Message text written by INTERNET:Eganb@aol.com
><snip>
>After a closer look at the scratches and burr on my TR7s crankshaft, I'm
>going to rely on my trusty Dremel and yards of Crocus cloth to smooth out
>these blemishes caused by my carelessness, instead of pulling the crank
>which
>I have neither appropriate space or cash to do, but would probably end up
>being a heck of a lot quicker.
Don't go in there with a dremel tool. It takes away material too fast and
if you use a stone the stone dust will get everywhere. Use a small, fine
tooth file to take off the high spots only. The dents and low spots will
not cause a problem but trying to make it smooth by taking away material
that is the proper diameter will be counterproductive.
>What I do have is plenty of time and sweat-equity to put into the project,
>and for you who are still interested, a couple of additional questions:
>
>1. I finally got the #1 bearing out by taking the camshaft caps off and
>raising it enough to reduce the chain tension. The upper bearing slid
right
>out. My question is whether the chain is suppose to be so bloody tight,
and
>is there an adjustment I should be looking for?
There is an automatic adjuster and if it indexes while the cam is loose you
may have to pull the front cover and reset it.
>2. My strategy is to clean up all the scratches and burrs, then spray a
>couple of gallons of WD40 over everything to clean out any grit, then put
in
>some extra new shells on the bearings that were scratched, turn the engine
>over several times by hand, and then take the caps off again to see if any
>scratches appear on the shells. What do you think?
Again, don't worry about the scratches, just the burrs.
>3. After I reassemble everything, including brand new bearing shells, I
>thought I would leave the sparkplugs out, and pull the car in gear to help
>the engine get "broken in" without the heat and pressure of actually
running.
> Maybe pull it for a couple of miles, then replace the oil and filter.
But
>then I thought maybe this would cause accelerated wear because the engine
>wouldn't be running at its normal temperature, so the oil might not be as
>fluid. Thoughts?
There really is no "break in" as there is when new rings are fitted. When
I re-bearing'ed my TR6 I just filled the crankcase with a low viscosity
oil, drove the car until warm and changed the the regular stuff. And I
changed the filter, too.
>Of course, just to be safe, anybody got a spare crank they don't need?
If you wind up pulling the crank you can no doubt get it turned. I doubt
the damage is more than a few thousandths deep.
Good luck
Dave
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