North American Turbocoupe Organization



Burning through intermediate shafts
bmcilwee Offline
Junior Member
#1
I had a remanned engine put in a couple years ago and have subsequently burned through two intermediate shafts (the gear) at about 1k miles each.  My local mechanic is stumped as well as several engine builder friends.

1. Has anyone here heard of this as an issue?
2. Does anyone know where I can find more intermediate shafts?  The only ford dealer that has them wants about 10x for them.
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#2
Failing oil pump with high internal friction or distributor that doesnt turn freely (bad bushings causing lots of friction can cause the gear in the distributor and/or the gear on the intermediate shaft to fail. Running heavy weight oil can also cause gear failure. If the intermediate shaft gear fails, the shaft must be replaced AND the distributor gear must also be replaced. Esslinger sells billet shafts and the corresponding dist gear, but they are quite pricy.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#3
Just another thought, would a timing belt adjusted too tight be putting too much strain on the shaft and bearings?
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
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vegas_ss Offline
Senior Member
#4
If you didn't get all the small bits and pieces from the sheared gears and crud out of the oil pan they can cause blockage which can strain the oil pump drive and cause the gears to get chewed up.
1987 TC, 5sp, Boport Stage 3 Head/2.1 Cam
1996 Impala SS, DCM, Borla Cat Back, too much other stuff!!! (SOLD)
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP 6M, 6.2l LS3, Kooks Long Tube, Hi Flo Cats, Mild Cam
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anasazi4st Offline
Senior Member
#5
(10-22-2020, 11:19 AM)Kuch Wrote: Just another thought, would a timing belt adjusted too tight be putting too much strain on the shaft and bearings?

I don’t believe it is possible to put a timing belt on “too tight”. (Believe me, I have tried to put it on as tightly as possible.) More often it seems like it is not tight enough.

The spring tensioner is designed to take up any slack that might occur—and usually does—with the installation. Due to the design of the system, if you DID somehow get the belt on too tightly, after the installation—when you rotate the belt 360 degrees through its rotation twice—you should be able to feel it binding, I would think.
Another proud dues-paying member.

1987 Turbo Coupe w/T5OD, 8.8 axle, grey smoke; most options. Got it in 1991 with 41K miles: 3 turbos, 2 heater cores, 3 T5OD full rebuilds, 6 clutches, 1 head gasket, 2 Teves II ABS units, etc. later....
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#6
^^^ Agree 100% Tensioner spring is calibrated to set the timing belt tension correctly (assuming you buy a high quality name brand timing belt kit).

On a side note, when taking the TC on a road trip, one thing I always carry in the trunk is a new timing belt kit just in case it fails, along with other common failure parts like a TFI, spare serp belts, etc) and my "road trip tool box". Never needed it myself, but several years ago at Carlisle, one of our members timing belt broke as quite a number of us were pulling into a restaurant in Carlisle around 7 PM. All parts stores were closed. To make a long story short, using my spare timing belt, we put my spare belt and tensioner on his car in the parking lot and we had his TC up and running within 45 minutes.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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anasazi4st Offline
Senior Member
#7
(10-25-2020, 01:23 PM)Jeff K Wrote: ^^^ Agree 100%  Tensioner spring is calibrated to set the timing belt tension correctly (assuming you buy a high quality name brand timing belt kit).

On a side note, when taking the TC on a road trip, one thing I always carry in the trunk is a new timing belt kit just in case it fails, along with other common failure parts like a TFI, spare serp belts, etc) and my "road trip tool box".  Never needed it myself, but several years ago at Carlisle, one of our members timing belt broke as quite a number of us were pulling into a restaurant in Carlisle around 7 PM. All parts stores were closed. To make a long story short, using my spare timing belt, we put my spare belt and tensioner on his car in the parking lot and we had his TC up and running within 45 minutes.

Second all that. In addition to those I also have a timing gun with me; I know I could probably set the timing “by ear”, but my thought is just do it once the right way.

Per Jeff’s suggestion I also carry extra ignition switch and connector, and starter solenoid among other parts
Another proud dues-paying member.

1987 Turbo Coupe w/T5OD, 8.8 axle, grey smoke; most options. Got it in 1991 with 41K miles: 3 turbos, 2 heater cores, 3 T5OD full rebuilds, 6 clutches, 1 head gasket, 2 Teves II ABS units, etc. later....
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vegas_ss Offline
Senior Member
#8
I tow along an extra car... Just in case Wink
1987 TC, 5sp, Boport Stage 3 Head/2.1 Cam
1996 Impala SS, DCM, Borla Cat Back, too much other stuff!!! (SOLD)
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP 6M, 6.2l LS3, Kooks Long Tube, Hi Flo Cats, Mild Cam
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