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Tips
Tips

Rebuild 2

No such thing as overkill when you need lifting power. Far better to have too much, than not enough.
 
Thank you, Tom, for the pics. I pulled my head and
found a disintegrated piston and a hole through
the cylinder wall.
Not real good news, huh?

I will be posting pictures, etc; but I want to take
the time to liten to feedback about how to proceed;
like start new threads; keep on old long one going,
that kind of thing.

I'll be updating. Kinda scarey -- might need a block
replacement.
 
Brosky said:
Now is when the fun really begins.

The trail of "might as wells" soon turn into, "I guess I have no choice now, but to -----".

Remember, these cars aren't being made any more. It will be worth it when you're done.

I'm there, Paul. Went to a car show. What turned me
on???
New Dodge Viper at somewhere around $85,000 or so.
Makes the TR rebuild a far more affordable, especially
in light of the fact I figure a Saturn Sky is more
my price range.
 
Tom, how close would the cylinders be with that much bore? They are pretty close in stock form. That much increase in displacement would have to result in way more power. Has anybody done it?
 
I have read about it here at the bottom of the page. He only claims 2.7L but I have read other places also and I am pretty sure they mentioned the 3.1L. Been a while and I am not sure where I ran across it.

Been going through some old notes and am thinking it might have also required stroking.

I do remember I lost interest because it seemed more like building a grenade.

https://www.hottr6.com/triumph/TR6motor.html
 
I thought it was 2.7 and you have to bore eccentric - although there is sufficient spare on the crank to allow you to do so without changing it out.

If all else fails, TRF used to have blocks for sale. It's been a couple of years since I looked though.

You could also try 6-pack or ebay to see if anyone has one they want to sell. It may prove cheaper than trying to fix this one.
 
You have a 34 year old block that has serious damage to to the main structure. I would never spend anymore money on that block.

Best fix in my humble opinion? Call TRF and order a complete engine for $4,200 or whatever the number is now and be done with it. Your old block core is of no value, but you can still get money for the head. They do a beautiful job of rebuilding a stock motor and they can trick it up if you want. Highly reputable company, engine comes with a full warranty and you have no grief.

That is not to say that there aren't others who will do it for the same or less. You can hunt them down, but I think that would be the best and fastest route to take.

Again, after seeing more damaged engines apart than I care to remember, nothing good will come of trying to repair this type of damage short of a full replacement.

I'm not trying to freely spend your money, but rather to end up saving it for you. That and a lot of heartache to go along with it.
 
2wrench said:
might need a block
replacement.
That's the way I would go. Ask around in your local club, someone's bound to have one available cheap.
 
Brosky said:
You have a 34 year old block that has serious damage to to the main structure. I would never spend anymore money on that block.

Best fix in my humble opinion? Call TRF and order a complete engine for $4,200 or whatever the number is now and be done with it. Your old block core is of no value, but you can still get money for the head. They do a beautiful job of rebuilding a stock motor and they can trick it up if you want. Highly reputable company, engine comes with a full warranty and you have no grief.

That is not to say that there aren't others who will do it for the same or less. You can hunt them down, but I think that would be the best and fastest route to take.

Again, after seeing more damaged engines apart than I care to remember, nothing good will come of trying to repair this type of damage short of a full replacement.

I'm not trying to freely spend your money, but rather to end up saving it for you. That and a lot of heartache to go along with it.

There is something to be said for Paul's approach. It's not as expensive as it at first seems when you start pricing stuff, and you'll have a running car in no time.

That said, if you can get a core, and have access to a machine shop, you can save some $ going the other way.
 
seems I saw at one time new blocks from TRF but I didnt see them in the 2007 catalog, but you can get a rebuilt block for around 4200.00 with a 300 core charge, you might call them. I have seen blocks on ebay every so often. As far as overboring here is what How to improve TR6 book says
74.7 mm std
75.7mm + 040 2658 cc
77.5mm +0.112 2689 cc
78mm +0.132 2724cc
max 79.5mm 2830cc

once you get into larger boring you have to offcenter boring because the thickness between cylinders is not the same and the material between cylinders get too thin for the head gasket to seal. If I ever decide to pull my engine I might go up to 0.112 overbore, but then forged pistons and maybe new rods. Good luck.

I wonder how you got a hole in the cylinder wall? did you loosed a rod
 
Here are the pictures of the devastation.

https://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u222/2wrench/P1010056_02.jpg

P1010052_02.jpg


P1010055_02.jpg


Have to look carefully to see the hole in the cylinder
wall. A valve head is missing as well as the piston.
 
Sorry about that. You must click the link to see the
hole in the cylinder wall. The others were put into
the thread.
 
2W,

When you remove a head and see a connecting rod, fit with a pin and no piston, you can pretty much assume that was is left is "totaled".

I would not even attempt to save the head. You now have the potential for stress cracks and I personally would never trust it with my newly built $$$$ below it.

Send it in for a core and hope for the best.

I just bought a complete used 75 engine for $500. My plans are to disassemble it, send the block to a machine shop and have the deck resurfaced, line bored, cylinders bored to .010" over, new cam, lifters, pistons and rods, crankshaft resurfaced and all of the related new parts installed. Hopefully by next winter, I'll swap it over with my newly redone head and back on the road next spring.

BUT before I do, I'll price all of this out and add for the worst case scenario. If it exceeds what I can get it done at TRF for, I'll ship mine to TRF and have them do it. I need to find a machine shop in NE that is familiar with this engine block and will do it the way that I want it done.

My car runs good and this is just the final major step for me in the restoration. (Yeah, right...)

My point of this explanation is, I have a running car and time. You may or may not have that time to wait. If you are in a hurry, you can buy what's on the shelf. If not, try to find a good engine and have redone as Tom and others did with their engines that they took out.

As Alana said above, it all depends on how fast you want to be up and running and the cost of doing it one over the other. Weigh your decision carefully.
 
TRF used to have a whole wall of new blocks. I saw them probably 4-5 years ago. As I remember, they needed minor refurbishment, ie. honing, surface rust clean up, etc.
It would be worth the call to see if there are any left in stock.
Shipping would probably costly.
I would go with a used block. Bore it and buy the pistons to match. With the savings, you can have a lot of machine work done or buy upgrade parts.
Regardless, the cc and parts companies will be on a first name basis with you when you're done.
Good luck!
 
From what I can see, the head looks salvageable. If magnafluxing gives it a clean bill of health, you can have the seat replaced.

You might also keep an eye on eBay ... few years ago I picked up a GT6 engine for practically nothing because it was only 20 miles away and I was willing to go pick it up. Think I gave Bert $56 for it (tho he never did give me the missing rocker cover /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif )
 
When it happened to my Dad's TR3A, most of the piston went out the tailpipe. There were some pieces of skirt in the pan, but that's all.

Dad said he looked in the mirror and saw pieces of engine chasing him down the highway, surrounded by a big cloud of smoke.
 
Same thing happened to my MGB many years ago, the top 3/4" of the #3 piston was all that was left of it. connecting rod/piston pin same as yours, nice gouge in the block, but never wore through to the water jacket. Still have the block & piston around somewhere. I should mic the gouge in the wall sometime, just for fun.

I vote with Paul on getting a rebuild from TRF, in the long run, most cost effective, in my experience.

Colin
 
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