Dauntless Fuel Pump Eccentric Oiling

My, 2000 mile since rebuilt, Dauntless fuel pump eccentric has a wear groove in it and the timing chain is showing evidence of poor oiling. The key-way oiling path through the cam appears clear and the oil pressure is around 40 psi at idle.
Has anyone seen this problem and any fix suggestions?
My engine builder suggests that I drill a small hole in the block oil plug, behind the cam, to allow additional oil into the timing chain cover.
Thanks

 

The original fuel pump eccentric was hard chrome plated. They look kind of like a satin chrome. They hardly ever got wear.
I helped a friend assemble a Dauntless a year or two ago. New cam, lifters , eccentric, timing chain and sprockets, etc. About 6 months ago, he had poor running/ hard starting. Fuel delivery was marginal.
Long story short, he pulled the timing cover and the eccentric had a deep groove cut in it. The aftermarket eccentric was very soft metal (diecast ?) and was junk.
The pan was full of gray powder sludge too.
Your oiling may be fine. Maybe you got one of the same junk metal eccentrics?
-Donny

 

Thanks, This sounds like my problem, the after market eccentric looks like it's cast pot metal cast and it has a well established groove with only 2000 miles after a complete rebuild. I questioned the company about it and they assured me that it was hardened....
I've got the sludge and related contamination problems now.

How did your buddy resolve the problem? Electric fuel pump, new eccentric....Do you think additional oiling would help?
Gary

 

Here’s a normal looking eccentric for comparison.

 

The problem is likely the "new" replacement parts are not the quality of the originals. Allen's photo above shows what a typical well used eccentric looks like, hardly any wear. I don't know how hard it is to find an original, even used.
If you can't find an original, like was the situation with my friend, you can leave the fuel pump off (blanking the cover), and switch to an electric pump. I doubt you could overcome the issue with additional oiling.
-Donny

 

Thanks for the picture, mine looks pretty sad. TA performance is the only after market provider that I have been able to find and I don't think there eccentric is as good as they think. I'd sure like to find a NOS part.

I think your right about the difficulty and uncertainty of trying to overcome the problem with additional oiling. Without a more confident solution the electric pump is probably the best.

 

The eccentric on my friend's 225 looked worse than yours, though yours has premature wear based on the miles of use you have.
I'm wondering if you could have a fuel pump with the incorrect length arm that rides on the eccentric, as in wrong part number even though the pump looks similar. I've broken a timing cover trying to install the incorrect a wrong pump before, though it wasn't a Dauntless.
-Donny

 

Thanks for your thoughts, I have used 2 fuel pumps on the problem so far. I've been chasing a disturbing noise in the engine camshaft area for some time. I thought it was the fuel pump but it wasn't evident so I changed the pump, just in case, with a different manufacturer. Both pumps looked similar and worked correctly but the noise persisted. I took the engine apart to try to find the noise and found the fuel pump eccentric wear along with a bad cam, lifters and contamination. What first caused the problem is under debate, but the eccentric looks worn and discolored for lack of oil. This is where the engine builder thinks that drilling a small hole in the oil plug to spray additional oil in the area might work.
An electric pump looks like the easy answer, but I would prefer the manufacture's solution.
Gary

 

The engine I rebuilt, the fuel pump eccentric was wore worse than yours, found a NOS one on ebay. Found this on Ebay

NEW 215 300 340 198 225 Buick Cam Shaft Fuel Pump Eccentric 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 | eBay

 

This was the eccentric from my engine before the rebuild

 

Pretty sad. Is that an original part? That looks like my original eccentric.
With all of the stories of worn eccentrics, and timing chain wear I'm concerned about adequate oiling coming from the cam keyway.

Thanks for the EBay heads-up on the eccentric, I'll check it out. TA performance showed mercy on me and sent me a replacement eccentric, But I'm not sure if I want to go down that same path.

 

I am wondering about the tension of the finger in the fuel pump. What is it set at?

 

The pump is a stock fuel pump for the 225 with no tension adjustment that I'm aware of.
Thanks

 

There is no tension adjustment, just think how is it set when they are made

 

I Pushed on the arm when I was first installing the pumps and both pumps seemed like a reasonable tension.
Thanks