Well, the consensus seems to be that it is possible for the valves
on the TR7 to strike the pistons and bend, so I suspect that's what has
happened to my motor. Since one has to pull the manifolds off to get the
head off, and I'll be able to see the valves once the head is off, I'll
start by pulling them off and see what's going on. Probably will need
new valves, though.
On another subject: The TR7 motor vs. the SAAB 99 motor. A week or
so ago I spoke with a former SAAB mechanic in the area, who has been racing
british cars for a while, about the feasability of a turbo TR7 engine.
Specifically, I was asking him whether a Chrysler Turbo 1 unit had a
suitable performance map to work with the TR7 engine (because I was going
to get one cheap from a friend). As it turns out, the TR7 engine and the
SAAB 99 engine are not the same. In 1975, SAAB redesigned the engine,
making it a lot stronger (though it still looks the same externally).
The revised engine was able to take the added strain of the turbo, where the
Triumph engine could not.
The bottom line is: If you were thinking of turboing your TR7 engine,
the engine will not last very long at all. Use a SAAB 99 FI turbo engine.
As to the questions of whether you can just bolt on the oil pan and
transmission and drop it in, I don't know. However, this is definetly the
way to go.
Alternatively, if you want to keep the Triumph engine, the fellow
recommended dual 45 DCOE Webers, Piper cam, Canon intake, Janspeed exhaust,
and Lumenition ignition. Source for at least some of these parts is
Ripspeed in England (ads to be found in british car mags). Source for this
info was Dragonslayer/KT Motorsports in Voorheesville, NY
Vaughan Scott Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
scottv@rpi.edu Troy, NY
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