[TR] TR3 Head Question

Dave dlhogye at comcast.net
Sat Apr 8 12:01:07 MDT 2017


Bill,
As far as I know, this crack type of crack between the water jacket is not a problem and the head can still be used.  
I have a few heads with this crack.  
In Kas Kastner's Competition Preparation Manual, Triumph Preparation Handbook, there is a section on TR3-4 cylinder heads and he is preparing a head with this crack clearly evident in a number of photos.
I have also read somewhere that this crack is not a problem.  

Dave H.


Sent from my iPad

On Apr 8, 2017, at 7:52 AM, Hoyt Duff <hoytduff at gmail.com> wrote:

>> A TR3 head would bolt on, but that is shipwrights disease in the making.
> 
> I doubt that it would. You'll have the head out anyway in either case.
> What it sounds more like is the concept of "sunk costs"
> 
> I'm sure the original head could be repaired by throwing enough money
> at it. It would likely be cheaper to install hardened valve seats in
> the TR3 head that to repair the original which is all that matters.
> 
> And the lesson in all of this is the folly of foregoing a check for
> cracks in any older head pulled for refurbishment. Any machine shop on
> its A game should have suggested this simple test.
> 
>> On 4/8/17, Bill Brewer <billbrewer59 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>     I am rebuilding a Standard Vanguard head for a '53 Morgan. The head
>> has
>> a crack or previous corrosion in the middle of the water jacket between
>> cylinders 2 and 3. There is like a little triangle on each side of the
>> middle and there is a crack and some of the metal eaten away connecting the
>> triangles. It wouldn't have to match up with anything else on the block in
>> this area and the area where it meets the cylinder liners is still good. I
>> am trying to avoid shipwrights disease. This head already has hardened
>> valve
>> seats and was lapped in. Any downside to using this head?
>> 
>>     A TR3 head would bolt on, but that is shipwrights disease in the
>> making.
>> 
>>    I have a spare Standard Vanguard head that last ran in the '50s and is
>> really rough. I could build this, just a lot more time and money.
>> 
>>     TIA,
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>     -Bill Brewer
>> 
>>     Tehachapi, CA
> 
> 
> -- 
> Hoyt
> 
> ** triumphs at autox.team.net **
> 
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
> Forums: http://www.team.net/forums
> Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/triumphs/dlhogye@comcast.net



More information about the Triumphs mailing list