Well, I finally couldn't avoid it any longer. All the oil that was
going to drip off the car has, the replacement piston has arrived, and it's
too cold outside to drive the car when I get it fixed, so it was time
this weekend to replace the pistion we took a chunk out of on the way to
Ft. Mitchell.
I started by cleaning the garage and buying a new kerosene
heater, followed by removing the head. This taking the head off is getting
routine guys, I'm starting to get concerned. Anyway, yank the manifolds,
yank all the hoses, etc, drain the coolant from the radiator, (and forgot to
do the block...Bad Move) yank the head with the rope trick, fill a couple of
cyls with coolant, clean up coolant, drain oil, (using my strainer!!!) found no
chunky bits, drop the oil pan, toss it in the parts washer, crawl back
underneath. Hunh? Hey! Waitjustadurnminute! This isn't the right oil pump!
$DING$ Ah, well, lets take piston #4 out and put the new one in. Undo con
rod bolts, 32-45lb/ft, riiiigggghhht. Pop out piston. Well, isn't that special?
Not only is it missing a chunk out of the top, but the lands between the rings
are cracked off as well. It's like having 2 more rings, sort of. They're still
there fortunately, but broken off. Check for scoring, still OK, put in new
piston. Time to change the rings in the other 5. Take out #3 since the bolts
are right there. Pop out piston. $$DING$$ Guess this might be why I'm
pressurizing the block. Lands are broken off here too. Oh well, lets get the
rest out. Turns out #2 is broken as well. $$$DING$$$ Let's pull out the
(new before I went to VTR) lifters and dump the coolant/oil mix out of them.
3 are pitted, one seriously (for 1k mi), two lightly. $$$$DING$$$$ Guess I
need to pull the cam and probably order one from Ted Schumacher. $$$$$DING$$$$$
What a way to spend an afternoon. But the good news is I can now pull
a TR-6 head in less than 2 hours by myself and all the cylinders walls are
a-ok. Maybe I should sign up for the One-Lap with Charles?
So, given all the aluminum which must have been circulating with the
oil, I'm ordering 5 new pistons, con bearings, main bearings, timing chain,
cam, and returning one .030+ set of rings. Should be back together in time for
the first, er, second snowfall.
On another note, the TR6/250 race car for sale (?) in storage in
Madison turned out to be a TR4 that someone is going to hang onto for Vintage.
Bummer. Looks like I'll have to go with the Spitfire....If I can come up with
the $$.
Since I'm going to get a race car, maybe I'll get the S2 cam from Ted,
put the header from the Fat Chance on, trim down the head some more...NAAAHHH.
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