A question for the list....
The original engine of my TR-4A (as I first saw it) was sitting with
the rest of the car, the head off and a 1/2 inch of sand on top of each
piston. Two cylinder liners were also popped up. That was two years ago.
I decided to look for a better engine and I found one for a very good
price, for sale by the President (at the time) of the Southern California
Triumph Owners Association (SCTOA), who off the subject, has an excellent
TR-4A race car. The engine I bought is a good one, with the only problem
being three cracks in the block from the water jackets to the corner stud
bolt holes and one crack from a water jacket to where the cylinder liner. I
have seen this problem before in TRs and its REALLY not a problem since the
engine has liners. It still bugs the crap out of me even though the engine
performs flawlessly. Can these cracks cause problems later? Horror
stories, PLEASE!
This past weekend , I placed the original engine on the stand, opened
up the sump drain and .....three gallons of crystal clear water shot out of
the drain followed by oil and that wonderful mix of mayonnaise.
Surprisingly, the internals don't look so bad, but I'll find out next
weekend. I also gave the head studs threads a closer look and besides the 2
broken head studs, I found three old helicoils in place and two other
stripped threads. Is this block for the scrap heap or is there anything I
can do to save it? I could helicoil the stripped threads, pull the broken
studs, but then what? When I'm six hours away from home, driving thru the
desert, will I start doubting the ability of the engine to hold together?
Or is this block the paperweight I've always dreamed about?
Paul A. Carson 1967 Triumph TR-4A / CTC 78299 LO
Flight Test Navigator 1974 Norton Commando 850 Mk. II
Lockheed-Martin A.S. (Ontario, CA)
(909) 338-9873
pcarson@primenet.com
Yes, I really do wear a Nomex flight suit to work.........to keep the flames
off!
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