Hello my name is bob adams and I'm new here. I know these are dumb questions but neither of the service manuals I have mention this. I'm trying to get to a leaking cam seal. I have the cam pulley, intermediate pulley, and crank pulley in their TDC locations. The timing belt is off. I used the special tool that one of the vendors sold me to remove the belt pully located on the crank. No problem. But I can't get the cam pulley off.

1) Is the bolt that fastens the cam pulley on to the cam reverse threaded? I'm afraid to bear down on this bolt too hard for fear of shearing it off. I've tried heat it a little to see if that would break it loose. It is on tight and I'm dead in the water til I get it off. Should I use an impact wrench?

2) One of the manuals shows inserting a small pop rivet pin or drill bit into the spring of the belt tensioner. This is to keep the rod/spring from holding the tensioner in the extended tight position. One manual implies that there is a hole in the guide rod that is positioned inside the spring. I can't move this compress this spring enough to find any hole. Is this critical. Can I just pull this tensioner spring/rod assembly off by prying it off its mounting post? It has to be removed so I can remove the plastic back timing belt cover.

Any and all responses will be greatly appreciated.
bob adams