Assembling my 408 this weekend. I installed the crank gear of my rollmaster timing set. I tapped it on w/ a hammer and a bearing driver I had made out of a piece of pipe and a cap. the pipe was just big enough to fit aroung the crank, so it contacted the oil pump drive portion of the crank gear, not the actual sprocket. It went on fairly easy. I didn't beat the **** out of it or anything. When I was all done I went to put the crankshaft bolt on, which I'm using to turn the motor during assembly. Looked down and this is what I saw. Has anyone heard of this happening before?
[IMG][/IMG]

 

**** my rollmaster crank gear is LOOSE on the crank, you can seat it all teh way and pull it off by hand.

 

shouldn't it be a tight fit?

 

Yes, I should have to heat it up to slide it on and it shouldnt come off by hand for sure.

 

Of all the timing chain/oil pump swaps ive done. No lower gear has ever fit tight. That and ive always been able to slip it off easily. I always thought the oil pump rotor kinda held that chain gear on.

 

the comp cams single roller piece we used went on good and tight.

 

Well SHEEEIIITTT!

I found the problem. looks like the wrong key was installed or it wasn't seated correctly. The key was installed at the machine shop. I did tap it down w/ a hammer to make sure it was seated but it still f'd up the crank gear. I carefully removed the key from the stock crank and tapped it into the new crank. I happen to have another Rollmaster timing set for my buddy's engine. Was able to slide the crank gear on and off by hand. The stock gear fits much tighter.

here's a pic of the diffrence in the keys. (top one is stock)
[IMG][/IMG]

here it is installed
[IMG][/IMG]

Thanks for the help Cody. I guess the Rollmasters just fit looser that the stock gear.