Here's how I see it:
The trouble started here, I would say this well meaning and informed (i.e. cbova knows what he's talking about) could have been written differently:
Different? different what? It sounds like "flat out, one notch ≠ one notch" which is too vague and sometimes false and therefore problematic.
How the post is right: When the belt is on, one tooth (notch) of movement on the crank gear is more of an angular rotation (more degrees) than the angular rotation for one tooth (notch) of movement on a cam gear. In this way, 1 notch on the crank is different than 1 notch on the cams.
How the post is wrong: When the belt is on, one tooth of crank gear movement is one tooth of cam sprocket movement. No confusion. Is, was and always will be true. So if you move all three gears one tooth with the belt off, the same truth holds. Crank one notch clockwise, each cam one notch clockwise, would have zero change to the timing. You're counting notches relative to each other, i.e. move notch N to position of notch N+1 etc. In this way, 1 notch on the crank is not different than 1 notch on the cams.
So something like "Don't forget 1 notch on the crank will move it through a larger angle than the angle the cams move for one notch." may have been more clear.
Then there was some posting back and forth where people thinking about notches and other people thinking about angles were all probably thinking the truth but talking past each other though nobody's fault.
When the belt is off, it is irrelevant. Pull the belt, put them on the marks, install the belt, etc. That's the solution when they are not all on the marks with the belt on.
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