I must have killed a china-man!

[Hasbeen]

It looks like I've been given time off for good behaviour, things could be much worse. Everything came off quite easily until I got to the head stud stage. No sign of them moving with normal persuasion.

I borrowed one of the little hit with a hammer impact wrench, with suitable screw driver bits for the studs. Got 2, broke the ears off 2, didn't bother with the 5TH.

I had been spraying them with penetrating oil for a few days, so after cleaning that off, I welded the nuts to the studs. 2 more came out, but the weld broke, twice on the front stud.

Third time lucky, the weld held,& all the studs are loose, undone about half an inch each.

All I have to do now is secure the cam sprocket & the thing can come off. I have applied a heap of liniment to my knees, to try to get them to bend again, & I'll attack the thing again tomorrow.

As on add in Oz says, "I FEEL BETTER NOW".

Next episode tomorrow.

Hasbeen

[Hasbeen]

Now I really don't have a clue. Head is off, & so much the word of the PO, who assured me he'd had this car almost since new, & the head had never been off, well it was a good story.

Not only has it been off, it has had the daylights shaved out of it. So much so that it had 2 gaskets under it. It must still have very high compression even then. I bought 2 non running cars for scrap value from this bloke, why would he tell me a story like that? At least I now know why it goes so well for what it is.

I can see nothing wrong anywhere, no sign of a blown gasket, corrosion, cracks or anything else. The next thing is pressure testing, & then think about it.

Hasbeen

[Beans]

<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 Hasbeen</i>

... There is water in 2, 3 & 4 cylinders ...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Weird [B)]
Does your cylinder head have a coolant hole where there is the oval hole in the gasket?



And how was the gasket in that area?
And nothing (seriously) wrong with the inlet manifold?

<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>

[Hasbeen]

Yes Beans, the 2 gaskets are a little different, but the coolant holes do line up with each other, the holes in block & head. Don't forget I've done 60,000Km on this engine, & fitted a hotter thermostat a few winters back as it was running too cold.

What ever caused this happened quite quickly. The car was running beautifully. Thinking back I think it went off song for a few seconds, then the bang of the plug blowing out. There must be a lot of water in the sump, as the oil is reading 3 or 4cm above the full mark.

Despite this there is no homogenization of the oil. No milkiness on the dip stick, or in the cam area.

The studs came out cleanly, once cracked. No sign of corrosion, & every thing else looks good. I think the water must have gone into No 4 actually, as No 4 exhaust valve was stuck open 5 or 6mm, after I removed the cam. I think it must have had quite a bit of water through it. It shut with a tap from my hand.

I went to town today to buy a large oil catcher. The sump must have at least 8 liters of oil & water in it.

I'll have a look at the valves & seats tomorrow. Some of the shims are quite thin, the thing could not handle a full regrind, so will probably be replaced.

Monday I'll get the head pressure tested, which may answer some questions.

God it's frustrating when you can only do about 3 hours work, before your back & knees give up, & you have to stop for the day.

Hasbeen

[Hasbeen]

Finally drained the sump today. The oil in the sump has caused the sludge in the bottom to lift off & mix with the oil. I have never seen such black muck come out of a sump. I did a post on the "Whats in your sump" thread.

Took the head to our Triumph Guru on Monday. He assures me the thing looks like the water went into No4 first, & a simple head job is all that is required. I hope he's right.

It will probably have to have seat inserts & valves, as No3 & 4 exhaust shims are around 60 thou. Certainly no room to cut seats & face valves there.

I'm waiting to hear how the head is, how the pressure test went, & how much it needs to be skimmed. Guess I'll know more by the end of the week.

Hasbeen

[Hasbeen]

No progress with the head yet.

With the overall wear of the valves & seats, the valves would have been too deep in the combustion chamber after both were faced. The seats will be fine with new valves, & they are ordered, but not expected until the end of the week.

Have ordered new cam follower buckets to go with the valves, so it's going to be some time next week before progress will resume.

Hasbeen

[Hasbeen]

I am not pleased with these head people.

This afternoon they have advised me that they have found a large crack in the head. This is almost 2 weeks since they got the head, with a request to pressure test it immediately. When they told me they wanted to order new valves etc, I assumed they had done a pressure test before starting to order bits.

I will go & have a look at it on Tuesday, Monday I have to go the other way with my son, who's heading back south. I will decide if I will leave the thing with these people, who have a very good reputation, or look for someone who actually does what you ask, when you ask.

Hasbeen

[Troy ODoherty]

Hi Hasbeen.
If you are looking for someone good try Wes Engines in Lismore. Not cheap but very very good. Wes did the work on my new engine and is very thorough. He is currently doing a Datsun L18. For a mate of mine including cnc inlet manifold..
On a different note we are having a run up at Woodenbong on the 25 August in the rally car.
Cheers Troy

Cheers Troy

[Hasbeen]

Tanks Troy, I'll know more after I see what the crack looks like.

They did say it was quite large, which pleases me in one way. The gasket was not blown, & I did not think the amount of water that got into the cylinder, & through to the sump could have got there as quickly as it did, through a small weep. If anything I would have expected combustion pressure to have gone the other way, into the cooling system.

They reckon it's repairable, but probably at higher cost than another head. I've put the feelers out for a replacement, so what I'm doing I won't know for a few days.

Hasbeen

[Hasbeen]

I don't know if you blokes realise just how quick on the uptake I am.

The head has only been off the 7s engine for a couple of weeks, & I have all ready noticed, [today actually], that it has flat top pistons. The others I've seen had dished pistons.

Acquired a replacement head today, so may have it back by the end of the week. Fingers crossed.

Hasbeen

[PeterTR7V8]

Is there any reason to think you've been running high-compression pistons? Apart from the cracked head I mean.



The map: http://tinyurl.com/wedgemap . The blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548

[Hasbeen]

Yes Peter, this one goes a lot harder than any other even somewhere near stock 7 I have driven.

Hasbeen

[Hasbeen]

Fortunately I decided to rebuild the water pump while the thing was in bits. As I am still not sure if it leaked some water, causing it to get hot & crack the head, or cracked the head, causing it to loose the water.

So we've found the drive gear on the pump in very poor, heavily worn condition. Even worse, the jack shaft gear looks a bit worn, from what can be seen of it.

So now the job has extended to pulling, & possibly replacing the jack shaft.

This is no longer funny.

Hasbeen

[Workshop Help]

I can think of nothing better to keep your happy little fingers occupied and to give your poor wife something to nag you over.

This is a good thing.

Mildred Hargis

[Stag76]

Phil, would it be better to fit a Davies Craig EWP?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DAVIES-CRAIG ... 20be94723c


TR7 Convertible
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