[Fot] Fw: Triumph and Oil

[Scott Janzen]

One of the weak points of the straight-six engine is the inadequate castings that some of these bolts thread into, combined with sheet metal timing covers and oil pans that aren't flat and don't stay that way.  Having been there, done that, on my engine all the threaded holes into that crappy casting - the one below the front main bearing - are now heli-coiled, bolts have been carefully calibrated to make sure they don't bottom out and ruin the threads before the cover or pan are tight, make sure that the casting is flush with the block and engine plate when installed, etc.

I use copious amounts of Permatex ultrablack on the pan and timing covers, combined with the thick gaskets.  I'm not sure the thick one is really necessary at the timing cover - more important that the cover is flat and not distorted at the bolt holes - otherwise the assembly cinches tight and you still have daylight in between the bolt holes!

Try the timing cover first, but then be potentially ready to pull the whole f-ing mess just to change the oil pan gasket!  The whole assembly requires a lot of fiddling, and over-tightening stuff often makes it worse.

On Mar 10, 2012, at 12:28 PM, Bobby Whitehead wrote:

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Bobby Whitehead <igofaster at att.net>
To: FoT Triumph <fot at autox.team.net>
Sent: Sat, March 10, 2012 9:36:22 AM
Subject: [Fot] Triumph and Oil

After my wonderful weekend at TWS my little GT6 was showing more of the "marking 

of the territory" than I really liked... the source, I thought was coming from 
the ARE replacement front engine cover... someone in the re-assembly process 
(not me) had stripped out one of the mounting holes, even tapping a larger bolt 
to attach the timing cover. It's a short bolt that holds the timing cover only, 
not meant to attach to the block. Fortunately I had a spare and even though I 
didn't want to pull the timing cover and timing chain off, I methodically 
removed and carefully marked the timing chain to the crank. I used the flimsy 
thin paper gasket between the front of the block and the engine cover. I did not 

slather it with gasket material. After the fact I noticed I have some thicker 
gaskets, almost 3 times as thick. Re-assembled and thank goodness I didn't screw 

up the timing, but now I have more oil leaking from the front of the engine. 
It's either my flimsy seal or the oil pan is leaking up front. Sleepless nights 
realizing if the oil pan is leaking I have to pull the whole engine/transmission 

to get the oil pan off or try the thicker engine to engine cover gasket... 
thoughts?    Bobby Whitehead
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