Damn guys, have any of you noticed the amount of threads about people stripping out their oil pump drives??

One of my friends from Michigan just had this happen to him. He was running a cc503 and the gear now looks like this:





Any idea what is going on with this and how this happens?? Please discuss!

I know I cant be the only one who gets a little nervous for my own motor when I see threads pop like this...

 

I recently removed my oil pump drive for inspection and to install the metal retainer bracket being sold on the board. The gear showed very minor wear within a 10K mile window as compared to almost no wear on the original drive from the 70K stock motor.

The minor wear showed the teeth getting re-profiled a bit but it was nowhere near ready to fail and looked nothing like above in the pic. I have also been getting fine metallic particles in the oil filter after every oil change and I an hoping it is from the mild wear on the oil pump drive gear.

I started a process to determine if I had a cast gear or a billet gear on my LE cam and I came to the conclusion that I do have a billet gear by viewing the cam gear with an inspection scope camera and comparing results to photos of other cams posted on the boards. I am also am running a standard volume pump with high pressure spring.

They say that billet cam gears will quickly wipe out oil pump drives as well as high pressure pumps. If thats the case, I am surprised mine had as little wear as it did assuming I really do have the billet cam gear.

I decided to install the Lunati everwear gear which according to Lunati, will not wear out like the stocker when using it with either a cast cam gear or a billet cam gear. I plan on pulling my oil drive in the fall for an inspection of the everwear gear and then annually after that.

Yeah there has been a rash of this stuff recently but I thing many have been running high volume pumps. I just wish the motor would stop when pressure is lost like it would with a conventional distributor.

 

thats some good info.

I've just been seeing a lot of these issues pop up lately. His was just a cc503 cam and im pretty sure 1000's of people have run that cam in the past while using the stock drive gear.

I have a stock drive gear with my Ai cam, so I hope it all works fine with that.

This kinda stuff makes me a little nervous and I figured I would post about it. Just about 99% of LT1 people still have that oil pump drive, and if it fails it can take out an entire motor. Some of us who have a lot invested in our motors might cringe even more

 

From AI's site for ya ThreeHonks
All of our grinds utilize the vastly superior 8620 Induction Hardened Billet Steel cores found in all forms of serious competition. Additionally, all of our Billet core custom grinds are automatically upgraded to a premium EverWear distributor/pump drive gear. Not only is the EverWear gear precision machined to significantly tighter tolerances, it is also case hardened with a proprietary nitriding process. Compared to commonly available cams ground on the cheaper cast cores, these features translate into improved reliability. This is especially true where heavy weight oils, higher volume/pressure pumps, and various aftermarket distributor gears are used.

http://advancedinduction.com/Images/CamComparison.jpg

 

thanks for that!

so the question is... does the everwear gear that Ai puts on their cams work with the stock drive gear that is on the oil pump drive?

 

I am 99% sure it is a cast core.

I have seen some LE billet cams (of recent) take out the drive as well. I just have a pretty significant investment in my engine (most of us on here do as well) and I would hate to see a small little gear fail and take everything out with it

 

Can anyone think of a way to have the motor shut down when oil pressure drops that wont negatively impact normal usage?

 

That would be as easy as wiring a sensor into the ign circuit. The trucks I drive for a living (freightliner) have that nice little deal. If the oil or coolant gets to low or it looses pressure the engine shuts down to save itself. I'm sure. It could be adapted, I'm just not sure how to go about it as of yet.

 

Put a Relay on the 12v PCM IGN wire going to the PCM that gives it 12v..do it after the Fuse. Wire it to where the Relay is energized when it has pressure, and if it drops it'll kill it and then the PCM turns off, Engine shuts down.

The only downside is that you may have an issue starting it if your Oil Pump isnt good at priming..unless you get a good enough pressure sensor to where you make it trip out at low pressure, like around 5psi.

The little check gauges light comes on when it goes to low pressure..figure out that circuit and wire the relay into that, no sensor needed.

 

Yeah its the getting it started when the relay is installed part that is the challenge. Like above, if the relay can activate with little cranking oil pressure then all would be good.

 

yes that little check gauges light saves my crank. lost a cam and a couple lifters though. atleast i didnt have to get another forged crank.

 

I used an adjustable pressure switch on my Procharged 383 Monte Carlo SS which I set to 25psi if my oil pressure dropped below that it killed power to the ignition and shut the engine off. I also wired in a toggle switch to disengage it while starting the car (otherwise you'd be cranking the engine for awhile trying to get above 25psi) it worked great.

 

If you run a high pressure high volume oil pump it will add a lot of stress to the drive gear. Most of the "extra" oil just goes out the bypass. The stock pump is fine if you run correct clearances.

Al 95 Z28

 

That's the same thing I was thinking..put a switch on the same side as the sensor and wire it parallel..use the switch when starting, then turn it off and let the sensor work.

 

Just wire the starter's start wire to the solenoid to the circuit. When it's cranking it will allow ignition. Be sure to fill your oil filter when you change oil or....

Al 95 Z28

 

everyone should be running the lunati everwear gear on their oil pump drives, along with a pro-jection drive saver

 

Im one of the sheep.

 

What's the part number for the Lunati part..is it a direct fit.

 

89032lun

 

cool..is it a direct fit to the original?