[TR] TR3A Oil Pan Gasket

[terryrs at comcast.net]

You know, in war there are lots of smoking guns?  Well, chasing an oil leak in a TR3A is a bit like that.  Smoking guns everywhere....

I put on a new alloy valve cover gasket, and have to say that I love that thing.  The engine even seems to run quieter.  With just the cork gasket, it leaks nary a drop now.  As a committed rumpled person, I only do style when my wife forces me.  This cover, plus the wooden steering wheel, add panache.

But...the car still leaks, clearly seeping from the oil pan.  So spent the morning jacking it up on blocks as high as I could get it (have a garage now, making the experience much more pleasant).  Pulled the oil pan.

Uhm, what was I thinking?  

When I rebuilt the engine about 5 years ago, I put a paper gasket on, not a rubberized cork one.  I thought I had a Payen set for the whole engine, but Payen, reputed to be the best, wouldn't have had a paper gasket, would it?  Anyway, to boot, the oil pan is as warped around the bolt holes as y'all warned they were likely to be, something I didn't think/know to check back then.  

Another little surprise was the condition of the interior of the oil pan.  It was rusting even under a constant bath of oil.  Dunno if the magnet on the plug plucked it out.  So am soaking it in phosphoric acid to fix that.  Have two TRF cork gaskets, but am not inclined to just use one of them instead of the two I'd planned.  

Next step is to make some sort of jig for the bench vise, maybe press most of the warp out around the bolt holes, if I can.

Cheers!

Terry Smith, '59 TR3A 
New Hampshire