I have had a few problems with an aftermarket gear driven oil pump and would like to pass on the following information for those interested.
4 years ago on a 600 mile trip from Sydney (Australia) to Queensland I had an oil pump failure. It was in the middle of nowhere and it was pouring rain at the time.
2 hours later and very wet, we had removed the sump, fixed the loose fitting on the pump and got safely home after 1800 miles of touring eastern Australia.
6 months ago I was planning another 1800 odd mile trip and decided to check the offending pump before I left home. I noticed that it had some marks on it where it looked like the crankshaft counter weights had touched it. I know the old engine is getting tired and must have had too much crankshaft endfloat, so I ground of the offending pieces of the pump. There was plenty of meat to allow this. We did trip ok. The gear driven pump is much wider than the original.
Recently the pump failed again and this time was replaced with the original. The cause of the failure was a long term result of the 1st failure as the pump had been bent from the initial contact with the crankshaft and the gear had then cut a small groove in the base plate, etc.
If you plan fitting an aftermarket gear driven type pump it would be worthwhile to remove 10 thou or so where the counterweights go close to the shaft to avoid this happening.
I guess that after owning the 34 for 27 years and covering over 50,000 miles myself, taking the original mileage to over 100, 000 miles I might shout it a new engine - after we return from the 35th Anniversary Rally next week.
Chris
