Hi everyone. New here. New owner of a 1997 LE (VIN comes back CE but who knows) with 196k. Been in the family for over ten years and as far as i know, T belt never been done. Ordered parts and will be replacing it. Will be doing water pump, t stat as well. Been finding some good stuff on youtube. Will be disconnecting battery, removing plug wires, removing R front tire, wheel well shield, overflow reservoir, alternator, alt mount(need off-set wrench?), strut mount bar.
Now from what i understand, the job is easier with the existing belt on because i can just make marks on the old belt and pulleys and match them to the new belt.
This is the point where i haven't really seen clear instructions on or demonstrations of. What tools might i need and which steps might i take from here? And please feel free to critique the process I've described if i am off. Ive included a picture of the parts i have so far. Thanks in advance.

 

The best way is to align the crank/cam pulleys at TDC on No 1 cylinder compression stroke before taking belt off. No 1 cylinder is closest to the timing belt.

If the engine has distributor, this can grossly be done by rotating the engine by hand until the distributor rotor is at the No 1 distributor cap electrode. If no distributor, remove the upper timing belt cover and the rotate engine by hand until the hole in the cam pulley spoke lines up with the notch on top of the cam bearing.

You will need to remove the upper engine mount and bracket bolted to the engine. This bracket has three long bolts. Due to space limitations, these bolts can't be fully removed from the bracket. The bolts need to be removed with the bracket. Just unscrew them from the block.

Unscrew the furthest location bolt first. Otherwise any unscrewed bolt(s) will now extend out and can interfere with access to the bolt behind it. Use a 6 point box straight wrench! The bolts can be tight and a 12 point may not hold and round over the bolt flats. A socket will not fit due to clearance issues.

The crank pulley will need to be removed. The crank bolt may be tight! You may need an impact wrench. If not, read up on ways to hold the crank firm, when unloosening and tightening the bolt.

Use a bolt on puller not a jaw type!

If required, align the crank and cam pulleys at TDC.

Before removing the belt, make sure you understand how to install the new belt.

Replace all the parts as required. Try not to wiggle the housing too much when replacing the pump. The water pump housing has an 0-ring for the pipe running along the block.

When installing the new belt, the cam pulley can move when releasing the tensioner. Rotate the engine CW 2 times by hand and recheck the cam and crank marks! If not lined up, remove belt and realign marks. Then recheck alignment after rotating crank 2 times CW by hand.

The engine may run poorly after first startup. If so recheck everything but if OK don't assume there is a problem. Sometimes the computer needs to work things out which requires a few startups to do.

 

Thank you. Will try.