I think this it a problem gm has had with the material they are using for this gear like I said before 3 or 4 of my gears wore thin before I caught it .Check shoe box site for a replacement gear part no. that might be a better one but remember to always check it when you have the intake off. watch your oil pressure because you have suck pieces of broken teeth thur your pump! Glad to hear you got it running.

 

I've experienced this THREE times; all three on different engines using different camshafts. One was a 355 L98, another a 415 L98 and the final one was my 96 LT1 which only lasted about 2 thousand miles.

All three were new and were GM gears and two were even a GM melonized gears. I used moly-lube on all three and even used a tooth brush to get the lube down into the teeth.

The common thread in all three was HV oil pumps; but NOT the same oil pump. All three pumps were different and each was installed new. One Melling (10555) and two were Moroso pumps (forgot the #s); but the Moroso pumps had the anti-cavitation slots, etc.

I firmly believe it's the HV pumps that are killing the gears.

My concern now is the LT1 setup. On the L98 engines, the engine would shut off when the distributor gear died, but not so with the LT1.

Since the LT1 Opti is at the front of the engine, the engine will continue running even after the stub shaft gear fails. Engine will run with NO OIL PRESSURE.

I'm wondering if anyone has moved to installing an oil pressure switch that will shut down the engine when oil pressure drops to below a certain amount. This would save the engine bearings should the dash warning light not work or not been noticed.

Thanks,

Jake

West Point ROCKS!

 

Good point! this would solve a lot of the problem of not watching the gauge every min!!! Mine ran for 3 mins for I look down at the dash.

 

Yeah, that would be a good idea to have a fail safe in there. How could that be done?

 

I found a switch in one of the catalogs (JEGS or SUMMIT) a while back that shuts down the engine when oil pressure drops below a certain pressure.

I can't recall which mag it was or any other features. I'm going to look through the two catalogs I have and see if I can find it. When I come up with something, I'll post it.

Jake

West Point ROCKS!

 

Kinda like no2 switch we use on dry system. when it get below 50 pd`s it shut off the system. post it if you come up with something! thanks.

 

Here's one I found.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

Jake

West Point ROCKS!

 

Looks like a good idea but having it cut gas all of a sudden sounds bad. Maybe just hook it to something else that you may notice like the mileage/trip light on the dash? If someone could draw up a circuit that flashes those it would be even better. Or, hook it to the Check Engine light using the optional light connection.

I think I found the T needed for this: http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...DS=1&N=700+115

Hal

 

ACE hardware carries all those type fittings in different diameters, lengths and threads.

Jake

West Point ROCKS!