Heres the info we got. This has been seen on 3.8L Stangs, Taurus and windstars, that gear or pin could wear out and cause rough idles, hard starts, hesitations, stalling, chugging under acceleration, and all kinds of driving issues. Damons cam sensor is seeking a reference at start up and under acceleration. With his cam sensor plugged in he has hard starts, the engine stalls, it runs even worse then before and he has to keep on the gas to even let it idle. If we unplug the sensor it goes to a closed loop ignition setting and the car still runs like crap, hesitates under load, but will idle without stalling. Here's our theory which was backed up by my mechanic who has seen this before. With Damons tune and added power, the closed loop timing setting isn't advanced enough to power the car under a load. If it was running 100% with it plugged in, he would experience the same problems he has now if he went and unplugged it. Damons tune is relying on the reference its getting by the cam sensor to advance the timing and give the car power under load. Now if that gear is worn or unaligned, its not going to give the right cam reference at all and throw his timing all out of whack and that's why his car run like total crap with it plugged in.
I understand that the shaft drives the oil pump gear just like a old school distributor carb engine, but I was told any free play at all in that pin or gear can be enough to cause issues. I'm sure Damons tune is on the edge of what it can do so that's probably why it seems 100 times worse then on a stock or slightly modified car with a basic tune.
We are going to take it apart Saturday. It don't take much to take a look at it or swap it out to be sure. Its one more thing to cross off the list.