Rebuilt engine Running

[JSutton1]

My rebuilt engine is finally running, but now without a couple of issues I wanted to check into.

I have oil leaking from the rear of the engine. I am afraid it may be coming from the rear seal cover. Any way to get to the cover bolts without removing the trans.

Both carbs are leaking gas from the bowls. I rebuilt the carbs and am pretty sure I set the float ht correctly. Could it be the fuel pressure is too high?

Lastly how loud should the engine be when running ie. the valve tap noise? Also seems pretty noisy on the bottom end. I replaced all of the bearings durng the rebuild. I dont here any pounding. If I had a bad bearing what would it sound like? I was also thinking of measuring the oil pressure.



Jim

[Workshop Help]

My-oh-my. Where do we start? For the leaking carburetors, if you are operating the stock fuel pump, it should not overwhelm the inlet valve in the carburetors and let too much gasoline to enter the float bowl. My first guess is the floats were installed upside down. The flats of the floats should be to the bottom of the bowl. Are the inlet needle valves installed with the aluminium spacer? Are the floats set at about 11/16" from the bottom of the carburetor flange to the bottom corner of the float?

The crankshaft should operate with no noise. Did you use plastigauge to check the wear on the main and rod journals? Did you use a torque wrench on all the fasteners? Are the new bearings the right size? Are you sure the exhaust pipe is not rattling against the body somewhere? Is the thrust washer too tight?

An oil pressure gauge is easy to install and mount on the inner fender using a universal oil pressure kit.

Please confirm the source of the oil leak first, it could be emanating from the rocker box seals. If it is from the rear crankshaft seal, there is no choice but to remove the gearbox, flywheel, and seal holder.

Finally, we should all remind ourselves of the need for a slow, methodical process in overhauling the componets of these fine machines. The aim must always be to do the job perfectly the first time and thus avoid the need to do it again.

Mildred Hargis

[Hasbeen]

Jim, I agree with Mildred, that the stock fuel pump should not cause
the carbys to flood, & that you may have a problem with the float
chamber needle & seats. Did you clean & check them? Do the floats
have petrol in them, making them too heavy?

Having said that, 3 of my 4 TR7s have had a flooding problem, when I
bought them, due to the fact that the fuel pressure was too high. It
was too high because the cars no longer had the stock pump, [2 of]
or the instillation had been changed [1 of].

Get your fuel pressure checked. If you can't find a pressure gauge,
find a carby or tuning shop that can test it for you. It should not
exceed 2 PSI.

If it is too high, fit a spacer between the pump, & the block. The
thicker the spacer, the lower the pump pressure. Something between
1/8" to 3/8" spacer should get it right, depending on the pump.

These are not a noisy engine. If your valve clearances are correct,
they should be almost silent when hot. Get hold of a stethoscope, &
listen to different parts of your engine. This often allows you to
pin point where noises are comming from.

Good luck, & let us know how you get on.

Hasbeen

[JSutton1]

Thanks for the sugestions. I really appreciate it, this group is a great resource.

For the oil leak, I am afraid I have already checked the "easy" places for the leak. Will double check the back of the rocker cover again.

For the leaky fuel, I will probably drop the bowl on one of the carbs and check the float.

For the noisy engine, the sound does not sound destructive. The car has only run about 20 minutes total since the rebuild. I do have a stethoscope, and will poke around tonight to see what I hear.

As you can see from my pics, I have been building this car for about three years, I am not in a hurry to finish, so if it means disassembling something to get it right, so be it. I am mechanical, but this is my first 1976 British restoration. Thats why this group is so helpful to me.

Thanks again folks!

Jim

www.aspmingo.myphotoalbum.com (my pics)



Jim

[mb4tim]

carbs? What are carbs??? [:p]

-Tim
http://www.morSpeedPerformance.com

[FI Spyder]

Aren't they what you get when eating pasta?[:)]

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