No, it wasn't. There's no reason you can't put the belt on slack and then tension everything up afterwards, so long as all the marks line up. You just need to know how to count teeth.
It
is true, as my engine has Piper 270 cams and verniers... it's the tool for the 150/2.0 V6 that will fit the 190 if you reverse the pins on it, it's been done many times.
I only remove the pulley on the inlet side, and use a ratchet with a 19mm deep socket to adjust/hold the exhaust cam; then you can use the tension of the front belt to stop the cam from moving when you tighten the inlet bolt back up (obviously the old main belt before you remove it). The rear belts/pulleys are much easier to line up as the marks are clearly visible, stamped into the pulleys (although a dob of tip-ex can help to make them stand out a bit). Also, due to the rear belt inlet-side pulleys being keyed to the cam they require no special tool to re-fit them correctly.
It's quite simple. If you don't undo the bolts on the front cam sprockets there's no need to re-time the cams, so therefore you don't need the tool (and even then it's not that difficult to re-time the cams without it). I've done it 3 times now, so..
The tool is really an aid for speed of fitment rather than a necessity.
The tone and first part of that paragraph lead me to conclude that you believe me to be a liar. That's fine, I've been called worse - If you don't believe me it's no skin off my nose.
No it wasn't Trikey, it was a good friend of mine who has been a mechanic for over 25 years. The same person with whom I rebuilt the engine and tuned it in 2007. But I have no doubt that Trikey will be able to explain it better; with a bit of luck a certain S. African gentleman may put in his tuppence, too
.
Let's just say I've had this conversation a few times before...