Ade Ray Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Help me out here... I have been slowly dismantling my brothers old dry sumped 1700 X-flow and the number of broken bits suddenly escalated today. Originally I thought a bearing had failed on the number 2 conrod as I found loads of swarf, a bent con rod and a crank with bearing material welded onto it. As I was cleaning out the dry sump pan I today i found some curiously shaped bits of metal. On further investigation I find that teeth were missing from the camshaft and the gearing for the Titan oil pump. On closer inspection the teeth missing from the cam shaft 'looks' like a structural failure as the edges are jagged and crystalline. The missing teeth (3) from the oil pump gear have been sheared off with a smooth, curved cut. In addition the housing around the oil pump spindle is cracked and the spindle seems reluctant to turn. Just to make things more interesting, I found a bright metal score mark in the bottom of the sump pan as if the bearing that failed hat hit it, but I do not know when in the sequence of events. As a piece if back ground info, Simon was racing at Lydden an he noticed a harsh noise followed by a gradual seizing of the engine. So....what gave way first, was it the pump, the cam shaft or the bearing? Should I be checking anything else, not that I think there is much else to check? If any budding engineering Sherlocks out there can tell me what was going on I would be most interested. Ade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bare Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Gradual siezing indicates an initial oil problem.. but a bent con rod indicates some kind of a collision.. water under the bridge tho, as it sounds like the entire mess should be discarded as a unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 The oil pump and distributer drive cog area is a known lubrication weak point on highly tuned crossflows. Some engine builders drill a hole in a nearby oil gallery to feed oil to this area. However, many engines, including my own have got by quite succesfully without this mod Edited by - Graham Perry on 7 May 2003 07:34:03 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe 90 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 The bearing failure was oil related, so there are two possible scenarios. 1. The oil pump was jammed by some foreign material and this sheared the drive teeth. The loss of oil pressure caused the bearing to seize. I don't think this was the case because it would have affected all the bearings. 2. The bearing failed, possibly through an oilway blockage. As the oil pump is next to No 2 cylinder, a piece of swarf flew up and jammed the cam gears. You will be lucky to salvage anything much from the bottom end, as the crank and cam are obviously history. I would consider discarding the block, even if it looks undamaged as it will be difficult to get the swarf out of the oilways. The oil pump might be OK with a new gear on it. Resting after 100,016 miles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 If you are going to sustain revs in a x- flow then the skew gear is a known weak spot, graham is right about the oil drilling to improve lubrication, but also it is worth changing the oil pump skew gear for a bronze item, this is much softer than a steel item and in the event of an oil pump failure, then the bronze gear strips first,thus not putting undue strain on the camshaft. Was you using a steel camshaft? Are your distributor teeth in good order? On The Starting Blocks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Ade, your brother did run it for several laps sounding like a bag of nails.... Well he was leading the race and wanted a Zetec anyway 😳 I guess the initial failure could have been the oil pump teeth and from there on things went down hill rapidly.... My racing pics, 7 DIY, race prep. Updated often here Photo's of the year here Hants (North) and Berkshire Area club site here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ade Ray Posted May 7, 2003 Author Share Posted May 7, 2003 Hi all Thanks for the replies. yes the distributer tetth are fine. The camshaft was a 244 from Kent cams. I have already obtained a replacement crank that has been tuffrided, as for the block it is my intention to blow out the airways with compressed air which has worked well for the sump pan. The oil pump is scrap as the spindle collar is broken as well as the gear. Interesting about the bronze gear for the oil pump, where would I get such a thing. Infact does anyone know where I can source a replacement Titan oil pump? Cheers Ade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 bronze skew gears are made by Kent cams, available from Burtons about £25. Sorry but do not have part nos. Titan are still trading, you can source a new pump from them, or try Pace or Burton. On The Starting Blocks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taran Las Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 John Wilcox also sells dry sump pumps for Xflows. Philip. D. Owen Membership No. 3976 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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