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One tooth off is enough to cause a serious power loss and if the wrong direction, a fail at the emissions test. When the belt slips, it slips at the small sprocket at the crank, so the "one tooth off" has probably affected both the cam and I-shaft timing.
That picture showing how to check the timing is for the I-shaft. The idea I had in mind composing it was to show that it is possible to check the timing without pulling the lower cover (and hence go through the removal of the vibration damper pulley).
The top dead center position of the crank can be accurately known to the correct tooth by feeling through a spark plug hole. Use a soda straw, popsicle stick, or my favorite, a chop stick. Then count belt teeth with tension on the belt so all the sprockets will be in lockstep. The idea is to locate the I-shaft mark even when it hides behind the top of the lower cover.
If the I-shaft is off, the ignition timing isn't affected, but performance can be when the spark is made weak because the distributor isn't timed over the entire range of spark advance done by the computer. That is why you will find the distributor lock down bolt is centered in a plastic insert, and the distributor rotor contact is so wide.
The cam timing is easy to see with the upper cover removed, so counting teeth is not needed there, just ensure you are checking at TDC using a stick in the #1 plug hole. This business Amarin notes about 9 and 18 degrees is correct and is no trivial error -- it needs to be right and can be made right without too much fuss now that you know what happened.
When you first posted about doing the T-belt without a crank holding method I worried your harmonic balancer would not be torqued properly. That can be much more serious than the cam's roll pin if it comes loose, plus the nub on the sprocket is easily sheared and that is not cheap to fix.
If you can feel confident in visualizing what happens inside the engine, the rope trick will allow you to set the torque (40 lb-ft + 60 degrees) without spending the money on the holding tool. But if you're not absolutely confident about the four strokes inside a motor, the tool will save a lot of anxiety.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
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