Jerry tells about his TR cylinder head:
> Every day brings its new discovery, and Sunday was no exception: I moved on
>to the cylinder head, and started popping valves out. I planned to dunk the
>head in some solvent, clean it, strip it, and repaint it. A valve job was NOT
>on my list at the present time. Can you say "valve seat recession? I knew you
>could. Yes Virginia, it does exist. I had a premonition about it when I
>sighted along the valve stem tips and noted that they were at different
>heights! For some reason, the worst were the outer valves. #1 was receeded
>into the head about a sixteenth of an inch.
>
> So I guess I need a valve job and unleaded seats. Has anybody had this
>done on a TR four-cylinder engine? My friend the britcar mechanic states that
>these heads are "dangerous" to put valve seats into, because there is so little
>meat between the intake and exhaust valves. He says that he has seen at least
>20 TR engines on which valve seats fell out. (!)
>Sounds painful, both to the engine and the owners pocketbook!
Sounds bogus to me! While I'm sure there are poorly done valve
seat insert jobs, I can't recall anyone making such a warning
as a general statement relative to the TR-2/3/4 cylinder head.
I've received numerous local VTR chapter newsletters from the many
VTR chapters and I don't recall ever hearing of a general problem.
Jerry may want to consider contacting Ken Gillanders of the Triumph Reg of
Southern CA for some additional info. Ken runs his own TR specialty
shop and is well respected in that field and in the realm of early
TR's especially. I don't have Ken's business address/phone number
handy, but his home (evening) number is: 818-448-3431. If you (Jerry)
or anyone else contacts Ken, please mention how you heard about him
and his business (eg. refered by Bill Sohl, VTR, via the british-cars
email group.)
Another thing about valve seat inserts, to the best of my knowledge,
they are only done on the exhaust valve seats, not both exhaust and
intake. Jerry, do keep us posted on progress of your efforts, it has
been very inormative and I'm sure will continue to be so.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Sohl (K2UNK) BELLCORE (Bell Communications Research, Inc.)
Morristown, NJ email via UUCP bcr!dancer!whs70
201-829-2879 Weekdays email via Internet whs70@dancer.cc.bellcore.com
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