I'm suspecting possibly being off a tooth with the timing belt and would like to know the best way to check this out. If I line up the TDC timing mark on the pulley and remove the valve cover to check if the cam gears are lined up, would that be accurate? Or would it be better to remove the pulley & timing belt cover and use the mark on the gear (lots of extra labor, but if my theory is correct then it'll need to be done anyway).

 

Line up the horizontal marks on the cam gears with the UP arrows facing up.

The couple of cars that I've used a positive-stop TDC finder and degree wheel on have lined up perfectly on the oil pump mark and crank pulley mark.

Based upon that, I wouldn't worry about inconsistencies b/w the crank pulley and timing belt drive gear TDC marks.

 

If your timing is off a tooth, you'd know it. There wouldn't be any question. The car would run like complete ****, and throw codes.
Are you afraid you skipped a tooth? Or did you have the belt off and are worried about reassembly?

 

As it turns out the intake cam gear was off. After putting the timing belt back on and tensioning it, I decided to start the car to make sure it sounded ok before I assembled the front of the engine. Turns out that the crank pulley holds the keyway in for the crank timing gear. It vibrated out in seconds and killed my motor.