Trashing a new cam can wreak you whole weekend.
I've been taking my time in rebuilding my '71 TR6. I've
had the motor out since about Nov. But, I thought that this
was going to be the weekend that I finally got it started.
But, no such luck. The gear on the cam that drives the oil
pump and distributor met with the gear that fits down the
distributor shaft whole, and it wasn't a pretty site.
The odd thing is that I really have no idea why this happenned.
After priming the engine with oil, we set the gear into the
oil pump hole and lined it up with the cam gear, then placed the
piece that holds this down into the whole. The manual calls for
.005 clearance, adjustable with gaskets, but there sure was a lot
more than that, so we used only one gasket, and bolted it down.
Apparently the gear was forced up the whole into this hold down
piece by the cam gear, and the resulting collision ended up with
missing teeth on the cam gear and the other gear.
I really don't know why these gears collided. Can anyone
shed some light on this? I sure would like to know before I
try again. I think next time I'll turn the engine without
the hold down piece bolted in place to see what happens.
Well, thats the bottom line, but here are some more details.
My wife bought this '71 TR6 in 1985, in fair shape. We basically
kept it running, had the body stripped and repainted not a super
job, but nice. We put new redlines on it (I was young and didn't
know any better). Then in '88 she got a new car and the TR6 sat.
Late last year after getting a house, it's a pain to work on cars
in apartment parking lots. I decided to get the TR running.
Of course all it really needed was a valve job, and I had to
make the windshield wipers return to park in order for it to
pass Maryland state saftey inspection. But, ... it now has new
springs (uprated) all around, poly-bushings, new dash pad, I'm
making a new walnut dash, it's getting new floor pannels welded
in next week, new syncros in the trans mission, new clutch,
pressure plate and throwout bearing, new main & rod bearings,
that valve job was done (3-angle), head shaved .075", intake
ports ported and matched (removed that big lip on the top side),
and a header. Oh, yea the cam was a 3/4 race grind, with of
course new lifters and uprated springs.
The car is looking good and I can't wait to drive it again,
it's not even going to be the same car.
If anyone knows how I screwed the cam up please enlighten me!
Thanks
Ted Lepich
Annapolis, MD
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