[TR] what happened?

[Dixie4]

Oh dear.
  My theory would be 'figure of eight liner' gasket failure. Being newly 
rebuilt there will be hardly any grip holding the gasket / liner firm. 
Something you would find on an older engine. The liners must be clamped 
to prevent any movement. It could be something simple for instance a 
faulty cylinder head gasket.
Just my two pence worth.

Adrian TR4A CT 64306 O
Wales UK

On 14/10/2015 23:01, Rye Livingston wrote:
> Last week was Triumphest in San Diego.  I'd been rebuilding my 1960 
> TR3 in preparation for this event with a pretty tight timeline. I got 
> the engine in the car a week before and was out getting some break-in 
> miles and it was running very strong, but I discovered it was burning 
> oil like it was going out of style.  Took out the plugs and 2, 3 and 4 
> were perfect - a dusty white color, and #1 was so buggered up I don't 
> know how it was firing.  It was such a mess it was clear the oil ring 
> didn't go on right.  So on Saturday I pulled the pan and the head, 
> pulled #1 piston out and yep, the oil wrong was not right. The red and 
> green ends to the oil ring and overlapped and only one color was 
> showing. Nothing appeared to be damaged, and in effect with it not 
> fully expanded it wasn't making any kind of a seal, thus why the oil 
> was blowing by and burning up.
>
> Before I reassembled it I put the piston in as an experiment with OUT 
> having the overlap right, to see how it felt loose, and I didn't even 
> need the ring compression collar. So then I put the collar on and 
> tapped the piston back into the sleeve, then pushed it back up so the 
> compression rings came up, but not the oil ring, and tested to check 
> the fit.  It was very snug, so it should be all good.  Put the collar 
> back on and tapped it back down in place, attached the connecting rod 
> to the crank, and then had to wait.  This was Saturday and I needed a 
> head gasket, which I ordered Monday with overnight delivery and got it 
> at 10am Tuesday.  We were leaving for Triumphest at 8AM Wednesday, 
> 1000 mile round trip.
>
> Tuesday I got it all back together, torqued the head, adjusted the 
> valves and it seemed to be running well.  Went down to the British 
> Motorsports garage and Dave was doing a final tune up on to the carbs 
> and timing.  He had it idling for about 20 mins while he was revving 
> it up and tuning things, all good.  Engine purring like a kitten. 
>  Being a new engine there was a little smoke as he revved it up but 
> very little, and I asked him how long it would do that as the rings 
> bed in. With that question he revved it 2-3 more times and on that 3rd 
> time, all of a sudden TONs of while smoke come rolling out, like a 
> cartoon, a smoke screen.  What the?  The mechanic was flabbergasted as 
> to what could have all of a sudden happened.  Now it was running rough 
> and spewing out white smoke. This was at about 5:30 PM, and we were 
> both at a total loss as to what could have happened.  I drove it home, 
> about 15 miles, pulled the plugs and took the photo which I've 
> attached.  The #1 plug is on the right in the photo, and as you'll see 
> both 1 and 3 are a mess, while #2 and 4 are perfect.  Obviously 
> something is not right.  What I really don't understand is how #3 got 
> bad too.  I didn't touch #2, 3 and 4 and they were prefect before?
>
> Anyway, there was no ugly noise.  Nothing broke. It can be sorted out. 
>  But can't go on a 1000 mile drive to San Diego with it like that.  So 
> I left the next morning at 8AM in my non-Triumph back up car and had a 
> great time at Triumphest, but not in my TR3.
>
> This weekend I'm planning to do a compression test and my brother has 
> a leak down tester so I'll do that too before dismantling again.
>
> Any thoughts on what may have happened?  What I should look for?
>
> And yes, some of you may have seen my post over a week ago about the 
> OD transmission I put in at the same time with the new engine.  The 
> one that seems to either downshift by itself under load in 3rd gear, 
> or not shift into OD in 4th under load.  That clearly become a 
> non-issue with this engine problem, but something I plan to get 
> addresses after the engine is squared away and running properly.
>
> Thanks for the help,
>
> Rye
>
>
>
>
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