Fulcrum,

My other current car affinity is early M1 Mazda Miatas. The 1990 version had what Mazda called the "sport crank," otherwise known as the "short nose" crank. Your described problem happens all the time with these early engines due to dealer techs who do not know about or notice the miniscule difference between the ends of the woodruff key when changing the timing belt. Put in the wrong way; it quickly creates the problem you describe. Google "miata short nose crank repair" and you'll find detailed pictorials and descriptions of how the folks over there deal with it. I have done this to my autocross Miata that has a BRP supercharger and it's a stump puller. I drive it like I stole it and haven't had any trouble in well over 80K miles. Mine's not the short nose but I bought it with the problem and someone had botched even the painfully obvious orientation of the key on a 1.8l.

Might be worth a look.

Sam