• 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

TR2/3/3A I bought a TR2 project

Share this page

@CJD, I haven't noticed any cracks at the head stud threads. I'll double check when I go to the shop this afternoon to clean the bock.
That is a broken oil pan bolt. There's not enooug sticking out to get a good grip on it with vicegrips, but should be enough to weld a nut to.
Otherwise I'll drill it and get it out. Worse case scenario is a TimeSert. I've got 5/16-18 on hand if needed.
 
CJD said:
Before you go too far on the block, be sure to check the the front and rear head stud holes for cracks. Is that left rear oil pan bolt broken off...or just sealant?
Click to expand...
Good call on the front head stud. It's cracked on the left front. Boat anchor now.
I guess I'll try and find a TR3 enigne for the old thing.
Pretty dejected right now.
IMG_1108.jpg
 
Have a good machine shop look at it - it may be repairable.
 
billspohn said:
Have a good machine shop look at it - it may be repairable.
Click to expand...
I might try that. There are a couple near me that we use.
I highly doubt they'll want to touch it, but we'll see.
I'll sit on it for a couple of weeks at least before I do anything. I'm kinda bummed right now.
 
I've seen that sort of thing fixed by grinding a line along the outside of the break and filling with weld, and on the inside using a helicoil if necessary.
 
If you’ve not ordered the arrow rods yet.
Consider the MaXpeeding rods.
Cheaper and brilliant quality. I use them for my racing. And have done 4 seasons with no wear.


If you are using yours for competition consider JE pistons made in the US
this is a uk supplier to give an idea of the 89mm upgrade
I had to change to these after a couple of the cast new ones broke at different times
 
Hamish Racing said:
If you’ve not ordered the arrow rods yet.
Consider the MaXpeeding rods.
Cheaper and brilliant quality. I use them for my racing. And have done 4 seasons with no wear.


If you are using yours for competition consider JE pistons made in the US
this is a uk supplier to give an idea of the 89mm upgrade
I had to change to these after a couple of the cast new ones broke at different times
Click to expand...
HI Hamish,
I've looked at the MaXpeed rods. I'll definitely consider them when the time comes to put together a parts list. I was planning on getting the vast majority of the engine internals from Racetorations, so the Arrow rods were the first that came to mind. There are also Carrilo options for a good bit cheaper than the Arrow.

Since it looks like I'll have to source a new engine anyway, my plans for the end product will change drastically. It will move from more a a restoration to much more of a fast road/rally event car. I'll try and get the latest good complete engine I can to get all the upgrades incorporated over the production run. I lost the original block to the car, but it nets me a high port head, bigger carbs, and cam bearings.
 
With respect to Racetorations they are the gold plated end of the market place.
I would suggest that very few road cars warrant arrow/Carrillo rods. And forged pistons.

If you are spending ÂŁ5k on a billet crank with the intention of revving to 7500rpm then may be spend on those rods etc
But a cam to rev that high won’t be road friendly.

I just don’t want you wasting money on a spec you won’t use.

This is my engine and all I’ve had to change in 4 years of racing are to upgrade the pistons, I wouldn’t have needed to if it was just road use !!.
I can rev to 6500 on a standard balanced crank -and the light fly wheel
It’s 160bhp
And good on road and track.
Have a look at the engine and flywheel etc

And this is how I drive it.

 
Another piston source is Ross Racing in the US. When I was building my 1950 cc MGA Twin Cam race engine, no one made forged pistons, I sent Ross a sample stock piston, told them what size I wanted and they cam through with no problem.
 
Well, I sent my macine shop a picture of the crack in the block and his immediate replay was "junk". So now I'm for sure sourcing a new engine.
There was literally NOTHING worh using in the orignial engine except *maybe* the crank and oil pump after a rebuild. So it was getting all new internals anyway. I'd rather spend money up front to have as strong of an engine as possible rather than chance 70 year old connecting rods. Tappets, pushrods, rockers, and rocker shaft were never even considered to be usable. I was planning on probably keeping the rocker pedastals and that's about it from the vavle train.
If I'm having to build a new engine that's not original to the car, I'll shoot for 130 or so HP at the crank on 87.2mm pistons. But that is probably years away at this point.
I still have to get the body off the chassis and see if the frame is even worth using.
I'll keep on the lookout for a complete TR3 or 4 engine with head and at least intake manifold for a high port head and H6 carbs.
 
You found it before putting any work into it...so count that as a win! Those cracks happen when PO's remove the head and then try to lift the block by the outer studs. They cannot take the side loading.

If it is a matching block, then you can repair it as I show in this thread...


If it is NOT a matching TR2 block, then the cheaper solution is to find a replacement. They are still available relatively cheaply. You may even find them for free from someone trying to get it out of their garage.
 
Back
Top