Raymond and TeRrific Listers:
Well Raymond-your post just took me back 2 1/2 years when I started my TR-4
Restoration. The engine was strong-but a 'smoky', and it was 1998, the last
engine work (complete rebuild with liners, bearings-the whole she bang was
in 1978, but only 10,000 miles ago. I knew the valves were the 'lead' type,
so that was easy-I took the head to my favorite Machine Shop Crony Les
Swanner, Swanner Automotive Towson, MD (an old E-Type owner in the late
60's, and yes we go back that far) for new valve guides and valve checks. WE
put in the hardened valve guides/seats surfaced (same as small block
Chevy-cheap), new valves, head planed, -the whole job with the complete new
head gasket kit was $146.00.
!1St before you do any disassembly of the engine-do a compression test on
each cylinder and carefully record!
Now as for the lower block. Drain the oil. Test the pistons and rings in
this way- Check the pistons for'slap'-'side to side' movement- a little is
OK. Then -we used the 'Standard in the Aircraft Industry Ring test'. Line up
all the piston tops so they are all equal to each other. (1/2 way position
on the compression or decompression stroke). Measure in MM. the depth to the
top of the liners. Fill each cylinder to overflow position with Varsol- a
very thin parts cleaner. Wait 24 hours and record the drop in level. Figure
the % of loss. In my case the pistons varied from 1/4 full to 3/4 full. Now
before disassembly IIRC my compressions were 140, 130, 140 and 120. Yet the
cylinder that 'leaked' the most was a 140 cylinder-so this told me the
problem was mostly in the valves. The machine shop confirmed this analysis,
Valve guides were worn-some more than others.. This said to me I didn't have
to worry @ the engine internally(Pistons/Rings/Bearings) -only 10,000miles.
These are basic and foolproof tests. FYI The past few years I've run
Pennzoil 10W40 and (getting harder to find) 20w50 ONLY.
Many years ago (1970) I was living in Oklahoma (Norman and Tulsa) . One 95^
night 1 AM in the morning on a trip home to Norman from Tulsa on the OKLA.
Turnpike-a lower cooling hose blew. The next turnpike gas station (water)
was closed-the next on was 22 miles. I nursed the car there- When I stopped
it-it seized-wouldn't turn over. As fate would have it- a guy &gal with a
TR-3 pulls in-gave me a ride the 80 miles home-camped out in the back yard
and the next day we picked up a hose from Fretwells in OKC and he gave me a
ride back to the car.
The car started right up. Never even burned significantly more oil after
that.
NOW HERE'S THE BOTTOM LINE: I DID AN OIL CHANGE THE DAY BEFORE THE TRIP
WITH 60WT RACING OIL (VALVOLINE) I'm absolutely convinced that 60 WT oil
saved my engine. But as another lister said: These tractor engines are
TOUGH!- Enjoy the Car. and be glad you don't have the 6 cyl-not as tough!
Let me add that when I started the car after the reassembly - the oil
pressure is at 80# with 10W40 Pennzoil. (Temps were 30-45^ in MD last month.
After mixture adjustments -NO SMOKING -not even on 'VA VA VRROOMS'.
I'll send you some jpegs of the torn down engine!
Sherman D. Taffel
Columbia MD
CT40054L 98% -ready to roll when the seats go in!
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