Continuing to sort out the TR2 and was reading with interest about
ways to improve compression on an engine that's been sitting for a
long time.
I'd been squirting marvel mystery oil or engine oil - depending on
what I had open in to the cylinders every 2 years or so and rotated
the engine by hand to make sure things were coated.
My Triumph club (TCOC) and I started it last year and it ran but
poorly- we did a compression test and got: Compression in order 1234
-- pre test - 130, 130, 110, 80.
Fast forward to today - I put more marvel mystery oil in it over the
past year - and got essentially the same compression readings as last
year. I tried some ATF and got some improvement 140, 140, 120, 90.
There might have been some residual oil as the 140's seem quite high.
I tried kerosene, pb baslter; areokroil and wasn't seeing any
improvement. That was all cleared out of the oil when I pulled the
oil pan last month (but maybe that's why the inside of the engine
looked so good..)
My friend in the Triumph club, Paul, said he'd tried a product
ACDelco X66-P Carburetor Tune-up Conditioner on a T250 that had sat a
while and it really did the trick.Wasn't sure if they even sold it
anymore. Neither of us has any financial interest here.
He called me the other day and said he dropped by a garage and they
gave him a dusty can. It had a 1995 sticker on it but was full. I
took compression readings again (cold) and got 135, 130, 110, 90 . I
put 2.5 oz in each cylinder and let it soak a full day. I figured the
cylinders with the good compression likely had gunk that could benefit
from a cleaning, too. Paul said he waited 3 days but I'm impatient.
I stuck a screwdriver in each plug hole and there was no liquid - so
'26 hrs later, I put the plugs back in and gave it a spin - I probably
should have changed the oil but didn't. I ran it up to temperature
and did some 3000 rpm rev's from time to time to make sure I was
burning what was left over.
After about 30 mins I went out and made another test - warm - 135,
130, 120, 130. I decided that maybe I should check the valve
adjustment and while doing so realized I was still running a hand
ground rocker arm adjustment screw I'd made years ago. I pulled down
the rocker arm assembly and replaced the parts from a unit I bought on
Ebay a few years ago. -- From my old notes I was setting at .010
intake and exhaust -- this time I set intake at .011 and exhaust at
.013. Another compression test - went 135 130 125 130. my manual
says they should average out at 120 - so I think I'm doing well for an
engine that has not had any major work for at least 40 years.
I made my first run out of the neighborhood today - A run to the post
office, grocery store and wine store. It ran well and idles much
more smoothly. Since I had balanced the carbs with the lower
compression - looks like I'm due to repeat those steps as well. Oil
pressure at speed is 70 psi - is that too high? - at idle - 45 psi.
Chris.
triumphs@autox.team.net
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