I must have killed a china-man!

[Hasbeen]

Fuel tank looks good.

I re tuned the 7s carbs & the engine was puring.

Went to the exhaust shop. He found the front box slightly bent, from my encounter with the skip. That was the reason for the exhaust bumping on the body, so that was replaced. Drove over every big bump for a few miles of back road, exhaust now not hitting anything.

Drove down the highway to another town, & the little thing was puring even more.

Picked up a few things & headed for home. Suddenly a mild bang, followed by a "chuffing" sound. Coasted to a stop, & lifted bonnet/hood. Some smoke or steam under there, clearing to show No 3 spark plug no longer in the cylinder head, but just sitting there, on the end of it's lead.

Got a lift home from a friendly driver passing by, & am now waiting for my mate with his tilt tray truck to pick me up, to go get the thing.

I guess this will teach me not to boast about how reliable my 7 is.

Would you believe this will be my first head removal on a 7. Must tell my daughter to keep the grand kids away from the shed. I expect lots of impolite language may occur soon.

Hasbeen

[Beans]

You should be able to repair the thread with th ecylinder head in situ.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="3"><font color="red">My full Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size3"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[dycecooper]

T might not even be damaged, it was possibly loose

[Hasbeen]

I have now fetched the car, but as it is now 9 PM I'll have a look at it tomorrow.

Yes Beans there was a mobile repair service that inserted a sleeve in stripped plug holes. I had no 2 sleeved when I bought the car, & it has given no problem.

That was over 60,000Km ago, so I'll do a few tests & if there is any doubt, I'll shout her a top end overhaul.

Yes possible dycecooper, I had the plugs out recently during a tuning session, but everything appeared to go together nicely. Know more tomorrow.

Hasbeen

[FI Spyder]

Rich-in-Vancouver helicoiled his spark plug that blew out by the side of a highway with high speed traffic going past. Not sure now how he got the major stuff out but minor stuff he just let the engine blow it out the exhaust valves. He did a post. So it is possible.

On my lettuce run I noticed a tinny sound when I hit a bump, first thought it was the sound of going over pipe caps in the road, now I'm not so sure. I may put it up on jack stands to have a look, hope to do it when it rains but next 10 day forecast is pure sun. We'll see. I've got a set of drilled and slotted rotors waiting to be put on that where given me.



- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

[Hasbeen]

I found the plug will happily screw into it's hole, but does not appear to want to tighten. I didn't' try too hard.

I also noticed the plug was very clean, like it had been washed. That worried me, they weren't that clean when I tuned the thing a few days ago, so I checked the water.

It took just over 2 liters which doesn't sound good. This car has never used water. Has any one ever got enough water into a cylinder while driving, to hydraulic lock the cylinder, & blow the plug out?

I tried starting her with just 3 plugs, but it wasn't interested. I wanted it in the workshop, backwards, as that gives these old eyes better light, so I towed it up there backwards with the mower. One advantage of a 15 HP ride on mower.

The cement floor of the workshop is about 65mm 2.5" above the drive, so I dragged the thing in with the "Come-along", a hand ratchet recovery winch thing.

It has been raining ever since I got it home, the car & I were pretty damp by then, so I lost interest, & will look at things tomorrow.

Hasbeen

[Cobber]

<font size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Jeez Hasbeen you cant seem to take a trick lately!

I think you might have indeed suffered hydraulic lock, time to get out the compression gauge I'd say </font id="Comic Sans MS"></font id="size2">

80'Triumph TR7, , 73'Land Rover (Ford 351. V8),
'89 Ford Fairlane
'98 MG-F, 69'Ford F250.
76' Ford F100

[Hasbeen]

Well the good news is all the plugs are cleaner, so my tune up must have done some good.

The bad news is that there was a lot of water in No 3 cylinder, & I think in No 4 as well. With no help I hung a sheet of paper towel down beside the engine, with out plugs, & turned it over. So much water came out of No 3, that it is hard to tell what come out of 4, but it's plug hole is all wet.

Doesn't matter much, the head has to come off anyway.

The strange thing is I think there is no spark, at least on number 3. I will have some help tonight, so should learn a little more.

Hasbeen.

[Hasbeen]

Stop press.

There is water in 2, 3 & 4 cylinders. I can't imagine how that could occur, unless a massive leak into No3 not only blew the plug out, but also the gasket to No 2 & 4.

There is spark, but such a weak little thing, I could not see it in daylight from the drivers door where I was working the key.

Got a feeling this will not be a quick fix.

Hasbeen

[Cobber]

<font size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Bugger! Either Siamesed gasket failure or a longitudinal crack in the head along the sparkplug holes which might explain how it popped the spark plug with out stripping the thread. In which case bugger big time!</font id="Comic Sans MS"></font id="size2"> [xx(]

80'Triumph TR7, , 73'Land Rover (Ford 351. V8),
'89 Ford Fairlane
'98 MG-F, 69'Ford F250.
76' Ford F100

[silverseven]

time for another V[8] swap !!!! [;)][;)]

Ron.

[Hasbeen]

Ron that thought has crossed my mind too. Great minds think alike of course.

Cobber, I'm now kind of hoping that it won't require the engine out. I've only done a couple of hundred kilometers on my new paint job, & I can not stand the thought of scratching it just yet.

Hasbeen

[busheytrader]

but what's this got to do with the china-man..........

[Cobber]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by busheytrader</i>

but what's this got to do with the china-man..........
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

<font size="2"><font face="Comic Sans MS">"I (or you) must have killed a chinaman" Is an old Aussie expression meaning that I (or you) continually have bad luck.

I'm not sure why the killing of a chinaman would bring any more misfortune upon the killer than killing anyone else.
I personally not having killed a chinaman can't vouch for the accuracy of the expression, but it does occur to me that the the poor bloody chinaman in question is the unluckiest!

[:D]</font id="Comic Sans MS"></font id="size2">

80'Triumph TR7, , 73'Land Rover (Ford 351. V8),
'89 Ford Fairlane
'98 MG-F, 69'Ford F250.
76' Ford F100

[Hasbeen]

Hi bushey, as Cobber says, it is a local saying, probably from a superstition background, equivalent to breaking a mirror bringing 7 years bad luck.

I am continually fascinated with our forum being English speaking, but from the UK, US & South Pacific, how often we are fooled by our common language.

It must be really hard for those for whom English is a second or third language.

No progress on car. The lady is quite sick, youngest daughter [21 year old], home for weekend from Darwin, 3500Km away, & 5 year old grand daughter for weekend.

Such chaos is not conducive to mechanicing.

Hasbeen