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Some of you may remember that my/Ben's Celery Wagon got sidelined months ago
with an apparent serious rod problem. (Turned out to be true.)
This is the same engine that replaced the big-bore engine I wiped out in Panama
with a 5/16" hex nut in #2 cylinder that cocked the piston in the cylinder,
cracking the cylinder wall from top to bottom, leaving the head and the piston
fairly unscathed but the block destroyed.
This is the same engine that blew out one of the rubber rings on the oil
pipe from the oil pump to the block, probably because of too strong a spring
on the oil pressure bypass valve, and ran oil pressures of 25psi or less
for 5 years with little apparent damage.
So when Ben reported low oil pressure I didn't worry too much about it but
then it went from low oil pressure to no oil pressure and Ben and I were both
buried in stuff and couldn't see to it until a friend called me on his cel
phone from a park about 18 miles west of town to report that the car was
making a seriously bad knocking noise, FAR more metallic than a timing gear.
We went out and got Ben and his friends and brought them home and later had
the car brought home on a rollback wrecker. We sidelined it for the time
being.
Today we were working on the gray wagon with an eye toward putting its engine
into the celery wagon as soon as we could get it running. Among other things
it seems to have a problem with the starter and we almost got it to go but then
the starter and solenoid were very hot (smoking) so we went back to work on the
celery wagon and got it pulled out and torn partly down. Before we pulled it
I had Ben pull the oil drain plug to make sure we had drained the oil. We got
maybe half a cupful that had drained down but stuck to the magnet was a steel
shaft somewhat dinged, about ½" in diameter and about 1 3/4" long. I couldn't
remember seeing one anywhere in the engine unless it was part of the oil pump.
So after we got the engine and tranny out, pulled the tranny and bellhousing
and flywheel and clutch, we turned the engine on its side and pulled the pan.
There were a lot of coppery flakes in the pan in the very front. and all the
rodcaps were oily except #1 which was quite dry. Also the nuts on #1 were
loose enough that I could unscrew them by hand. I pulled the oil pump and
found that the auxiliary shaft was not there (had been in the pan). The bottom
of the oil pump was intact and the IPD ring was still on the main oil pump
shaft, but the auxiliary gear was free floating and had milled a window in the
side of the pump about the size of a postage stamp. The auxiliary shaft had
come loose and worked its way UP out of the pump. #1 rod bearing was the
apparent source of the coppery stuff in the front of the pan.
Have any of you ever had an oil pump auxiliary shaft come up out of the oil
pump? I had not ever even considered that this might happen!
BTW I do have additional rods, bearings and a shot-peened crankshaft that I
got on ebay at a bargain price and have been looking for an opportunity to
use. This engine is the 8-bolt block with the 6-bolt head and innards.
I'll be eagerly looking forward to your comments!
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!
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