[TR] tr6 woes part 2

[Peter Arakelian]

So I took them up on the offer.  It was cheaper than having my car towed to my
regular mechanic, and hey, XK's is a high end shop, work on a lot of cars, so
I figured it would be fine.  It took them five minutes to get the head off -
it's a wonder what the right tools and experience can do.  The bad news was
that the gasket must have been blown to some extent for a long time - there
was a groove in the block.  I probably had not noticed the blown gasket,
because until it overwhelmed the valve cover venting, I saw no evidence of it.
Well, to surface the block the entire engine needs to be torn down, as long as
it's apart we might as well rebuild it.  It had been running well, but it did
have 185,000 miles on it and sooner or later something would give, so I said
OK, how much would this cost?  Understandably, until they got into it they
couldn't really say for sure.

A month later and I am still pressing for a price.  Finally, they tell me they
have bored the block, turned and nitrided the crank and with additional work
estimate about $8K!!!  Are you kidding me? I am after all supplying all the
parts. No, but they will be balancing the motor, checking everything, epoxying
the inside of the block, cleaning the engine bay, replacing my steering rack,
and radiator, installing new pedal shaft bushings, painting, etc.  Well I was
encouraged that they were at least being diligent.  They did replace some
other pieces that were borderline, but as long as you're in there you might as
well go whole hog, right?



Peter Arakelian - '71 TR6, Daily Driver