Hello everyone,
I'm new to this list and relatively new to Triumphs. First a quick intro:
18 years ago my first car was a '69 TR6. I owned the car long enough to
catch the bug and was lucky that it required only basic maintenance.
Unfortunately, after having the car for about a year I was forced to sell
for financial reasons. This month I've finally taken the plunge and
acquired my second TR6 (a '73). As a proud new owner I expected maintenance
to be part of the fun. But I didn't expect to be faced with a major repair
only two weeks after my purchase. Which brings me to my question...
Yesterday while driving near my home the engine started making a loud
rattling sound. Upon stopping at the next intersection, the car died and
wouldn't restart. After a few seconds of cranking (bad move, I know) there
was a "pop" and a puff of blue smoke came out of the breather cap.
I've removed the head cover and discovered that one of the rocker arms has
snapped. Also, the valve stem is broken with half the stem laying under the
head cover and the rest down in the cylinder. The spring for the same valve
is also broken.
My question is whether you guys think this is a repair that a newbie should
undertake himself? If it can be described as relatively simple, but time
consuming (a weekend or two) I'm inclined to give it a shot. But if there
is some hidden "gotcha" that I could screw up I may let my local mechanic
take car of this one. What do you guys think? Any words of caution or
advice would be appreciated.
John
Dublin, Ohio
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