[TR] TR3 engine issues

[LT]

I recently purchased a 57 TR3 and upon getting it started I have 
discovered some issues with the engine.

After about 10 minutes of motor idling, smoke/fog in great volumes exits 
the exhaust pipe. I also noticed that engine oil is blown out the 
dipstick when the dipstick is removed while the engine is idling.

The previous owner had indicated to me that the engine has about 4800 
miles on it since a rebuild and had no issues. The rebuild was done in 
1985. The car has not been driven since May of 2000.

I do not believe that the engine was operated at all in the last 
four/five years as there was a gas leak at the rear carb and the gas had 
gone bad.

The engine oil (Castrol 20/50) had last been changed in 1997 and there 
is 400 miles on the odometer since the oil change.

I assumed that I had a stuck ring/rings and a valve that was not seating 
properly creating the blow by.

I checked the rocker arm/valve gap clearances and found them to be at 
the recommended setting.

I removed the spark plugs and discovered #1 and # 2 to be on the black 
and wet side indicating oil usage whereas #3 and #4 seemed okay.

I decided to see if I could free up the stuck rings by adding a mixture 
of kerosene and transmission fluid into all of the cylinders.

Did this a few time and ran the car with no improvement although I 
thought there was less blue smoke.

Upon removing the plugs after running the engine, I noticed some steam 
coming out of cylinder 1. (Happened twice)

Did a compression test,  I think after one of the soakings and found 
compression at 185-195. Would probably consider this a wet test. Seemed 
on the high side but have no idea what it could/should be.

Decided to remove the cylinder head to see if I could spot a problem 
with the head gasket or perhaps a crack in the head. Found nothing that 
would explain the water usage.

With the head off, I added more kerosene 1/4 to 3/8 inch to the 
cylinders to work on the rings and found that on # 3 and #4, the 
kerosene works its way through in a couple of hours whereas # 2 takes 
about 6 hours and # 1 does not seem to pass any.

I would assume that the kerosene should work it's way through as the 
ring should have a gap on the butt end

The engine serial # is  S19047E and it has 87 mm liners. The liners do 
not appear to be as proud of the block as recommended (.003 to .055). 
More like .002. The existing copper head gasket was for 86 mm liners, 
and bears a Stanpart number. The pistons are labeleed with  STD 7E.

Any words of wisdom on the situation would be appreciated.


Larry  :'(