ok real quick how tight should a timing belt be i followed the steps in the helms manual. it like when the one side is tight , the front of the motor the belt on the back towars the water pump has a lil play. then as the motor rotates it switches. thats correct right.

i put the belt on rotated the motor a few times, put it back to TDC loosened the tensioner, rotated the the cam gears 3 teeth so it was tight up top then tightened the tensioner to 40flt lbs

 

You should have noticed that the belt got much tighter after doing those steps, if there is still a lot of play, it's too loose.

It will be as you described it before rotating, but it sounds like you did it right since you said it was tight up top after you rotated 3 teeth. Before doing the tensioning steps, usually the belt on one cam gear will be perfect, and the other one will be off exactly half a tooth (the teeth on the belt will be sitting on top of the cam gear teeth, rather than in the indentations), once you set the tension it will be perfectly matched up. If you are having problems, you might want to do it over again and make sure the tensioner is loose enough that it will move up and down as the belt needs (also remember to make sure the tensioner is still mounted on that little tab on the right side, sometimes it likes to move around).

 

yea cause at tdc the belt has a small amt of play then when u rotate it the 3 teeth it got really tight.

so what i did was set it at TDC loosened the tensioner, rotated 3 teeth where it was tight and then tightened the tensioner to 40ft lbs