I pulled the pan off of the engine to replace a leaky pan gasket. Found
nasty looking metal chips that appeared to be a thrust bearing. Now I'm
looking at the main bearing cap on the engine. It has a groove on the
flywheel side that would appear to accept a thrust bearing. The manual only
seems to show thrust bearings in the block., not one on the flywheel side of
the cap as well, and there was only a bearing installed in the block. It is
also clear that the bearing has been rotating through the cap (cap's all
scored in this groove). Now, I pull the bearing cap off of a spare engine.
No groove for a thrust washer, so the cap keeps the bearing from rotating,
and the bearings in the block take all the thrust.
Which is correct? Did Triumph change things along the way? Can I switch
bearing caps between engines, or was the cap machined in place?
Fortunately, the crank bearing surfaces (all three of them) look fine, as
does the journal bearing.
Help! Thought I would be putting the engine back in the car today, but it
does not look good at the moment.
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