I've been thinking about you and the timing belt, and any tips to give you. Unfortunately it's been so many years since I was fixing our cars that I've forgotten a lot. A few general tips though if you find it is time to change the belt. I bought Honda service manuals and read up on the repair before I started - we're talking in the days before the internet really got going and car owner forums got to be a big topic. Do some digging on the net and see what you can find out about parts, tools, difficulties other guys have had, etc. I think I recall that newer engines have tensioners mounted to the block and they keep the belt tension where it needs to be; for older engines, you needed a belt tensioner unless you wanted to guess and live a little on the wild side. That's what I mean by special tools. If at that point you want to go on, I'd still recommend a Honda service manual since you want to keep the car for some time; often manufacturers split the manuals - mechanical and electrical (which usually turns out to be more wiring diagrams because nobody is giving away technology or an opportunity to keep you hostage to dealership test equipment.
The best way to go on is to make sure you have time and space to work on the car - don't rush - treat it like a labor of love. If you are taking up the wife's garage space, that's a problem. Remember with transverse engines that everything seems more difficult because if you can't reach from one side the chances of doing better from the other probably aren't great either. Work safe - I used ramps and jack stands when working under the car. Have extra jacks - the little bottle jacks from HD or Lowes are handy. I actually stuck a jack between the inner fender to press a freeze plug in one time - imagination is great when you hit a snag. Consider air tools - something I wished I had done years earlier. Honda uses a large nut at the end of the axle, and you almost have to have an air impact wrench; Mazda had like six smaller bolts around the flange and that was a lot easier. Get a good impact tool and good quality deep well sockets - and supplement those with some cheaper stuff from Harbor Freight - they had a nice set of air impact sockets for less than $50 and I never had one break - you probably already know hex sockets - treat 12 point sockets as evil. If you get air tools, don't ever bother with shiny chrome sockets again - the black ones work great with ratchets, but the other way is risky.
If you get stumped, walk away and give it a day or so. There were two jobs that almost made me give it up. One was getting the transmission back in an Accord after changing the clutch - it just wouldn't fit; and I got too tired to keep holding it and trying to get it angled to get the splines to line up. A day or so later I got it in, but it was just fractions of an inch that kept you from getting the angle to make the splines match up. The second was putting the driveshaft back in my Merkur after changing the clutch. The Merkur has an extra joint, and you have two hands and are laying under the car with little room to wiggle. You'd get one end in the differential and the middle flopped and pull it out while you tried to get the other end in the transmission - absolutely frustrating beyond belief. Sometimes you can make a special tool - like a transmission jack by building a wooden cradle to fit on a car jack - not perfect, but it can work.
Anyway this is way too long, but hope it helps. And good luck. Remember we are here to catch your frustration ... and maybe even to offer a tip. Oh, one last thing about manuals. People have a bad habit of putting "Caution: Don't do this" after the step, do read ahead.
