I think Rufus' method has validity.

What you are doing when you do that is loosening the tensioner (it is normally clamped in position) by using the belt tension (in reverse of normal direction) to pull it out of the way. You are only turning the crank enough to take up the slack in the belt and move the tensioner. Any more and you really gain nothing more. Once it has moved, clamp it back in the *slack* position.

I just pulled my head, and I really did nothing with the tensioner. The cam pulley pulled off the cam and there was enough tension to keep everything in place with it resting on the lower cover. Will it work? I won't know until I put it back together. But, there did not seem to be enough slack to let it droop out of the teeth on the crank pulley. Oh well, if I have to take the lower cover off, no big deal.

Good Luck,
Michael