Finally got my block back from the shop.  Couldn't get the damned crank sprocket off for NUTHIN!!! Even when I tried to make a tool to pull it (the buy in for a REAL one is $60, and I'll get to that in a minute) I destroyed my makeshift puller.  Off to the shop it went, where I figured, hey, no problem, they got tools. 

The stubborn bastard destroyed the shop's gear puller.  I've never seen one of these motors do somthing like that.  The machinist went and got a large nut to use on the forcing screw, and destroyed THAT one, too!!! Mind you, this is a tool made specifically to pull this gear, and this gear ALONE off the crank; a specialty tool with no other purpose in life, rent asunder by the tenacity of my engine.

Fortunately for me, this is one of the better shops in the area (and I used to work there), and the guy who owns it is pretty creative and knows his shit, so he MADE a puller, based on the original design and his experience.  He managed to pop the gear off in seconds once he had finished the piece, so off we went today to pick up my stuff for a mere $20.  How pissed would I have been had I bought the $60 tool and then destroyed it?  And then had to take it to the shop anyway? Or what if the shop keep didn't know a better way than the purpose-designed tool for the job?

All in all, I felt pretty good getting off the hook for $20 on this one, and smiled the whole time I was scrubbing it down.