Engine: Oil pump driveshaft

[MRHawkes]

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum and a little shy about asking a bunch of strangers for help. I have been working on my Hawk for a few days trying to figure out an ignition problem. Thank you first of all, to the many members, for all the information that has already been posted. I know that my problems have been encountered before by someone out there.

My question for this thread is: how much play is acceptable between the oil pump driveshaft and the coupler on the bottom of the distributor? Delco-Remy 1110964 on a 259 cu in. There seems to be far too much in my own opinion, but before I start ripping and tearing it apart, I thought to ask those in the know. Perhaps it really can wait for the off season.

Thank you for any response, and I hope you will not be strangers for long. This car is not going anywhere.

Matthew

[Tom Bredehoft]

Welcome to the best car hobby forum. If I understand your question, you have some radial play between the distributor shaft and the oil pump drive shaft. I had mine out last night, and the 'stinger' is sorta floppy, but once its in place, there's no problem It's not easy to put it in, it flops around, and won't go into the hole easily, but beyond that, I have no concern about continued operation.

[Bud]

The shafts fit loosley on the distributor shaft. As long as the collar that holds the shaft to the distributor isn't cracked, you shouldn't have any problems except with installation which sometimes can give you a problem. Bud

[MRHawkes]

Thanks for your reply, Tom, and also to your welcome to the forum. "Sorta floppy" is really what my concern was. The radial play is only about 0.010' but the clearance between the shaft and coupler also has about the same measurement. This causes the shaft to have a pendulum motion which of course is huge when reaching the end of the shaft. I come from the manufacturing trades, so when I first seen that kind of movement, I only thought two things: worn out, or poor craftsmanship. 52 years of use on what appears to be an original part, can rule out poor craftsmanship. I am encouraged to hear "Sorta floppy" is OK.

Matthew

[MRHawkes]

Thanks to you too, Bud. I will do a double check for cracks when I take the coupler off to change the brass washer/spacer above the drive gear.