• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Head gasket??

Share this page

You misunderstood me ( happens all the time) I am being nice, you can do this !!!!

Folks 'round here pull motors to keep from pulling heads 'cause it's more difficult to to internal engine work. If you can pull a head, you can definatly pull an engine. All you need to know how to do is unscrew things and not to put yourself b/w the engine and gravity.

This place is littered with gorrillas and they do it all the time. Don't sell yourself short. It's a mental block.
 
Not every one can pull and replace an engine. I was given a 350 Honda motorcycle that was disassembled. I picked it up at night and noticed damage. The next day in good light I discovered that it was taken apart with a 5 pound hammer. No parts were salvageable. That said.

Armed with a camera and the members of this forum, YOU CAN DO THIS.

Hint: We love a lot of pictures. You will also need to take lots of detail pictures as you disassemble. Zip lock sandwich bags and a magic marker will store the loose items and save thinking later. On a 1500 take pictures of the heater hose routing. If you need pictures later let me know and I'll take them of my son's 79.

The front motor mounts take a while to fasten. Other than that it is pretty easy. You can pull the motor without pulling the transmission.
 
It may be a bit expensive to ship but if you want a pretty good running 1500 longblock I'll send you one for the cost of shipping.
BillM
 
While agree that you CAN pull the motor... DON'T DO IT!

Do you have a friend with a drill press? If you do, he or she can make you some drill guides easily. If not, I will make you some and put them in the mail Monday.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Kellysguy - I didn't take offense but let's just say I'm not pulling the motor and leave it at that.

Morris that is a most kind offer but I do have a (benchtop) drill press. I don't feel comfortable drilling the block because, as has been mentioned in a previous post, one false move and the block is useless. Then where are we?

Bill, that is very kind of you indeed but I don't want it to come to that.

Please bear in mind folks, this is not my car.

I've got a quote from a local LBC shop that does good work. I'm going to assemble the engine, with a new gasket and with the studs finger tight, on what I believe are fresh threads, deeper down. If that doesn't work it's off to the pros.

Sometimes you have to draw a line between what you can do and what you know will turn into an even worse nightmare.

Cheers
 
Adrian, which shop?

If you are uncomfortable drilling the block for the HeliCoils, I hope you will at least use a "bottoming tap" to chase the threads that are left and perhaps run them little deeper. Then countersink/chamfer the entrance to the taps so the studs can run just a tiny bit deeper and take advantage of those extra threads.

If you need anything just PM me and/or give me a call. We are in the Durham phone book.
 
Doug,

Thanks for the post.

Flying Circus in Durham.

Where would a guy pick up some bottoming taps around here?

Advance Auto is useless - half the time they don't know what I'm talking about. If I want some shampoo for my car that is the place to go, though.

I'll drop by NAPA and see what they have going.

Cheers
 
Adrian, I'll look tomorrow to see if I don't have a bottoming tap in the garage. I get A-series and the Triumph parts mixed in my mind. Are the 1500 stud threads 3/8-24?

If you were looking to buy a tap before I can get mine to you, check ACE hardware and True Value if one is near you. My local True Value used to carry a lot of inch sized taps. If you do not find a bottoming tap (and if I don't have one), you can always buy a regular "plug tap" and grind off the starting tip and most of the tapered thread section.
 
Back
Top