Cliff Pope wrote:
>1) Does anyone know how to plumb in the rocker oil feed pipe kit without it
>leaking? I
have finally given up and removed mine, after grappling with it for a year. The
problem
occurs at the banjo joint at the back of the cylinder head. The 2 metal washers
>supplied with the kit are useless - the force needed to squeeze them enough to
>stop oil
coming out would shear the bolt. I next tried fibre washers, and thought that
this had
solved the problem. Each time I detected oil seaping out I cautiously tightened
>the bolt a fraction, and this seemed to do the trick. Now however the washers
>have
compressed so much thatthe shank of the bolt has reached the threaded hole, so
of course
oil started to pour out. I have tried copper washers (not soft enough), more
fibre washers
(toosoft), metal washers with chemical metal smeared on the faces (won't stick,
so falls
out), even string and red gasket cement. I had the head off recently and took
the
opportunity of facing up the area around the hole, but it made no difference.
Cliff, I've had exactly the same problems although I failed to persevere as
long as you. I
obtained the external feed because I'd just had the head re-seated, (though
this was
mainly because the valve guides were shot) and it was clear there had been a
restricted
oil supply to the rockers when in the hands of the previous owner. After the
outlay of
re-seating, re-guiding and a complete new rocker shaft, it seemed prudent to
fit a supply
pipe as well.In my case, I emptied the sump twice on running the engine for no
more than
about 2 mins. Wasn't prepared to risk breaking the banjo bolt or strip the
thread inside
the head, so I took the pipe off and replaced the plug. Currently, the internal
supply is
working well, so I wasted (for the time being?) 20 quid.
>2) Is anyone either in the club or across the classic car scene keeping a log
>of people's
experiences with LRP and the various petrol additives now in use to cope with
the absence
of lead? I have noticed that LRP rapidly perishes the rubber diaphrams in
Stromberg carburettors.
I understand from a number of different places that LRP is causing problems of
the sort
you describe, together with associated rough running and alleged lack of
performance. A
switch to 95 unleaded and an anti-wear additive seems to effect the cure.
>Manganese is said to be the only additive that reproduces the cooler burn
characteristics that leaded petrol had and that older designs of engine need. I
cannot
definitely confirm this, as I have rectified so many other things that might
have been
>contributing to my chronic overheating problems. But car now runs cool and I
>am thinking
about a radiator muff!
Millers VSP Plus is also claimed to have an octane booster in it. I'm no
combustion
engineer but I understand from Rover Engineering that octane isn't the only
be-all-end-all. Millers also uses sodium as the lead substitute which *it is
alleged* is
not as good as potassium or phosphorous which chemicals are found in Superblend
Zero Lead
2000 and Castrol Valvemaster respectively.
Had it not been for the fact that my head needed new valve seats, I would have
gone
straight over to running plain unleaded. Standard Triumph were fitting hardened
seats in
the late 60's when the American air pollution regs cut in and there is ample
evidence and
reliable hearsay from former employees that these better components were fitted
across the
board for all markets. This goes some way to explaining why many people in this
country
have been running unleaded in their Triumphs for some considerable period of
time without
an additive and without any reported difficulties.
John Macartney
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