I finally got my wife's car back together and up and running after changing the timing belt, pulley and tensioner, other belts, spark plugs and wires and replacing the valve cover gaskets. I never could get the water pump swapped out with a new one as I could not remove the front cam shaft sprocket which is necessary in order to pull the upper rear cover out enough to access the water pump bolts.
There is always that fear before starting that I may have screwed up somehow and maybe gotten the timing off or the spark plug wires on the wrong plugs or some hose or wire not connected right. But it started right up and sounded great. Took it around the block just to make sure and it ran fine. I will need to get a mechanic to torque down the crank bolt on the crank pulley as I don't have an impact wrench. That shouldn't cost much. And if the noise I had heard prior to all these repairs comes back I will just take it in for inspection. I'm done with greasy engines for awhile.
