Reply to "Role pin for distributor - setup unclear"

Matthias

I am well familiar with this topic. Nobody that I know has ever snapped a standard Ford oil pump drive shaft. Your Pantera's engine does not need a heavy duty oil pump drive shaft. However when owners install the heavy duty shaft, the roll pin shears. It is the use of the aftermarket parts wherein the troubles arise.

My advice is to use standard Ford parts. A Ford distributor, a Ford distributor gear held in place by a standard Ford single roll pin (which has been described above as a split pin), a standard size Ford oil pump drive shaft, a standard volume & standard pressure oil pump. Make sure the distributor gear fits tightly upon the distributor shaft, to the extent that it must be pressed onto the shaft. And make sure the gear is installed on the shaft at the proper dimension. Disassemble the oil pump, de-burr it, clean it thoroughly, lubricate it, reassemble it using thread locker on the fasteners. This assembly will not fail, it will perform its job as it was designed to do. These parts are easy to find. Hundreds of millions of Fords have operated for hundreds of thousands of miles each using these parts without leaving a single owner stranded once.

This king has no clothes.