There is one other thought I had.
What is the thrust area of the crank was welded up at one time and reground with the crank shifted to the rear. It is common practice to weld up the thrust.
I will see if I have an engine I can take a measurement from the crank gear to the timing plate, or maybe someone else can post this.
If you could get a measurement that would be great.
When I pulled off the original gears they were even with each other, but I don't know if the crank gear was on the crank all the way. I guess its possible at some point the engine was "rebuilt" and to get the gears to line up they just pulled the crank gear back slightly until it lined up.
