Auxiliary oil pump gear play

[mthibbitts]

Hi There, 

I have an Esslinger oil pump drive gear. When removing my timing belt, I noticed the pulley has a fair amount of play left to right as I rotate it until it turns the distributor. I also noticed that when I lock the timing out on the PIMP ECU the timing fluctuates +/- 2-3 degrees as its idling. 

Is this normal? 

Any input is appreciated. 

Thanks!

[Stinger]

There will always be some play in gear mesh. Timing is stable under load (accelerating, when stable timing matters) as it's pressed up against the side of the teeth. At idle there is no real load so it "floats" a bit.

[88turbobird]

Don't mean to hijack the thread but is this the billet intermediate shaft with associated bronze gear for the distributor? If so, how do you like it? Was thinking of getting one for my current motor build

[mthibbitts]

Thank you Stinger for your response and that makes sense!

88 Turbobird the intermediate shaft is definitely much beefier than the stock one that is for sure! No complaints here.