BTW, I agree. Bob's post is entirely on target.
Don't tear down a perfectly good engine just to put hardened exhaust valve
seats in.
Randall
On Tuesday, April 27, 1999 2:46 PM, Bob Lang [SMTP:LANG@ISIS.MIT.EDU] wrote:
>
> On Tue, 27 Apr 1999 jaltman@altlaw.com wrote:
>
> > My .02. Last December I suffered a catastrophic failure of an exhaust valve
> > seat. On pulling the head it was completely gone. Sure it took 30 years of
> > unleaded gas to achieve this result, but I guess my question is: If your
> > head is off and you are spending hundreds or thousands to rebuild and
> > restore, why not take care of the known problem area right and spend the
> > bucks to be sure you don't have to deal with in the future?
>
> Ah, but this _is_ my point. There's a lot of folks out there, right now
> from the UK especially who are facing the withdrawal of "four star" from
> thier pumps. What I've been trying to say for something like 2 years is
> that it really is not necessary _unless you have measurable valve seat
> recession_.
>
> So, if you're driving a car that had been running on leaded fuel in the
> past - you do not, repeat _do not_ necessarily have to go out and
> remanufacture the cylinder head to keep driving the car. Keep an eye on
> it, and if you have a valve that has to have way more adjustment than the
> others, or you start to loose compression, then you have to act fast.
>
> And presumably, there are folks out there right now contemplating this
> job and thinking that maybe they can't drive the ol' Triumph this year
> because of the phase-out of no-lead. I say horse-cookies. Drive it!!!
>
> Further, a lot of us are real backyard mechanics, and wind up tearing the
> motors down for various reasons, in some cases because we screwed up - in
> others because stuff wore out. In other words, there _will be_ a point in
> time later where you'll probably have to do this job... but it does not
> have to be _right now_. And for those of doing or having done a frame-up
> - what's the chance that everything done to the car will be perfect???
> I'll say in my case - very little. So I know I'm going to be tearing my
> motors down again in the future. This, in a strange way, is part of the
> appeal of these cars to me.
>
> I guess I'm trying to allay (sp?) fears that the car is going to swallow
> a valve the first time you take it out for a spin without leaded fuel in
> there. It just ain't so.
>
> And again, I'd like to put out the argument that spending an extra xxx
> dollars to make a head "ready for unleaded" is a waste of money if you
> don't need the work now.
>
> So, it's your money, it's your car. Do whatever you like. Just be
> informed that this step (drilling the head and putting in hardened seats)
> is not absolutely required to keep your Triumph on the road.
>
> BTW, I'm not trying to flame or anything like that. I'm just trying to
> make sure that it is crystal clear that there is a valid choice _not_ to
> drill out your cyl. head and replace the seats. I think a lot of people
> on this list, while well intended are certainly misinformed on the
> necessity of this particular job.
>
> > Jim Altman jaltman@altlaw.com Illigitimi non Carborundum
> > http://www.altlaw.com/metro/jaltman.html 69-TR6#CC28754L W4UCK
>
> regards,
> rml
>
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