Subaru Repair: replacing timing belt, crank pulley, cam gears

Question
Hello, I have a 1997 2.2 L Legacy L sedan, manual trans, with 82,000 miles. I have a Chilton's repair manual and about to replace the timing belt myself. The manual states to place #1 piston at top dead center (TDC) prior to removal of crank pulley. Is this necessary? Why can't I just mark the exact location of the crank and cam gears and simply remove old belt (carefully,not moving gears)and replace new blet in exact location?  Thanks.

Answer
Hello Craig,

     Sorry for the late reply, been really busy lately. What you can do is remove the crank pully, then the timing covers. Once the timing covers are off, put the crank bolt back in, and turn the engine to line up the marks on the crank timing gear. The mark are the crank timing gear and the cam gears should be strait up. On the new belt, you want to make sure you read the writing from left to right. Then the dotted lines line up with the crank gear mark, and the solid lines line up with the cam gear marks. I hope this helps.

                              Thanks,
                                  Frank