SOHC motor stripping oil pump/distributor drive gear...

[Schmitty_FC]

Here's my problem... I just rebuilt the motor and finished my 5 spd swap on my 89 hatch. I originally set the timing with the motor on the stand, crank at TDC and disty rotor pointed at the #1 spartk plug wire. The car ran... but it ran rough... I searched the site for solutions and came up with the answer that I should be setting the timing at 15* before TDC. I took out my oil pump and rotated the shaft so that when the crank was 15* before TDC the rotor was pointing at the #1 wire. I reinstalled everything and the car idled and ran smoothly. I put a total of 50 miles on it and the engine died. I figured out that the gear, on the shaft driving the disty and the oil pump, had stripped. I put a different shaft with a good gear in today and re-timed it and it ran fantastically for about a mile and then the motor quit again... so that's the second gear it has stripped...

So my question is... why would this be happening? Am I setting the timing incorrectly and that is what's causing the problem? Could it be something I did when I was rebuilding my motor? I put the chamfered end, of the drive gear on the crank, towards the timing chain sprocket, like you would on an L-series engine, is this the wrong way? Any other suggestions? Help me get this car running so I can sell it and put my money in my S30 instead!!!

Thanks,
Rob

[dopeassjackson]

its the gear that drives the shaft? not the splines on eather end? is there any scoreing on where the shaft rides against the front cover? that dissy/oil pump timing thing is a bitch

[Schmitty_FC]

The gear on the shaft is stripping... the gear on the crank looked fine after the first gear stripped. I haven't had it apart after the second time... I'll have to look at the front cover when I take it apart tomorrow...