Ah well, the rest of the story... This's all relevent but long...
I bought a '52 TD this time last year. My 'Da owned a '51 that was
handed down from his in '61... It was the car I cut my teeth on,
even though my taste has run to Alfa's since my finances were
my own.
So anyhoo... fell in line with the family tradition and got a TD up
in PA with 564 miles on an engine and drivetrain re-build.
Had a Spider totalled that broke my heart and didn't want to get
too emotionally attached to my next car, and figured the sweat
equity was the cause, hence the re-build req. I wanted the TD to
be just a car. 200 miles or so into my ownership, (last
August) the #2 bearing gets spun.
Not being afraid of an engine, I tear her down and find that
the bearings were the wrong size, (mains and rods, so good
call Mr. DuBois) the torque specs are non-existent, and things are missing
or plain just not right. So I re-build the block.
Problem solved?
500 miles later the transmission goes. During the re-build
I get the cluster gear, (which obviously is new) and it looks
like someone put a stick of dinamite down it. Blair Engle will
attest to this as his comment was he'd never seen anything like it...
In any event, by now I have no faith in the TD's mechanical
stability. I replace or re-build EVERYTHING. Which, some
12k later in expenditures brings me to last week.
I get called up in the reserves, and am about to deploy, but the day
before I pull the plugs on the engine to prep it for short-term
storage. The #2 plug is clean. Like almost new clean. There's
just a hint of carbon on the electrode. The #1 looks rich, and
the #3-4 looks pretty much like they should. So it gets me to
thinking about compression testing the engine, which I do a few
hours before I leave.
Now I pretty much re-built the #2 piston 500 miles ago. New
rod and bearings, piston and rings, and lining balanced to match
the old ones, (~800 miles old) but the clean plug has me worried,
especially with all the traffic on the list lately regarding
compression ratios. I figure the rings haven't seated yet or the break-in
process hasn't completed, and this could be
the cause of the clean plug, (maybe oil blow-by?).
So you have the test results. They look o.k., but I don't
have a baseline to go on. Someone on the list last week mentioned
less then 160lbs. I assume this's with a hot engine. I will
point out though once more that the head, block, rockers, oil
pump, etc, etc have been re-built since the car last ran so I may
be chasing the ghost of an old problem...
Something to think on 'till I get home...
Best and thanks,
Scott Allen
>From: Dave and Liz DuBois <ddubois@sinclair.net>
>Reply-To: ddubois@sinclair.net
>To: Scott Allen <s4usea@hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: Compression Specs
>Date: Thu, 08 Jul 1999 00:21:07 -0700
>
>Scott
> Those readings look ok to me - they should all be within 10% to 15% of
>each
>other. That said, I had readings like that on my TD a number of years ago
>when
>I was trying to find out why the car didn't run "quite" right - after
>taking the
>head off, I found 2 exhaust valves badly burned (one to the point of being
>cupped). If you are looking for the cause of the spun bearing - these
>compression levels are not it. I would suspect that the bearing wasn't
>installed correctly, didn't have proper clearance or is not getting any
>oil. I
>would also be suspect of the rest of the work done on the previous rebuild.
>This would probably be a good time to tear the engine down and check
>EVERYTHING
>out (I know, you didn't want to hear that).
>
> I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the story.
>
>Good luck,
>Dave
>
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