) approximately lined-up.

Don't worry about exact alignment right now.

Take the tensioner and idle pulleys off (believe me, it is *much* easier to fit the new belt with both of these pulleys out). Then take the belt off.

Now correctly align the 3 static marks by individually rotating the crank and the cam pulleys. Your engine is non-interference so don't be concerned about valve/piston clash.

Then fit the new belt, aligning it's markings with the static marks.

Here is a hall of fame thread in which you will find the timing diagram for your SOHC http://forum.planetisuzoo.com/viewtopic.php?t=16972

A full SOHC how-to can be downloaded from http://www.datazap.net/sites/Australia4WD/Forum%20Articles/Isuzu_V6_Timing_Belt_and_Water_Pump_rev2.pdf
which someone kindly copied from http://forum.australia4wd.com/index.php?showtopic=7463

The SOHC 3.2L is pretty forgiving when it comes to the marks, eh? I had a shop do my belt the first time around, then I did it. I found the crank off by a couple of teeth when the cams were lined up. Ran fine. Get it lined up this time though!

Now correctly align the 3 static marks by individually rotating the crank and the cam pulleys. Your engine is non-interference so don't be concerned about valve/piston clash.



So i could manually turn the psngr side cam 3 teeth clock wise to align it right? and then the drivers side counter clockwise? Is it "permissable" to go back 3 teeth on the cam with no worries?
Thanks again.

Yes.

So...manually turn the...cam...Is it "permissable" to go back 3 teeth on the cam with no worries?...

Yes ! Get those marks aligned ! :grinyes:

That seems weird to me that it 'ran fine' with the cams off that far. I've had other engines off by just a smidge and they ran like total crap.