From: "David A. Templeton" <>
Subject:
>I am about to venture into the great unknown of a TR3a. The first >thing
I
>am going to take on is freeing up a seized block. Has anyone had
>experience
>with this? From all appearances the liners look okay and may simply >need
a
>good cleaning. But I can not make a judgement call until I can get >the
>pistons moving and check the bottom part.
>The block is going out to be boiled clean at a local repair shop so >that
>will get 98% of the grim off. The question I have is how to get the
>pistons
>free?
Since you're going to get the block vatted, you will want to pull the
pistons & liners anyway (the chemicals will eat them), so tap out the whole
mess with a block of wood and a hammer, then you can try to heat the liners
up free the pistons. It will be hard to do without damaging the liners, so
be preapared to replace/rebore the liners. I had my liners bored and they
are perfect, the best compression I've ever seen, but you'll need to find a
GOOD SHOP to do the job as it's easy to oval them. It was much cheaper
in my case than new liners, so all I had to buy were new pistons. Be sure
and look for rust-through on the liners as boring will only make pin holes
bigger. Be sure and replace the figure 8 gaskets on the liners. Also,
you'll need to replace the cam bearings and check the cam for wear. Ditto
with the main & rod bearings and crank. Be prepared to spend some money,
you may as well do it right the first time! Trust me on this, I've tried to
do overhauls on the cheap and it just doesn't work! BTW, if you replace
pistons & liners, I recommend British Parts Northwest, good prices and
great parts. The rings they sell are not gapped, you have to file them
down, but it's easy to do with a dremel tool and lots of patience. Good
luck, and like I say, look for a good shop that can help you with the job.
Richard
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