You're pretty much on. There is a notch in the pulley on the crankshaft that should align with the timing marks on the cam belt cover, but won't if you don't have one... duh.
You might be able to remove the pulley bolt to see the keyway machined into the crankshaft nose, then rotate to put it at 12:00.
To know when #1 is at TDC, firing, look at the distribulator pointer... it should be in the #1 ballpark area. To know, follow the plug wire over the top of the cam cover down to the plug. It will be at #4 or at #1... if at #4, rotate the crankshaft 360 degrees and it should be pointing at #1.
Remember, the tensioner PIVOT has a hex head... and it is a bolt ... and it will be tight until loosened. Loosen it and then pry on the 'top' side of the pulley to push it away from the back(outer) side of the timing belt, then tighten the adjustment bolt while the tensioner is retracted. You can use a 'tire iron' without causing damage to anything if you are careful, and it will give you leverage enough to retract the tensioner.
A belt cover makes re-setting the timing easier. There is a jumper hanging out of the wire loom from the drivers side inner fender leading to the engine. It is called the SPOUT jumper, and must be removed to set base timing to 10BTDC. Done with the engine warmed up at normal idle. Once @ 10, kill the engine, tighten the distributor hold-down bolt, and start the engine to re-check it is still timed properly. Kill it again, then replace the jumper.
The engine will likely start if the distributor rotor is in the general ballpark of #1 when you set things up. If you have not loosened the distributor, the ignition timing should be pretty much on as it was before, the only difference being the 'stretch' of the belt(which is not supposed to stretch...)
tom