Hi guys,
Thanks for all the news and views - good and bad. Most of the bad news
was that
the block and crank were history.
Some of the good news was that it could be rebuilt - for a price. But
in any
case the motor needs to be pulled to pieces to be cleaned thoroughly and
repaired.
One suggestion involved 'magma' build up of the crank flange. Thanks to the
guy who
mentioned a $35 motor available in the US... I think it would cost a fair bit
by the
time it got here.
I don't want to replace the motor for several reasons. One is I want
to keep
the MK IV as original as possible - just because. The other is - I just got a
BMIHT
certificate (previous thread) stating that this MK IV is FK5061L manufactured
Dec 31,
1970 'traced only from the engine number..." they said. (the body had
previously lost
its commission and body number plates.) So I feel the need to keep the engine
number at
least if there was no other way to identify the car.
I haven't got the motor out yet, so don't know quite what I'll be
doing, but
here are some thoughts I had.
First, why the H didn't Triumph make a decently robust thrust washer
system. I
can't figure out why they used only the upper half of the crank flange on a
1/4" wide
washer to counteract the full pressure of a very stiff throwout bearing
operating on a
complee circle on the pressure plate. They could have used the standard thrust
and
crank bearing combination system found on most other motors.
So now that the deed is done, I can't see (yet) why it can't be
repaired and
perhaps even improved upon. Assuming the crank isn't totally wasted - and it
looks
pretty good so far. There is a slightly cupped worn area in the flange where
it has
been wearing on the thrust washers, but no damage apparent yet from hitting the
bearing
cap. I hope it can be reground and polished leaving a wider area into which to
squeeze
thicker thrust washers. They could be built up out of something else couldn't
they?
What would it matter if they were 1/4" thick?
The cap has quite a large worn area on the side of it. Couldn't this
be milled
out into a deeper semi-circle and have a steel semicircle bolted onto it with
countersunk allen head screws, Locktited. This is the piece that would keep
the new
thrust washer in place.
Assuming the crank didn't wear right into the groove of the block in
which the
thrust washer sits, wouldn't it be OK? If it is worn deeper, couldn't it too
be
milled/bored allowing a thicker thrust washer?
If guys can build complete cars, can't a little problem like a thrust
washer be
repaired? I was just at the Three Hills (Alberta) Show and Shine and saw some
mighty
inmpressive bits of engineering. I know, I know, it takes money. So I guess
I'll save
a little longer.
Thanks listers.
Cheers, Fred
--
Fred & Wendy Griffiths
Calgary, Canada
mailto: griffco@cadvision.com
http://www.cadvision.com/griffco/index.htm
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