I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan......

[Guest]

Yup, I finally got around last night to cleaning that last pint of sludge out of my oil pan before washing it down with Varsol and applying a new gasket. Guess what I found! About a hundred little shards of shiny iron, remnants of my erased cam lobe. Oh, and by the way, I made up that special tool to engage the drive dog on my oil pump (I used a 5/16" long socket that I cut a deep groove into the thick end and JBWelded a long Allen wrench that I cut off into the business end.) and got <span style="font-weight: bold">lots</span> of oil through my rockers and good oil pressure. So I know my oil cooler and all the oil journals are full.

 

[Guest]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

Might be a good idea to put a magnetic oil plug in the pan.

 

[TR3driver]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

I did that when I got my first Stag. Next oil change, I found pieces of timing chain roller stuck to it !

Scared me silly, as Stags have a reputation for breaking timing chains and are interference engines (if the chains break, the pistons hit the valves).

So I promptly pulled the cam & timing covers. Only to find that the chains were perfect, looked brand new. Every link and every roller perfect (and I examined them all, twice).

Apparently the PO was not lying about having just changed the chains, only about why he had done so (and not recovering the broken piece) !

Anyhoo, I 'grees with Bill. Definitely magnetic drain plug.

 

[tdskip]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

Where did you buy the plug? Big 3?

 

[TR3driver]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

Nope, don't like the plugs they sell. Instead, I bought the "hex socket" version from MMC
https://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?pagenum=39

 

[tdskip]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

This one? Sizing? Sorry, I should know that.

 

[tdskip]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

Oh duh - I thunk you meant this one actually.

 

[jackag91]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

If I wanted to replace both drain plugs (engine and transmission) and the fill plug on the transmission, which size(s) would I need to order?

 

[TR3driver]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

I'm not absolutely certain about the oil drain on a TR6; but the gearbox fill & drain plugs are 3/8" NPT. Same applies to all TR2-6 and Stag except TR2-early 3A with the gearbox dipstick instead of a fill plug.

TR2-early TR3 used a different oil drain, but TR3A-B (and I think later TR3) used 3/8" NPT for the oil drain as well. So does the Stag.

Diff fill plugs are 3/8" NPT. On the earlier cars with diff drain plugs, they are 3/8" NPT as well (and I will definitely be adding one to my Stag diff).

So for fill plugs (no need for magnets here), I bought MMC P/N 4534K43. For drain plugs, 1072A22.

Of course there are lots of other places to buy them, I just happen to like dealing with MMC. No minimum order and easy to deal with. And everything I've bought from them has shipped within one business day. Since their nearest store is only 20 miles away or so, that usually means I get it the next business day, even with standard shipping.

 

[tdskip]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

Thanks Randall - can anyone confirm the correct size for a TR6 engine oil drain plug?

 

[TR3driver]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

Must be 3/8" NPT, since TRF sells the same plug for all locations :
https://www.zeni.net/trf/TR6-250GC/73.php?s_wt=1920&s_ht=1200

 

[tdskip]

Re: I found pieces of my cam lobe in the oil pan..

Thanks again Randall!

Any plans to be down near OC soon?

I owe you a pint or two (or couple hundred).