Bob,
Yes, you can remove pistons and rods with the engine still in the car.
'Tain't easy but it can be done! (The difficulty is re-inserting the piston
into the bore, past the crankshaft).
However, a word of caution - The breakage of the top land of the piston
suggests to me that the rings were not gapped correctly. If the top ring on
No.4 piston was overlooked, what's to say the other ones were done properly?
So, if you are going to the trouble of removing one, go for them all and
check that the ring gaps are correct.
Lawrie
British Sportscar Center
-----Original Message-----
From: BobMGT@aol.com <BobMGT@aol.com>
To: mgs@autox.team.net <mgs@autox.team.net>
Cc: mg-t@autox.team.net <mg-t@autox.team.net>
Date: Tuesday, November 30, 1999 6:24 PM
Subject: Changing a piston on a TD question
>I removed the cylinder head on my TD to have it rebuilt by a local shop.
(By
>local I mean it's in the same state, 120 miles away.) With the pistons
>exposed I discovered number four had a chunk along the edge missing. This
>left a hole though which one can see the top ring, or a piece of the ring.
>I'm not sure if the ring is still in one piece. The chunk was nowhere to be
>found, but evidently it was too big to fit between the piston and the
>non-recessed part of the head that overlaps the piston. There was a perfect
>pattern of this overlap pummeled into the top of the piston. This explains
>the terrible racket that occurred on a couple occasions that I attributed
to
>a sticking valve. (I'm a rank novice gearhead.) Fortunately there seems to
be
>very little damage to the cylinder wall, just a few faint scratches. Here's
>the question: Can I change the piston by dropping the pan without removing
>the engine from the car? The engine was overhauled a few thousand miles ago
>(just before a long period of storage) and from what I can see the other
>three pistons and cylinders are in good shape. Do pistons have to be
changed
>in sets? They seem to be sold in sets. How can I tell if the connecting rod
>bearings are ok? I would normally leave this type of job to my mechanic,
but
>I don't have access to a truck and trailer. Thanks in advance.
>
>Bob Donahue (Still stuck in the '50s)
>EMAIL - BOBMGT@AOL.COM
>52 MGTD - under DIY restoration NEMGTR #11470
>71 MGB - AMGBA #96-12029, NAMGBR #7-3336
>
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