Cam gear damage...

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acarlson
Posts: 454
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 5:54 pm
Location: Dahlonega, GA

Cam gear damage...

Post by acarlson »

When I took the bellhousing off I noticed that the cam gear was chewed up along the top edge of the teeth. The crank gear showed no signs of damage. This wasn't normal wear - it was gouged. I assumed that something in the oil got sucked up into the meshing of the gears and gouged the aluminum cam gear. Not sure you can see the damage, but here goes:
SAM_0512s.jpg
I also had a deep score line in one of the main bearings (but no issue with the main bearing journal):
SAM_0517s.jpg
So, obviously there was some contamination in the oil but I didn't notice anything when I pulled the oil pan off. However, when I went to remove the oil pickup (an OTTO part) I discovered this:
SAM_0511s.jpg
You can also see a hairline crack across the top where the rest of the pickup support bolt hole could break off at any time. I'm guessing the guy who installed this stuff over-torqued the bolt and caused stress fractures in the aluminum case. At some time after the engine was reassembled it broke loose. The big piece fell into the pan but little stuff ended up in my gears and bearings.

Note to self (and everyone else): Follow the torque guidelines in the shop manual !!

Alec
Alec Carlson
Dahlonega, GA
1965 Regal Red Corsa 4 Speed Turbo Convertible
Restoration "In Progress"...
cnicol
Posts: 546
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:11 pm

Re: Cam gear damage...

Post by cnicol »

Interesting. Damage on the top of the teeth is indeed unusual. I wonder if there was contact with an oil pan somewhere along the way.
'61 140 PG Rampside
'66 Rear Alum V8 4-dr
'60 Monza PG coupe (sold, sniff, sniff)
'66 Corsa Fitch Sprint Conv. (First car 1971, recently repurchased)
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