After a partial engine rebuild on my TD (new pistons, rings and completely
rebuilt head), I was not a happy camper. One of the valves kept sticking,
the performance was poor and there seemed to be a tendency to overheat. The
professional Brit car mechanic who did the head, recommended Marvel Mystery
Oil. Putting MMO in the gas didn't seem to help, but a quart in the engine
oil did help. After about 800 mi. the sticky valve finally settled down. I
gradually worked the revs up. It took about 1500 miles before the engine was
willing to go 4000 rpm. At 2000 mi I'm happy to report the engine is revving
easy and running cool. I installed the new pistons and rings. Each new
piston added an extra grunt to the effort of turning the crank. This is my
first experience rebuilding an engine. Is it normal for new rings to be so
"tight"? I figure a lot of the engine's horsepower was turning into heat
moving those "tight" pistons up and down in the early break-in period.
(During the break-in the idle kept creeping up, I must have reset it six
times.) Maybe the valve train was "tight" too. I'm just wondering if this is
normal for a vintage engine break-in.
Bob Donahue (Still stuck in the '50s)
Email - bobmgtd@home.com
52 MGTD - NEMGTR #11470
71 MGB - NAMGBR #7-3336
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