Hi Jack...
I need to point out - get the magnafluxing done _before_ you shot blast the
pieces... you don't want to pay the man for shot blasting them only to find
out they're cracked anyway (and thus useless). Believe me on this ;-)
The baking process is the new "less toxic" method of cleaning the block.
While I'm sure there's more than one way to do the job, basically they heat
the block up to hot and then cool it... any organic crap on the block turns
to cinders and then washes off easily with a blast media such as walnut
shells or other material that won't harm the important surfaces (like the
head/block interface).
The "shot blasting" process that you refer to is also called "shot
peening", and in theory - should make the surface more uniform and less
prone to cracking than those pieces that are not shot peened.
I have heard mixed opinions about shot peening Triumph connecting rods,
some swear by it, some swear about it - citing rod failures ostensibly
caused by the shot peening process.
That having been said - you need to have the rods (in particular) done by a
shop with direct experience with Triumph connecting rods in order to limit
the "damage" that can be done to your rods at the hands of an inexperienced
shot-peener. Ask racers in your geographic area for references. One such
place is Triple-R-Machine in Quincy, IL (217-224-6060) (Hi John!) that has
been used by other Triumph racers with some success. Note I have still not
dealt with this company and am merely providing a datapoint, but I have
heard good things about them - notably - Jack Wheeler, former SCCA EP
champion (in a TR4!) has used their services on the past. That's a pretty
good reference.
So, the order of repair (for rods) is: clean, magnaflux, polish the beams,
press in new small end bushing (if required), balance the rods and then
shot-peen (followed by a thorough cleaning (and oiling if you intend to
store them for _any period_ of time unused)).
As far as heat treating, well, it depends on what you are talking about.
There may be some merit to cryogenically treating the rods (and the block
and the valve train components) - but we should take that discussion
off-line. If you mean _tempering_ these parts, I'd say _NO_. But keep in
mind that the baking process for cleaning the parts is not heat treating.
BTW, I presume you are merely "blueprinting" this engine... if so - then
ignore the part about polishing the rods - this is a no-no in the stock and
Street Prepared classes.
By way of chance, I've been reading up on some engine blueprinting stuff
because - you guessed it - I'm building up a motor. This will be a
"prepared" engine, so I've been looking into the "tricks or the trade". I
suggest reading the various David Vizard books (Building Horsepower Format:
Paperback, 128pp.
ISBN: 0931472245 Publisher:Motorbooks International, Pub. Date: May 1990;
and the "series" on how to build Horsepower on the Chevrolet Small Block
V8, particularly the books on "Pistons, Rods and Cranks" and the "Cylinder
Head" volumes). There's good stuff in those books. There's also a pretty
good book on engine blueprinting by Rick Vaegelin (I think it should be
Rick Vogelin)
ISBN: 1884089267Publisher: CarTech, Incorporated Pub. Date: August 1997.
That's it from this peanut gallery.
C ya,
rml
TR6's
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