Sat. Night Blues

[Silversmith]

Went to 1st car show of season down in Mass. I was supprised to be the only AC there out of mabe 300 rides. I met up with a few of my friends who had their rides, vettes, Dodges & a wicked nice 68 custom built Stang. Anyway, all had fun & the show went on till dusk. On the way back to Maine, I noticed in stop & go traffic that my timing seemed to be off or mabe a power valve in my carb may have blown. Very slugish on take off & wanting to die @ stopping. I decided to roll on back to Maine; about 40 miles. Got on the highway & headed back, all seemed well. Toward the end of the highway route I pulled off for a quick stop. She labored to restart, not much but I noticed. As I pulled back on the highway going up the on ramp in 2nd going to 3rd @ about 3 grand I got a big backfire out of the driverside pipe; it lit the night sky! & nothing. She puttered to a stop! WTF Had I just lost a $25+K Holmon Moody original built sideoiler! Well after the 1.5 hour wait for the ramp truck, I at last got loaded up & got home & just crashed. The next day I pulled the plugs & inspected them all & then each cylinder with a borescope. All seemed good! Next I turned her over about 10 seconds to be sure of oil pressure. Zip, Nota, Zilch!! I then popped off the rotor cap, cracked the accumulator to insure oil on the crank & bearings & gave her a nother spin. The rotor didn't move! Ok, so now I pull out the 65 motorcraft distributor. As the distributor comes out there is no gear!! Looking down into the distributor port, there it sits! The distributor gear shear pin, had sheared(clean)! All appears good! Dist./gear, cam/gear etc. Either someting got into the oil pump or the oil pump spring gave way! At least, thats my guess/hope. I'm waiting for the new pump & drive shaft to arrive before dropping the pan for the R&R. No need to expose the engine to any FME if not necessary. I'm hopeful! anyway. CSX3116 did the same thing many years ago. I'll post more as I know. You gota love these rides It was a Kick Ass Romp!

[Danr55]

is that Kick ass romp or get your ass kicked romp? Sometimes I get confused.

[Silversmith]

On this trip, I had both actually! But it's ok, it's all part of driving these Road Maulers. My girl isn't a trailer queen, though she looks it. She is in fact "Da Maine Mauler" As my antique tags read!

[patrickt]

What sort of oil pressure numbers were you running before you lost your gear?

[Silversmith]

On highway prior to last stop, she was steady @ 55-60lbs. Standard idle is about 15-20 lbs. But I must admit, I don't remember the reading just prior to losing the shear pin. Yes, I am also praying there wasn't enough time to cause any bearing damage, it was very quick! Mabe 15 seconds from shear pin loss to complete stop. I hope to learn more as the R&R starts.

[Michael C Henry]

Think of the drive pin as a built in weak point lika fuse. The pin should be a roll pin but more than likely it was a spring pin. Other than the inconvience it will only trake about an hour to repair and get back to the fun. I bought my replacement true roll pin from MSD through Summit. I'd get an extra pin or two drilling a larger hole weakens the shaft and moves the weakest point to someplace else. Other than it's timing it is not hard to mrepair. When the pin breaks, you loose the ignition and the engine coast to a stop. A magnetic drain plug could catch the pieces. It happen to me but I was in the back yard.

[patrickt]

Even though you're putting in a new one, you still might want to disassemble the old pump and inspect it. Finding a chunk of something in there that caused the whole problem might put your mind at ease.

[razerwire]

I have been told by , my engine builder, my prep shop, and professional racers to not rev or push engine until engine oil heats up. I have oil temp gauge and take their advice. On my car there is a lot of oil lines and oil radiator as well as dry sump tank with cold oil in it to heat up. If it is a cold day I will plug oil tank heater in until tank warms up. I watched Jay Leno video and his comment was its got some heat in her now after he had drove for a few miles. Oil is thick when cold and hard to pump. I'm sure you know all of this, but my post are taken the wrong way a lot of time. I'm not to good at posting and they are choppy but I just throw thoughts out and if they help fine, if not just ignore.

[Silversmith]

Thanks all, I am greatful for this site & it's members. All advice & opinions are taken to hart! I will be doing a through investigation of the old oil pump, filter, oil & all clearances, prior to the install of the new parts. As well as adding some new baffles to the oil pan & a new windage tray. No, I wont go over board with the baffles, there are none now in the Canton 8.5 qt. pan. Also, I will be doing a complete compression/leak down test & overall review & reset of each system prior to restart! As the sheared pin was so clean & all pieces accounted for. I will also be re-using the original Autolite (w/new roll pin) distributor. I will keep all posted!