Shes alive an shes stayin alive!!

did you take that thing apart and check it? how about the bottom half, or magnaflux the pistons? I am just going to throw this out and hope someone is telling you that " if you have damage on the lower half and you do get it fired up it is going to come apart." May not happen right when you fire it up but it will fail on the lower half, Like a craked piston or stress fracture or damage to a rod bearing which very well could have happened when the valve hit and you kept turning over for a week before you figured it out. I still think you should throw that gear drive in the garbage. You probly could have bought a chain for what you paid for the bearings, that thing is what has caused this whole mess to begin with.