I'm driving (daily) a '76 Spit 1500 with appoximatly 150,000+ miles on it. I
say appoximately because the PO had about 106,000 on it when the speedometer
crapped out and started skipping. It was about this time that I bought the car
and replaced the speedo with one reading 83,000+ and it now reads 127,000+. As
far as I've been able to acertain, there has been no major engine work done.
The clutch has been replaced twice and the rear end once. It's still going
strong!!!
jonmac wrote:
> Hi, listers
> I'm more than casually interested at the comments I've seen over the last
> few months on this list and the Spridgets
> one as well, about people's concerns regarding likely engine life when
> undertaking a full rebuild.
> For some reason, many people seem to feel (rightly or wrongly) that they
> probably can't hope for much more than
> 60k miles out of a rebuilt unit. At least, that's the impression I get.
> Isn't this rather low?
> What I feel many people may be overlooking is the fact that modern
> lubricants, be they mineral or synthetic, are one
> quantum heap better than even 10 years ago. Added to that, operating
> pressures and temperatures in the engines of
> the sixties and seventies are lower than modern units. This has already
> been recently discussed.
> Surely, longevity of power units and drivelines depends rather more on the
> way they are used rather than the distance
> which is travelled. It's well known that short journeys cause more damage
> than longer ones because the engine is probably only operating at normal
> temperature for a brief period before it has to cool off and the wear
> process starts over again the next time it is started.
> Last weekend, I was talking to a man at BMIHT who had a 1957 Standard
> (Triumph) Ten which he claimed had covered 170,000 miles on the original
> unit without a rebuild and only three decokes. It's still on the original
> clutch - though it'll be having a new one during the rebuild!!!!!!!!!! His
> father had bought the car new and had maintained scrupulous records of its
> maintenance. The old man is now long dead and his widow had been using the
> car before surrendering her licence on age grounds. The visitor told me he
> had decided to take out the engine and gearbox for a complete overhaul.
> Apart from the box needing some new synchros, the block only needed minimal
> boring but they took it to + 10 thou and the crank needed no attention at
> all. As this engine was effectively the Spitfire engine of whatever size
> you want to talk about, I think this minimal overbore speaks for itself.
> This isn't at all unusual in my experience and I've seen many BMC and
> Triumph engines over the years that have gone well past 100,000 without any
> problems or excessive oil consumption.
> On top of that, two fitters I have got to know in the Centre workshop, tell
> me that whenever they strip an engine of a pre-war car, they tend to take
> some detailed measurements of bore wear. More often than not, it is
> virtually nil and we are dealing with steels of arguably much inferior
> quality than today.
> My own view is that any LBC engine which is allowed to run for prolonged
> periods, without being unduly stressed or 'red-lined,' has its oil and
> filter changed regularly and is properly cared for during winter lay-ups
> should do at least 75000 miles without any problem at all - and might well
> do far more than that. I'm expecting my own cars to hit six figures on the
> odometer before any attempt is made to pull them down for a rebuild.
>
> John Macartney
> Besotted with Triumphs...
> ... but sadly driving Japcrap
--
Bob & Linda in Rockledge, Florida
THE SPACE COAST
'76 Spit 1500 FM43376UO
Daily Driver
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