Rover 215 camshaft gear issue

[goldroaster]

Good morning.
I had a customer drop off a 1994 Rover 215 engine with an aftermarket camshaft that he rebuilt and wanted to start and break in the camshaft on my test stand.
Prior to start up, I primed the engine with a dummy distributor and drill which yielded a pressure of 40 psi.
After setting the distributor back in place, engine was timed and run for the break in period for the new camshaft.
After 12 minutes, the engine just cut off. Oil pressure was between 35 psi at 2000 rpms prior to cut off.
After close examination, I found that the camshaft drive gear for the distributor stripped.

Yesterday, I took the front cover off to find the issue with the gear.
Disassembling the timing gear I found the following:
1. No lubrication on the drive gear at all.
2. The washer holding the drive gear totally enclosed the keyway. There were no grooves on the washer to allow oil to go thru.
3. The drive gear was solid on both sides - no groove on either side.
4.Keyway in camshaft had the correct spacing to allow oil to pass thru.
5.The hole in the camshaft to allow oil was not in line with the keyway. The hole was offset from the keyway in which the timing gear was covering the hole.

It was obvious that there was no lubrication to the drive gear.
The main question that I have - should the oil weep hole be in line with the keyway?
Thank you for your help.

[ChrisJC]

Googling for Rover V8 camshafts indicates that the little hole through the flange on the camshaft should align with the keyway. Then the oil can come out of the bearing (later ones had slots on them), through the flange, along the keyway through the gear, then through the keyway on the spacer. I guess there must be a way out at the end to get onto the distributor drivegear.

Chris.

[ChrisJC]

The drawing indicates that the washer on the very end has no holes in it, so oil must escape somehow in the gear.

Chris.

[Ian Anderson]

John Eales, a noted Rover Specialist who tweaked the engine in my GT40 installed a short braided pipe to add additional oil to the said gears.

Discussed here
https://classicroverforum.net/index.php ... red.26062/

So it is a known problem area but normally only on hig revving engines.

My car is sold so I cannot snap a photo of the mod

Ian

[jp928]

Hammil recommends the holes in the front face of the block. I have also seen a mod drilling a small (1-1.5mm)in the front cover where the oil pump output enters the block to spray oil directly on the skew gears.

jp 74 P6B S

[ChrisJC]

That's a good idea!

Chris.