I guess the site was only back up temporarily. Luckily, I saved the page on
my computer. Here it is:
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Fixing your Thrust Washers
(For Good and All)
Mark J. Bradakis (Head Scion of Lucas; maintainer of the Lists, a.k.a. Fat
Chance Garage) said on the triumphs list:
The car I am running this year has no thrust washer problems. The way to fix
this is to modify the end bearing cap to use two sets of thrust washers, and
pin them in place. This gives a full circle of thrust surface instead of
half, so the wear is theoretically cut in half.
( snip ) What one does is take your 1500 (or big bearing 1300) and a couple
sets of new thrust washers to a competent machine shop. Finding one of thses
may be the most difficult step. What the shop should do is bolt up the rear
cap to full torque, and machine a slot in the cap that is the same size and
shape as the slot in the block, allowing the use of two thrust washers on
that face. They don't need to do the front side, as there is not nearly as
much wear in the other direction, the wear almost all comes from reaction to
depressing the clutch diaphragm. With a full 360 slot for the thrust
washers, they would spin uselessly and then fall out if you didn't so the
next step. Have the shop drill some holes, on the order of 1/8 inch, in the
block and the bearing cap. If the holes go all the way through to the other
side, it will make marking and drilling the thrust washers easier.
So with the slots milled and the holes drilled, offer up the thrust washers
and mark the hole locations on the back. The "back" is the side without the
slots for oil, and usually has the part number stamped in it, too. Then
drill partway into the back of the washers. It may be wise to drill a spare
set or two of thrust washers at this point, assuming you have some of the
proper thickness.
The next step is to put some roll pins of the proper diameter into the holes
in the block, and leave them protruding a bit less than the depth of the
holes in the washers. Then tap the washers into place, and you should have
full circle, pinned thrust washers that won't spin out and have the clutch
work funny and the crank machine itself into the block. If you have an 1147
motor, or a small journal Mark 3 motor, the same procedure can be used. It
will take more care on the part of the machine shop and in the assembly of
the bottom end, as there is less metal in those bearing caps, and the faces
may not be that parallel, so getting the cap and block lined up properly
during crank installation can be tricky. But it is a worthwhile modification
for Spit (and Midget 1500) lumps. I may try to cobble up some drawings and
put them somewhere in the ftp tree. By the way, I still have the remains of
the thrust washer I pulled out of the Trailer Queen after that run at VTR,
stuck on the wall of the garage as a momento. mjb.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Don Malling [mailto:dmallin@attglobal.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 10:48 PM
> To: Hugh Fader; 6-Pack
> Subject: Re: Pinning thrust washers
>
>
> Hi Hugh,
>
> I can't get to Zimmerman's site. Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Don
>
> Hugh Fader wrote:
> >
> > Shane,
> >
> > I had this modification done on my bearing cap out of
> necessity. The crank
> > had pretty much ground the slot into the cap when the
> previous thrust
> > washers fell out. It was either this or a new block. It
> seems to be holding
> > up after about 2000 miles. There are pictures of this in
> the How to Restore
> > TR250/TR6 book. Below is a copy of a post I made
> summarizing all the web
> > sites describing this.
> >
> > - Hugh
> >
> > ------
> > I have been looking around the web for information on
> thrust washers and
> > related repairs. For your viewing pleasure, I found the
> following sites:
> >
> > A description of a thrust washer repair and a solid bronze
> replacement
> > washer:
> > http://users.arczip.com/zntech/tr6.html
> >
> > Description of a performance engine rebuild including
> pictures of bearing
> > cap modification to accept a second thrust washer:
> > http://home.iprimus.com.au/tridim/triumph/Engine.htm
> >
> > Article on main bearing and thrust washer replacement:
> > http://www.geocities.com/hottr6/triumph/tr6bearings.html
> >
> > Machinist's description of repair of damage when the
> washers fall out:
> > http://www.sltoa.org/Exhaust/2001/08/SLTOA0801.htm
> >
> > Fixing your thrust washers once and for all (note
> Zimmerman's site is
> > back!):
> > http://www.mit.edu/people/zimerman/Documents/tr6/mjbtwasherfix.html
> >
> > Hope this helps anybody trying to track down thrust washer
> information.
> >
> > - Hugh Fader
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