[TR] oil pump/oil pressure assumptions/guesses

[Gary Nafziger]

some time ago i removed distributor in order to turn it so vacuum retard would not rub block.  Took out skew gear (which was prolly my big mistake) to turn so slot to distributor would be changed appropriately.  Immediately on first start I had zero oil pressure.  (I'd forgotten that turning the skew gear also dis-engaged the oil pump.)

Not realizing that....I've since taken out oil pump as well as taken out oil guage and all appear to be normal.  Pump is within specs except for vane to rotating cylinder clearance which is roughly .006.  When I submerge the pickup of pump in oil and spin with drill.........nothing is pumped up and it seems to just be stirring the oil.  

Today i fit the pump with shaft to engine again........tight against and found that I and can turn the vane without making contact with the skew gear.  Looking up into the skew gear from the bottom there still is the groove and the pump shaft still fits in the groove of the skew gear with out the pump body attached.  however when the post/vane and pump body together are shoved up tight the shaft turns without catching the groove.

needless to say I've ordered a new oil pump but my questions are:  When the motor first ran i'm assuming the skew gear was not aligned with the oil pump and spun on the oil pump shaft resulting in either grinding some off.............or engaging and shearing a section off.  I can't tell from looking at the top of the shaft if it looks sheared, its straight.  Is the skew gear possibly not seated as low as it should be?  If so then the distributor should have been impossible to seat tightly.  I'm stumped but obviously I've found out why I have no oil pressure.  I'm just wondering what happened.  When the new oil pump comes many questions will be answered because i'll be able to compare it to the old pump (shaft length and fitment). 

just an odd occurance and i'm losing precious driving time before winter storage. grrrrrrr lol

any comments or ideas are welcome.

gary nafziger