[Mgs] Mgs Digest, Vol 41, Issue 11: rocker threads causing problems

[Allen Bachelder]

Clayton - 

How's your oil pressure - after at least 35 minutes of driving? If
everything else was solid, I'd say 50# is fine, but if you're going to solve
the blue cloud problem, you're going to rebore the cylinders, do oversize
pistons, and do whatever head work might be necessary. OK, so you put it all
back together and in another 20-30K miles you may very well see your oil
pressure dropping. So, if your oil pressure is under 60# or so at 3000 rpm
after 35 minutes of running/driving, I'd be tempted to do the entire engine
and be done with it.

And what are your compression numbers now? If you're sucking that much oil,
I can't imagine they're very impressive. Even if your main, con-rod
bearings, and wristpins are above borderline now, how quickly will they wear
once you restore full compression?  Get it all done, be done with it, and
drive for many thousands more miles without worry. My '73 has 236,000 miles
on it, with engine rebuilt at about 195,000. After 24 years, it's still my
car of choice for long trips, even if they have nothing to do with my MG
addiction. I just drive it because it is my car. And I don't worry either.
Small stuff can and does break on a 37 year-old car - and while I hardly
ever have to, I can fix stuff like that on the road. The engine will
gradually wear out over the next 150,000 miles and then I'll rebuild it
again. In the meantime, I simply don't worry about it. I can't imagine that
anything cataclysmic is going to happen. Well, yes it could happen - and
with equal likelihood something cataclysmic could happen with my wife's new
Equinox with 3500 miles on it.

Certainly if you plan to keep this car a long time, total rebuilding is the
way to go. I admit to using the "shotgun" approach to problems like this,
but I hate to pull an engine twice for what could be done while you pull the
engine once. While you're at it: new clutch, main seal, and transmission
first motion shaft seal, OF COURSE (if you pull it twice, that's TWO new
clutches, main seals and tranny front seals), strip, paint, and detail
engine bay (unless yours is pristine anyway).

FWIW,
Allen

PS: Regarding whoever does your engine machine work... Get to know him,
personally and by reputation - WELL - before entrusting him to the work!