Car broken just before rally

[FGT1987]

Similar to JAXGT I'm having problems with GT a day before transport. I too took my car in to get the belt replaced to stop squeaking and the mechanics discovered my oil pump bearing is shot and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately being in Canada the necessary parts are coming from Memphis and will take many days to get here - border delays and all. Seeing as how it needs to be worked on from underneath the car a lift of some sort will be needed so I was thinking to arrange to have the parts sent to a local shop and fixing the car once there (the oil pump still works good enough to get car to transport truck). So question is - does anyone know of a shop in Vegas that they could recommend.

Thanks in advance

Bob

 

[twobjshelbys]

Gaudin Ford - owner is a bona fide car nut and has a GT along with a Porsche 918. I'd make arrangements for the part to get there and then you can get the car over to him on Monday.

 

[FGT1987]

Perfect - thank-you

 

[RALPHIE]

Kendall & Ryan (nota4re) will be there, and may be able to fix it - I believe they have a lift in their garage at Spring Mountain.

 

[nota4re]

my oil pump bearing is shot

Very strange. Are you saying the squeaking was really from the bad bearing?

 

[FGT1987]

No, I believe the squeaking was from the belt. The oil pump bearing problem was just discovered while changing the belt.

 

[Beach-GT]

How many miles on your car? Since the tension is set by a tensioner I'd rule out damage from over tightening. Maybe just a poor bearing to start. I've only had mine off once and saw no issues. One more thing to be aware of.

 

[nota4re]

Call me paranoid but I wonder if someone didn't know what they were doing when they tried to change the oil pump belt..... seems kind of coincidental. Now if the squeak was in reality coming from the oil pump bearing then I wouldn't be so suspicious.

 

[FGT1987]

Thanks Kendall, PM sent

 

[nota4re]

Call me paranoid but I wonder if someone didn't know what they were doing when they tried to change the oil pump belt..... seems kind of coincidental

The likely reality is that the dealership may have saved Bob an engine. Longtimers on this forum will recall some early reports of rust -disintegrating oil pump pulleys. I remember the pics vividly. Scary. It appears that this dealership noticed rust dust and further found a loose pulley and damaged splines. Bravo! Based on this - which I previously thought was very isolated, I think we may insist on the extra labor to remove the belt cover and inspect the oil pump pulleys at every oil change interval. The "heart" of the GT is nothing to take lightly.

 

[FGT1987]

To answer your question Beach-GT, my car has 11,500 miles and just installed the 3rd belt since doing the conversion a number of years ago.

But more importantly, like Kendall says, I was very fortunate that they discovered the oil pulley problem before a major catastrophe - there was no indication of a problem before they discovered it. This is what the work order said:

Tech noticed rust dust in cover. A closer look found that the oil pump drive pulley is loose on oil pump shaft and has damaged splines on oil pump drive gear....

So it was just a matter of time before the pulley would have given out and possibly cost me an engine.

 

[FGT1987]

Sorry - just reread my post, by conversion I mean upgrading to a 3.3l Whipple

Cheers

 

[jcthorne]

Just a question, but is it considered normal for a Whipple to go though 3 drive belts in 11,500 miles?

I do not have a Whipple, just the stock SC. Changed the original SC drive belt when I installed the smaller pulley. It had 13k then +/- and 24k now. That original belt looked fine as does the one with 11k in 3 yrs on there now. Also the comments about the whipples only being designed for a 10k mile life? I had been seriously considering a 3.4 Whipple upgrade at some point but perhaps I drive the car too much for this to be practical.

 

[Thugboat]

jcthorne

Was that you at Supercar Saturday last week in Houston????

Larry

 

[jcthorne]

No, not me. I was down at Wallis Autofest last Sat. Did not know about Supercar Saturday. Any links?

 

[FGT1987]

Hi jcthorne. The Whipple belt squeaking issue has been a known problem for awhile with a few recommended solutions that have been posted in the past. My plan is to talk to fellow Whipple owners at the rally and find out what works best. I know there was a post describing replacing a pulley and adding some spacers to help the alignment but Kendall suggested all I need to do is loosen up the belt tension somewhat - perhaps that's all that's needed.

I too was rather surprised to read that the life expediency of the Whipple is only 10K miles - certainly cause for concern as I'm quickly approaching that.

Cheers