Dan,
Look on the bright side. With a little work you can have 2 V8 TR6's.
Joe
DANMAS@aol.com wrote:
>
> Greetings, listers,
>
> I have retrieved my car, and it is now sitting in my garage. I was able to get
> the hood open (after rather draconion measures - of which more later), and I
> drove it home.
>
> First of all, a great big thanks to Tom and Linda Long for allowing Leon to
> drive their truck to my house, and storing the TR6 till I could retrieve it.
> Also, a great big thanks to Fred Thomas, who freely offered to drive the 250
> miles to Blacksburg to help me if I needed it. Luckily, with Tom's help, I was
> able to return the car to drivable condition, and Fred did not have to drive
> that great distance. Mighty kind of him to offer, never-the-less, don't you
> think? I sure do.
>
> Evidently, my car did not like Leon, as he had more troubles with it in the
> two weeks he drove it than I've had in the 8 years I've owned it.
>
> In the previous 8 years, I've had five failures, 2 at home and 3 on the road:
>
> 1, alternator failure,
> 2, split diaphram in the brake booster,
> 3, melted wire,
> 4, loose screw on the throttle linkage,
> 5, leaky clutch M/C
>
> While Leon had the car, there were 6 failures:
>
> 1, broken ws washer switch,
> 2, broken tach cable (the replacment cable also broke),
> 3, stuck hood latch cable,
> 4, split in the radiater outlet pipe,
> 5, alarm siren quite working,
> 6, engine went sour
>
> 1, 2, and 5 are self explainatory, so I'll just discuss items 3, 4, and 6.
>
> ITEM 6: when the car left here, each cylinder had between 150 and 170 psi
> compression. Now, the compression checks as follows:
>
> #1 = 155
> #2 = 50
> #3 = 25
> #4 = 145
> #5 = 170
> #6 = 35
>
> Putting oil in the cylinders raised the compression around 5 - 10 psi each. A
> check of the valve clearances showed zero on the exhaust valves for the low
> cylinders, and very little or zero on most of the others as well. I haven't
> done a thorough check yet, but it appears that somehow the valve clearance has
> decreased across the board. Any one have any ideas as to why this happened?
> How much damage do you think I am looking at? None of the adjusment screws
> seemed to be loose. I see no sign of water in the oil, nor oil in the water,
> so I assume the head gasket is good, and neither the head nor the block is
> cracked. The car only used 1/2 - 3/4 quart of oil in the total 2800 miles -
> normal for that car - so I don't think I have any bottom end damage.
>
> Needless to say, the car runs like crap. It barely will idle, but once up to
> speed, it runs fairly well.
>
> ITEM 4: A small split in the solder joint around the outlet pipe allowed a
> little water to leak out each time the engine was shut down, and only after it
> was shut down. I ran the car for about 15 minutes in Tom's driveway, and no
> water leaked at all till I shut it off. The temperature gauge never got above
> just a little over half scale during that time. Evidently, enough water leaked
> each time the engine was shut off that the water level got low, and since the
> hood couldn't be opened to add water, there finally wasn't enough water to
> cool the engine, and it overheated at the begining of the last leg of Leon's
> journey. The steam that he saw in the driveway was the radiator cap releasing
> the pressure. The overflow tube was blown off the radiator fitting, so the
> steam came out around the right headlamp area.
>
> ITEM 3: The hood latch itself was OK, only the cable was stuck somewhere along
> its length. I haven't pulled it yet to see just where. I can't pull the cable
> from under the dash, but I can easily push the cable in at the latch area. The
> weak of heart, or the purist, should not read any further, because I took
> drastic action to get the hood open. As Leon mentioned, I bought a 3 inch hole
> saw, chucked it in my Milwaukee right angle drill (there is not enough room
> for a normal drill), and drilled a 3 inch hole in the sloping sheet metal,
> just above the passenger's footwell and adjacent to the hood latch. I was able
> to stick my hand in and release the catch (I brought along a piece of fuel
> hose, which I had split, to put around the hole as a grommet so as not to
> slice my arm off as I worked). As I said, the latch was OK - it only took
> minimal pressure to release it.
>
> Don't be too upset, though, as the final result looks quite professional,
> almost like it came from the factory that way. The drain holes in the floor
> boards are also 3 inches in diameter, so the rubber plug for them exactly fits
> the hole I made. Rest assured, I will never have a problem getting the hood
> open again. There is enough room to get a wrench in there and completely
> remove the entire latch assembly, both pieces, if need be. A three inch hole
> is probably not big enough for most of you, but I have small hands. On my
> TR6/302, I am going to make an even bigger hole. MGs have a rectangular hole,
> about 3 X 5, on both sides of the firewall, with nice rubber plugs to fill
> them. I will make a hole like that, then even those with big hands can get in
> there if needed.
>
> One thing did upset me quite a bit, though, about the hood episode: someone
> tried to use a screw driver to pry the hood open. In the process, they scarred
> up the scuttle and the right fender, and the screwdriver slipped and carved a
> 4 inch gouge in the top of the hood, clear to bare metal. That's going to cost
> me a quite bit to get repaired, hoping I can get the paint to match without
> having to do the entire front end.
>
> That's all for today, as I am quite tired. My son retrieved my grandson on
> Sunday, and I made the 8 hour round trip to Blacksburg and back, plus fixed
> the car, on Monday, so a good rest is in order.
>
> My grandson is as well behaved, and as sweet dispositioned, as any child could
> be, but I'm a bit too old (I'll be 58 on Monday) to try to keep up with him.
> Climbing on the playground equipment with him, crawling through the obstacle
> course, sliding down the slides, and generally behaving like a small boy
> myself, has taken its toll on my poor old joints! Never-the-less, I can hardly
> wait till he returns for another visit with us.
>
> I'll let every one know what I find as I dig deeper.
>
> Dan Masters,
> Alcoa, TN
>
> '71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored, but a bit puny right
> now.
> '71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
> http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/index.html
> '74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition - slated for a V8 soon
> '68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
--
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
-- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer
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