distributor aux shaft trouble

Hey guys. In the last 4 weeks I've torn up 2 aux shafts and 2 distributor gears. They were even in 2 differnt blocks the only thing in common was I used the same head and both were ford 2300s we turn to 8000 rpms. I did not shear the pin on the distributors and it was that little stock pin. It just ate the teeth right off the shaft and distributor gear. The first one to tear up had a high volume oil pump (I figured this was the problem) with 70 psi of oil pressure cold. The second one to tear up had a m86c oil pump shimmed .125 thousandths with 65 psi oil pressure cold. Am I running too much oil pressure I've heard tht will do it. But I thought that would shear a pin more likely. Any information y'all have is greatly appreciated. I'm pretty new to mini stocks this is my second year. Is there anything other than oil pressure I should be looking for?

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Originally Posted by Jb35

Hey guys. In the last 4 weeks I've torn up 2 aux shafts and 2 distributor gears. They were even in 2 differnt blocks the only thing in common was I used the same head and both were ford 2300s we turn to 8000 rpms. I did not shear the pin on the distributors and it was that little stock pin. It just ate the teeth right off the shaft and distributor gear. The first one to tear up had a high volume oil pump (I figured this was the problem) with 70 psi of oil pressure cold. The second one to tear up had a m86c oil pump shimmed .125 thousandths with 65 psi oil pressure cold. Am I running too much oil pressure I've heard tht will do it. But I thought that would shear a pin more likely. Any information y'all have is greatly appreciated. I'm pretty new to mini stocks this is my second year. Is there anything other than oil pressure I should be looking for?

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This is becoming all too common! We used to only see this when guys jacked up the pressure, now we're seeing it on stock rebuilds even...

That's why we made the billet intermediate shafts with a STEEL gear, and matching BRONZE distributor gear. I have yet to see the steel gear chip and break like a stock shaft. It is true that the bronze gear wears faster than a stock distributor gear, but it's also less likely to fail, and if it does, it's only bronze going through the oil system, not cast iron like a stock set-up!

They aren't cheap, but neither was going to the racetrack and having a failure...

Big e thanks for the quick feedback. I get lots of stuff from you guys. I've see those shafts and gears on ur website and am definatly going to make the investment however I have college tuition due n a few weeks and am hoping to have the car on the track Saturday.

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Originally Posted by Jb35

Big e thanks for the quick feedback. I get lots of stuff from you guys. I've see those shafts and gears on ur website and am definatly going to make the investment however I have college tuition due n a few weeks and am hoping to have the car on the track Saturday.

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Make sure you get all the oil passages in the block clean, along with the pan, pick-up, and oil pump! Many times you'll also end up replacing at least the main bearings, so check everything out thoroughly before you spend the money to put it back together and go to the track! That's money that you don't want to waste again...

Big E, I have one of your steel gears that has the teeth messed up due to someone using it with a cast dist gear. Do you offer a steel replacement gear by itself that I can purchase?

The 4 biggest reasons for losing the gears are:

Revving the engine up with cold thick oil(always let it get to 180 before you turn the rpm's up)
Wore out auxiliary shaft bearings
Lack of proper lubrication
Junk in the oil pump(or a oil pump that is trying to seize)

i dont know what Esslinger stocks for auxiliary shaft bearings,but Race Engineering www.raceeng.com carries a nice auxiliary shaft bearing set that is designed to spray oil right on the gears,and the price is amazing.

Here is the link to the bearings http://www.raceeng.com/p-12589-auxil...e-oil-set.aspx

i have seen others drill and tap the block and run an oil line to the distributor gear,but in theory that should not have to be done if everything else is set up right.

If you want a bronze gear that you can run with the stock cast auxiliary shaft,i do have them for $45 plus shipping and they include a 3/16" rollpin,all you need to do is remove your gear,press this gear on,and drill with a #13 drill bit and install the rollpin. If you dont want to attempt this,i also offer a complete distributor with new gear installed,both in TFI and Duraspark versions.

Erick,
I have a bunch of the tfi distributors, I would trade you for one that is set up like that. I have been lucky so far but it might catch up with me.

Thanks guys ill take all the advice and put it into use asap. However I figured out what caused this last one to go. The screws that hold the shaft in place under the pulley vibrated loose. Check the simple stuff first right.

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Originally Posted by car62

i dont know what Esslinger stocks for auxiliary shaft bearings

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Esslinger was the ORIGINATOR of the machined intermediate shaft bearings! Our pn# E2434-5 are priced at $41 a set I believe. The bearing that sits next to the distributor has a groove machined around it's circumfrence as well as another uniquely positioned and sized groove to squirt a small stream of presurized oil onto the distributor gear to intermediate shaft interface. They are Clevite bearings that we modifiy in house.

In case it matters, we have recently adjusted pricing of all our bearings to position us as the LOWEST PRICE OPTION for your bearing needs. Our new pricing is only possible because we are now a Master WD for Mahle/ Clevite products.

Calm down there Big E....wasnt saying anything negative
"Brand X' as we will call them "donated" a set to try...was the 1st time i had ever seen them


Im not 1 of these deep pocket guys,so i race on a very limited budget,as well as very limited races...which also means i cannot afford all these hi-tech parts.

What i do know,is i have 1 of your round tooth cam gears that laid itself open,(the 1st gen 5 bolt type)and you guys wouldnt do anything about it when i called you,because it was "too old"...to a budget racer that is not very good customer support,i wasnt asking for a free gear,just maybe a discounted outer portion,as the blue center hub was and is still in good shape.

But,that is just my own personal opinion...im sure your higher dollar customers are treated just the same as i was ;)

I also have one of your double groove waterpump pulleys that has cracked spokes,you can look at it and see it has never been involved in a wreck,and there are a few people on here from my track that know how i drive,and im not out tearing up my equipment...but i didnt even bother to call you guys on that pulley,because i was pretty sure nothing would be done about it either.

Haha... I wasn't worked up. I appologize if it came across that way! All I was trying to do is make sure that you and everyone else knew that we did indeed offer the machined intermediate shaft gears, and that we have DRASTICALLY reduced our prices on all of our bearings recently...

As for your cam gear problem, that I am suprised by as well as how it was dealt with! As the sales manager here now, and especially since the change in ownership, we are super focused on trying to ensure that our customers are taken care of 100% of the time in a manner that is fair to all parties involved! If you still have the broken outer gear, and would like a replacement, I will exchange it for you for just the cost of the freight. I would really like to see what failed and where, so I can make sure we are offerring you and all the rest of our customers the best product possible!

Just like the cam gear outer, if you return the water pump pulley to me and it hasn't been bent, I will gladly get it replaced too! How old is the 2 groove water pump pulley? What belt are you using to drive it? And what crank pulley are you using?

Brian Axup
Sales Manager
Esslinger Engineering

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Originally Posted by car62

Calm down there Big E....wasnt saying anything negative
"Brand X' as we will call them "donated" a set to try...was the 1st time i had ever seen them


Im not 1 of these deep pocket guys,so i race on a very limited budget,as well as very limited races...which also means i cannot afford all these hi-tech parts.

What i do know,is i have 1 of your round tooth cam gears that laid itself open,(the 1st gen 5 bolt type)and you guys wouldnt do anything about it when i called you,because it was "too old"...to a budget racer that is not very good customer support,i wasnt asking for a free gear,just maybe a discounted outer portion,as the blue center hub was and is still in good shape.

But,that is just my own personal opinion...im sure your higher dollar customers are treated just the same as i was ;)

I also have one of your double groove waterpump pulleys that has cracked spokes,you can look at it and see it has never been involved in a wreck,and there are a few people on here from my track that know how i drive,and im not out tearing up my equipment...but i didnt even bother to call you guys on that pulley,because i was pretty sure nothing would be done about it either.

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i was using your 4" single groove power pulley
i didnt pull the hub out of the cam gear,i just sent both pieces(cam gear/waterpump pulley) to you in a flat rate priority mail box,so you should have them friday or saturday

i do appreciate this

I havnt been racing very long, howver I just wanted to say I have a lot of esslinger parts, and havnt had trouble with any yet. I have also had great customer service from them and I would rate them a 5 star company for sure. Also since they have changed their website, its probably the best and easiest to navigate racing website there is out there. Not to down talk race eng I have used some of there stuff with as good results and have had no complaints with tech support.

In the past I have had some experiences like many of you. In the past several months Esslinger has (Brian) shown that they are there to help the racer and customer. I am in the process of trying a different engine build (ranger 2.0) and Brian has been most helpful with tips such as going to a 10 mm plug to get more compression to helping me get a light weight crank. I just can't say enough about the service. Thanks for listening. Robertms

He actually flew to Glencoe AL. for the Bama Bash and withstood 30 degree weather for 3 days visiting racers.

big e tech,
if i remember correctly i bought a set of aux shaft brgs from racer walsh in 2001 that had the spray mod for the dist gear. i have used a number of big e parts over the years with no problems but their prices has also forced me to use other companys parts, also with very few problems. it's not always about who you get the part from but how you prep and use the part.

olin

by the way, what are you paying for iron heads and efi intakes. i live in northern calif. and have a number of both.

jb35,
i run m86c or m86e pumps with tfi distributors and have never had a problem with stock gears, roll pins, or stock aux shafts. i DO use some common sence and not run the engines up until they are fully warmed up. i run my engines from 7500 to 8500 rpm. i have a 2264.5 big e vacuum cam i turn to 7500, schneider hyd cam i turn to 8000, and had a jbv solid i turned to 8500, all with no problem when set up correctly and fully warmed up.

olin

I was running the M86E pumps for a long time. The qaulity of the machine work got so bad I switced to the M127 pumps.

Robert you must be running the new head. we did the 10mm plug 2 years ago. don't put all you eggs in the big e basket
they are not what they are cracked up to be. i have been silent, watching what has been said, on here,facebook etc.
they have a long way to go.

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Originally Posted by 56Racing

I was running the M86E pumps for a long time. The qaulity of the machine work got so bad I switced to the M127 pumps.

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i haven't bought a new pump in 8-10 years. i disassemble my old pumps, clean and inspect them, and reuse them. even the original pumps can work if inspected and are in good shape.

olin

i agree about the pump dont waste money clean the old one

I ran 2.3's for a long time and never had a failure with the stock shaft or gear. But that said from day 1 I would remove the fuel pump lobe (electric pump) and turn it down smooth and make sure of the pattern and also the dist. shaft was free. Had a couple rebuilt ones tighten up. I did this for another racer that was breaking them all the time and he tore it up first night out but was a start it up and go on the track guy that did not think you should allow the motor to warm up and the oil either. I would idle my motors to 200 degrees and shut it down and let it soak about 15 minutes before I went out. As for the Melling oil pumps, check them before you put them in. I lost a brand new motor when a yellow o-ring got stuck in the releif system. Never saw a yellow _o-ring in a 2.3 ever.