I was going to suggest a thicker oil pump shim gasket but if it has been on there for 15yrs it should have plenty of clearance.
You aren't wrong, it should spin by hand. Not all gaskets are equal. That's why the TA shim kit is good to have. You want it as tight as possible without binding, which yours is.
I will be on the phone with TA early tomorrow. I was not expecting that taking the pump apart and putting it back together would have created this, but such is my luck. Hopefully they have them in stock...
Did you notice if the gears had a mark on them to indicate which way the went? When i re-did my pump the new gears had a dot on each gear so that you would not place a gear in the wrong direction.
You don't need anything except for maybe a couple gaskets. Take apart, clean & magic marker the cover . Reassemble and see where the gears are rubbing. I always slide the sides of gears and cover around on 400 or 600 grit paper on a flat glass surface. It will takes the burrs off if any and you can thin the rubbing gear by .001 or so. The cover needs to be flat and smooth. Don't give up yet!
I noticed some marks, but they meant nothing to me. I don't know where they're supposed to be or how they are supposed to be aligned. Obviously the drive gear goes only one way, but the driven gear? That can go in anyway.
Good information. Giving up is not an option though. I've got to have this thing back up and running before my daughter kills me since she hasn't had a cruise in a long time.
So I called TA today. I spoke to some super nice guy named Tim. As soon as I said the issue I was having, he said that I have the cover too tight. Apparently it's only 8 ft lb. And yes I definitely did not tighten it to that spec . I retighten them after work tonight, and now the pump free spins. Regardless, I ordered the shim kit from him, even though he wanted to just sell me one of the shims after I measured it to save me money. I'm telling you, those guys are fantastic.
I got the kit and ended up using the regular .009 gasket and the .0015 mylar shim, spins nicely now. The .001 was too tight. Fingers crossed. Edit. Which way do I spin the oil pump primer tool on the drill? Clockwise or counterclockwise. I am unclear on this. No instructions came with the tool, and I have never used one. The oil pan is 5 quarts full now and a pre filled oil filter (well as much as I could without it spilling put) is installed. And I am ready to prime...I think. What say you?
Thanks for the post Larry. This is one thing I wanted to do this fall, pull the oil pump for inspection. But well, now that I found bigger issues and the engine has been pulled I'll let the shop do a thorough oil pump inspection. This has changed my mind set on the high volume kits available I was considering.
If you use the TA oil pump primer tool, do you have to remove the distributor like on a Chevy or where do you put it to turn with a drill?
Yes. Remove distributor and put the tool in and spin with a drill. If you take pictures of the position of the rotor and distributor base before you pull it you may be able to get the distributor lined up back in the same approximate position when you reinstall it. Then the ignition timing should be close assuming it was correct when you started. I also like the practice of squirting some oil in the sending unit hole first to get a faster prime.
Anytime you remove the timing cover, you have the potential of losing prime. You should always spin the pump to confirm oil pressure once you put the cover back on. If the gears have oil on them, it will prime right up. You are risking your engine if you don't do this, it is not optional IMHO.
Thanks. Yeah, so my water pump was leaking, and when I went to change I found 2 of the small bolt heads were already broken off. Then after I soaked it down with penetrating oil for 24 hours and tried to rock the little bolts back and forth a little, even with a wrench without much torque, the heads broke off. Every single one of the little bolts snapped off and 2 of the medium length ones including the alternator bracket bolt. I got the 4 long bolts out no problem. All the snapped smaller bolts seem like they have the studs still there, but I think they are are still in the timing cover, so I think I will have to remove the timing cover now, to get them all out by drilling or removal with a stud removal tool after soaking timing cover in parts washer and do the whole oil pump priming process. Or I am just going to buy TA’s timing cover to go along with my new TA water pump. Fun times!
I was watching this video. Starting at 6:15, he says the 67-70 timing chain cover has a 1/2 inch feed line but the later years have 5/8 inch. Can you swap in a TA timing chain cover in a 1967 430, or will the feed line be too small? Do the TA timing chain covers have a 5/8 inch feed line? Also is this guy on video, Dallas on the forum and does anyone know if he is near Nashville? I think he has a YouTube channel called Mr Rodder’s Neighborhood?
