I need to remove the old timing belt cog from the nose of my Miata's crankshaft. After much soaking in much penetrating fluid, I have tried:
- Pry bars. The cog doesn't budge; rather, the lip around the inner edge of the cog breaks off.
- A puller. There isn't enough space between the block and the cog to fit the fingers of any puller I've ever seen.
- Drilling. The hardened metal laughed at my feeble Craftsman and broke the drill bit about 1/8" in. Then I discovered there was already a hole beside the one I was drilling. I tried hammering a nail (couldn't find my punch) into the hole, hoping the pressure would split the cog. Instead, I just made the nail impossible to remove.
- Cutting. Destroyed my Dremel trying to cut through the cog with the same wheels that have easily cut through chains in the past. Managed to dig a small trench with my reciprocating saw. I hammered a chisel into the cut in hopes of splitting the cog. No luck.
- Heat. I wanted to avoid this, but I eventually tried heating it with a propane torch. No movement. I let it cool and tried heating just the nail, hoping its expansion would split the cog. No dice.
I'm out of ideas. I can't put the car back together unless I replace this stupid fucking cog.
The healthy, patiently-waiting replacement:
