Well finally the Scimitar is back on the road. The weather improved
dramtically a few weeks ago, so I thought that it was time to call
my insurance company and re-instate my insurance. Moss Motors is having
their "Best Of British" show this week end, so it is always a good
excuse to get the car back on the road. Seems strange driving a rhd
car again, but it only takes a couple of days to get used to it again.
The Midget has retreated to the garage, so that I can rebuild the
engine before the Outback Rally at the end of this month.
I started striping the engine down over the past week end and after
removing the 10 cylinder head nuts, I tried to lift the cylinder head
- no luck, next I hit the head several times with a block of wood,
and still it would not move. Then I tried to free the head using the
compression of the engine, but still this made no difference.
For those unfamiliar with this engine, instead of using cylinder
head bolts, Triumph designed this engine using long studs instead. Of
course the studs and the heads were seized together, so no amount
of pounding would free the bond. So I squirted some Liquid Wrench
onto each of the studs and tapped each of the studs so that the liguid
would flow down in between the stud and the head. I waited about 1-2 hours,
squirting more Liquid Wrench every 15 minutes or so, and hey presto the
studs came out with little difficulty.
It is the firts time that I have used Liquid Wrench and I was very
impressed with it. Maybe this should become part of the standard MG
toolkit ( along with the hacksaw, cold chisel, 4lb hammer, blow torch.....)
So today the head is off to a machine shop to have all the valves,
guides and springs replaced, the head shaved by 0.030" and the ports
polished. I hope after all this is completed to have about 80hp to play
around with.
While the engine is out, urethane bushes are being fitted to the front
suspension along with Aeroquip brake hoses.
Once the engine has been rebuilt, I shall give a running report on the
progress.
Gerry
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