After tearing down two shortblocks recently, I found that it was difficult to remove the lower crankshaft sprocket of the Rollmaster timing sets by myself. Upon doing so, I was surprised to find that there was a chain link missing on two different sets of timing chains. I found a link in both oil pans from those chains, and was a bit reluctant to use the Rollmaster on my EMC build. When Ted and I were changing camshaft timing to find the best degree for the EMC engine, it was much easier for both of us to use a large pry bar and keep the tips away from the pins, and pry the crankshaft gear off to change the camshaft to advance or retard it for dyno testing. When I was disassembling my EMC shortblock here at home by myself, I was having difficulty removing the crankshaft gear without hitting one of those pins. I came up with a solution that I think anyone could duplicate and make it much easier in the future. I bought two pry bars from Harbor Freight and modified the top of the pry section to fit over the pins so it would be quick and simple to remove the crankshaft gear by my self. Here are a couple of pictures of the modified pry bars.
I used a high speed die grinder and 1/4" carbide to grind two slots the distance between pins, and the bars fit over the pins without putting pressure on them, and making it easy to put pressure on the backside of the chain without damaging the pins. Joe-JDC
JDC