[A4] Timing belt alignment question

[Rocket Science Racing]

Hi all,

I'm right in the middle of a timing belt job on my 98 A4 1.8Tqm. No
problems so far, got a new impeller, thermostat and 3 oil seals in., but...

I've put the new timing belt back on, and I'm having a little trouble with
the alignment of it, it's a half a crank tooth off!

I've got the new style tensioner in place (didn't pull the pin yet), and
it's providing plenty of tension to allow me to crank the engine and new
belt around to "settle" it. (Adding tension by manually cranking on it with
a hex bit in the little hole in the tensioner pulley doesn't substantially
change anything.)

Unfortunately, with the camshaft sprocket precisely aligned with its timing
mark, the crank pulley (what a pain you have to temporarily mount the
pulley and lower cover) timing mark is either a little clockwise (right) of
the arrow on the cover, or a little counter-clockwise (left) of the arrow,
depending on which teeth I engage. I would judge it's marginally closer
when set up to lay a little clockwise (right) of the arrow.

I suppose I should have counted the teeth on the old belt in between marks
on each sprocket, but I foolishly trusted the shop manual to guide me.

So how should I set this darn thing up? Half a crank tooth clockwise, or
counter-clockwise?

Thanks in advance!

Scott