Rep Power: 0

Hello, got a question but here's the background info: so I'm replacing my girlfriend's head gasket on a 2000 civic LX. sent the head to get surfaced and cleaned and he took the cam off. Now, when I removed the head, I kept tension on the timing belt and pushed the cam gear off the head, keeping the belt at TDC, that way I only had to remove the top timing belt cover and not mess with the timing. Because the key in the gear is set at TDC, after I put the head on, lube and insert the camshaft into the key, and tighten the accompanying bolts, the valves should all be in the correct orientation right and I won't have to mess with anything else right? I'm obviously going to manually crank the engine to see if the timing is still good after keeping tension on the belt.

He only took off the camshaft and rocker arms. I wasn't accounting for this step when I began all this so I'd like to verify/refute I'm correct.

 
Rep Power: 210

When I brought my engine's cylinder head to a machinist I asked him to set the cam timing marks level with the top of the cylinder head (per service manual) prior to returning it to me and he did. I've never removed or replaced the cam myself however, I would assume it only goes on only one way (fail safe) to prevent damage/out of rotation. The info you are seeking should be listed in the service manaul which can be downloaded free.

As you mentioned the service manual states to spin engine manually in counter-clockwise rotation six or more times to insure belt tension and mechanical timing marks stay aligned.

 
Rep Power: 511

The key in the gear sets it so the cam only fits on one way, not necessarily at TDC. Toss on the camshaft any way you want, but before you mate it to the head, set the head at TDC (the spoke that says "up" facing upwards perpendicular to the head). Assuming the crank didn't move, you'll be fine.

 
Rep Power: 517

Check and adjust valve clearances.