Timing belt change on 2006 Aveo LS: My new detailed write-up

[JB_Fraser]

Intake (circles) to the left and exhaust (ovals) to the right is correct.
It is definately off as the OP indicated.

When I did mine it was aligned perfectly (you can take a straight edge ruler and split both Cam shafts in the center and both marks should be as you say (3,o'clock and 9 o'clock) and align with the straight edge ruler.
Since mine were aligned properly , I marked my belt and pulleys at the 12 o'clock position on both cams and around the 4 o'clock position on the crank pulley with a 'sharpie' as additional alignment (I used a purple sharpie or use white out)transferred these marks to the new belt and reinstalled.
The benefit of doing this is you know the tooth count/pitch and tension are correct and when you tension the water pump any slack taken up should not throw off your timing (I suspect this may have happened to the person who installed this previously). It is easy to happen.

if I was to do this again I would definitely follow ,'avguys' suggestion to lock down the serpentine pulley before removing the crankbolt, but your beyond this point now. Follow the proper tensioning procedures and you should be fine.
I did my cam seals (since they were in the kit) but can be a PITA if you don't have the proper tools.
Some swear by the 40 mm water pump adjustment tool (I made mine on my mill) but you can probably get by with channel lock pliers. I would make sure I had a 5mm Allen from a socket drive as it will make loosening and tightening the water pump much easier.

Cheers and Good Luck !

[Ombibulous]

Got it done. I bought both the water pump wrench and the cam sprocket locking tool and am glad I did. It took some effort to get the sprockets lined up and secured and then install the belt was and I can see how the previous installer messed it up. Same thing happened to me a few times before I marked the belt and sprockets with correct, corresponding marks. (I could tell they were one off and adjusted the marks beforehand). Once I had something to aim for it was easy.

Lining everything up fixed the loping idle. Runs real smoothly now. Couldn't have done it without this write-up and these comments.