The overwhelming consensus was that I could probably tell by examining the
cylinder walls which is the way I was leaning towards so I removed the
heads last night. The cylinder walls seemed to be in perfect shape, no
scoring what so ever, and in fact the glaze was still there, unbroken or
scratched. That and the fact that it ran (until I put water in it) so
smooth when I pulled it into the garage to work on it, convinces me to take
a gamble that all is well with the block. A slight discoloration on a
couple of cylinders that I attribute to water entering the cylinder and
sitting over night but other than that it looks good. Now. . . the heads
*appeared* to fare well, a slight bit of warping on one, but nothing that
*appeared* like it couldn't be rectified by a light skim. If there are no
cracks, then I am in luck. I took the heads to the machine shop to have
them check them out thoroughly, and get a valve job while they are there.
No sense it just slapping them back on. While they're off I might as well
freshen them up. If (crossed fingers) everything goes all right, and I
DON'T get a call from the machine shop this afternoon, then the heads will
be rebuilt and ready to install by monday.
That would be great news, because I found a gasket set, and would have it
ready by next weekend for British car day!
However, if he calls, then the heads are NOT re buildable/repairable and
that would not be good news. These are apparently VERY hard heads to come
by (1974-5 V6 2.8) because they are prone to cracking, and naturally, only
used for those years -
Then it would be swap time, lots more work and that will take a little
longer. I would have to take the GT6 to British Car Day (yeah I know it's
hard to feel sorry for me. . . but I'm looking out for you guys. .. I took
that car last year. You don't want to see the same thing year after year
do you? :-}) - At any rate, I'll make it to Triumphest with this car one
way or another!
Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
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