I noticed my title shows a 3.0 its a3.5 but I'm sure you all knew that. my apologies, fat fingers

 

Are you replacing just the tensioner, or are you doing a complete timing belt replacement on your car?

 

all I was trying to replace was the hydraulic tension actuator not timing belt.

 

all I have done is remove the old hydraulic tension actuator. the new one will not fit because of the pulley that the pin from the actuator engages has rotated into the way

 

That pulley should swing without issue. It isn't spring loaded.

You asked a question about installing a new hydraulic tensioner and screwing up the timing. The important part for timing is keeping the belt in place from the lower crank sprocket, to the front cam, and to the rear cam. The side of the tensioner just pushes the belt in to remove all slack and keep it tight.

When I've done a timing belt with 2 cam sprockets, I used a binder clip on each cam sprocket to hold it in place. I used white out to mark a toot of the metal crank sprocket and marked the side of the 2 teeth on the belt on each side of that metal tooth. Make sense?

If you keep the belt in place at those 3 points, you won't mess up the timing.

Watch the video on a V6 accord timing belt. That pulley with the metal arm should swing without issue. You may have to slightly loosen the bolt where the pulley swings to break it free. #7 in the picture below. Then tighten #7 back down.