Check Intermediate shaft procedure

Hey all, I cant seem to find a thread that addresses the way to inspect or verify that the I-shaft is OK while still in the engine. THX

Are you concerned about the teeth where they mesh with the oil pump, or the bearing surfaces? Either way, I would pull the pan, and have a look. If you take the timing belt off and the retainer, you can slide it out enough for inspection without pulling the engine.

I am not concerned with the teeth, I'm sure their good. I just wanted to make sure the shaft wouldn't be causing a spark scatter at high rpm under boost. I'm going to be reducing the plug gaps to see if that will eliminate the miss above 5000 rpm.

I think the shutter wheel on the dist. is more of a problem than the slack in the teeth between the int shaft and oil pump. If that gets too sloppy, you've got bigger problems than timing.

Check for excessive play where the distributor meets the oil pump. You can peen the tabs on the distributor to take up some of the play if needed.

turn the motor over by hand (or wrench if you will....) and every 1/4 turn, check the play of the rotor on the distributor. if its the same at every crank angle for 4 rotations, then you are good. if the rotor fits a little loose, add a small piece of electrical tape to the shaft of the dizzy (1/8"x3/8" with half on the top of the shaft and half draped over the shaft before you put the rotor on to make sure its tight)

then check the wiggle as you rotate the engine over and check. i saw a daytona with no play for some of the rotation and then significant play for the rest of the rotation cause the i-shaft and oil pump gear were muffed.

Brian

Pull the distributor and look in the hole. Rotate the engine over by hand while rocking the gear back and forth with a screw driver.

Common to get one spot that is worn for some reason when the gear is head out the door.

"knife edge" of the gears can cause massive spark scatter and is why the last engine in the Reliant failed, one reason I'm going to crank trigger on next engine.

Thanks all, that is valuable, useful info. I am going to try the plugs first IF it ever stops raining in southern Wi so I will have dry roads.

Thanks all, that is valuable, useful info. I am going to try the plugs first IF it ever stops raining in southern Wi so I will have dry roads.