[6pack] Rebuilding an engine

[Navarrette, Vance]

 	Ron:

	I agree with some of the other comments made - keeping your car original will
preserve its value, all other things being equal. The 2 liter 4 pot motor is
rugged, and produces essentially the same power as the 6 pot 2.5 liter in
stock trim. There are suitable hot rodding tricks available for the 4 pot, so
if you want more power, you can have that without a rebuild as well.
	As to the difficulty of rebuilding the motor yourself, it really is not an
issue as long as you take your time, and read the shop manual before
proceeding. Don't attempt this without a Bentley or equivalent. You will need
to farm out the machine work to a competent machine shop, but there is nothing
particularly tricky about doing a Triumph motor.
	As to whether you need to do a rebuild, that is yet another question. Is the
compression in the motor within specification? The oil pressure OK at idle and
cruise? Does it smoke at startup or under acceleration? Even then, many of
these issues can be repaired without a rebuild.

	Working on most issues or getting more power are easily done without a
rebuild. Generally you need a rebuild when:
	1. Compression is down in one or more cylinders due to worn or broken rings.
      2. Heavy oil consumption under most conditions.
      3. Knocking or rattling coming from the bottom end.
      4. Low oil pressure (assuming your oil is correct).

I rebuilt mine because
	a. Low compression in #6 due to a blown head gasket
	b. Low compression in #2 due to a worn cam and lifters.
	c. Worn, noisy timing chain
      d. A broken radiator and leaking water pump.
      e. A desire to raise compression, port the head, and install a street
cam.

	As you can see, I did not NEED to do a rebuild (all my issues were repairable
with the motor in the car), but I had so many things going on I just decided
to rebuild the entire motor to my liking.

    Vance Navarrette
    Cogito Ergo Zoom
    I think, therefore I go fast

-----Original Message-----
From: 6pack-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:6pack-bounces at autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Ron Landis
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 1:05 PM
To: 6pack at autox.team.net
Subject: [6pack] Rebuilding an engine

Listers:

Question should I attempt to rebuild my TR250 engine, which still runs.  Or
do
I found a newer TR6 engine?  I have never done this before but want to try.
How hard is it?

Ron
68TR250+65