I raced at New Hampshire this past weekend and managed to finish the
race with a second in class, but just barely. The engine quit on
coming down the hill out of the outfield section on the last lap. I
coasted all the way to the finish line and managed to cross it in
second place just before the third place car caught up to me.
I had a series of distributor problems this weekend, to many to make
me think it was all coincidence. During the 1st qualifying session on
Saturday I had a periodic miss-fire. But still managed qualifying 5th
overall and 1st in class. I pulled the dist cap and found that the
center electrode had broken off and the 1/4 long piece was rolling
around in the dist. I replace the cap and figured I was ready.
I went out for the 2nd qualifying session and the car died on the
first lap just after turn 4. While pulled over I checked the
distributor and found that the dist shaft turned freely. I figured
that the dist drive shaft had broken. Back in the paddock I found
that the drive ears at the bottom of the dist had sheared off. When
replacing it I found that the roll pin that held it on was in 3
pieces. If the ears did not get me the roll pin would soon have.
For the race on Sunday I wound up starting 10th over all and 2nd in
class, since a few cars bested my earlier qualifying sessions. The
Porsche on the pole just took off at the start with out waiting for
the green so the start was a waive-off. For some reason they did not
regroup us so the field was all mixed up the next time around and the
Volvo that was 1st in my class was way ahead by the time we took the
green. I managed to pull away from the 240Z that was in my class and
behind me, but I had a persistent miss-fire. Also the car started to
run hot, whereas the day before in ran cool, with similar ambient
temps. About halfway (out of 20 laps) I gave up on chasing the Volvo
and the 240Z gave up on chasing me. I decided to just try to finish,
with my miss and hot water temp. As noted above, I finished, but just
barely.
I got the dist out tonight and found that the gear that drives the
dist (and oil pump) off of the cam had stripped. Only a few teeth are
left on it and they are worn thin.
Have any of you had anything like this happen? I have not pulled the
pan yet, but suspect that maybe the oil pump was hanging up and that
put too much load on the gears. The cam gear has a few chips out of
it, so the cam will need to be replaced too.
Any other ideas as to a cause would be appreciated. The gear was
seated all the way down on the bushing. I did not loose any washers
or other hardware down in there when I took it apart earlier. Oil
pressure was good throughout the race, and there was still oil in the
accusump when I stopped, so hopefully no other damage occurred. I
suspect that the high water temp was from the timing getting advanced
as the gear wore. I looked at the gear when I had it apart earlier
and nothing caught my eye as ABnormal. But now that I think of it,
the timing was a little more erratic than normal when I timed it
earlier. perhaps the gear was wearing and the chips got into the oil
pump, and started jamming it. Joe(B)
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