TR6 TR6 engine rebuilt

[RFLX]

Hi everybody, a friend of mine bought this car.

Triumph TR6 1974

there is blow by so we are going to rebuilt the enine

to order : piston rings pin
bearing de crank et de rod
carburtator kit
gasket set
oil and greases
more to come

If anybody has clues, do's and don't it would very apreciated
thanks for reading

 

[poolboy]

Does the engine need rebuilding ?

 

[Gliderman8]

Don't know how many miles on the odom, might want to check the thrust bearings.

 

[TR3driver]

My opinion, tear down the engine first; then order parts. That way, you will know better which parts you need, and which sizes you need (for example, whether the crankshaft journals have previously been ground undersize or need to be ground undersize now). You'll also be less tempted to reinstall marginal parts.

With a lot of blowby, you may need to have the cylinder bores machined oversize and install oversize pistons and rings; or possibly just replace the pistons you have with the same size (which may already be oversize). Whether they get bored or not, plan on honing afterwards to get a good cross hatch pattern.

Inspect the valve seats and guides. Unless they are absolutely perfect, you'll probably want to machine the seats and replace the guides. Maybe the valves too. If the engine is 'tired', chances are that it needs new valve springs (but you can check seat pressure to find out).

Inspect rockers & rocker shaft. With lots of miles, probably the rockers will need to be rebushed and refaced; the shaft replaced.

There is lots more (eg timing chain and sprockets); get the factory manual and follow it. Check everything!

PS, or there is the approach I seem to wind up following more often : just stuff some new rings and bearings in it and throw it back together. Plan on tearing it down again in 20-30 thousand miles to do it "right". I've been putting off a proper rebuild for almost 30 years now (and two different TRs) ... :laugh:

 

[Geo Hahn]

...or there is the approach I seem to wind up following more often : just stuff some new rings and bearings in it and throw it back together. Plan on tearing it down again in 20-30 thousand miles to do it "right"...

At last I know the correct term. I 'Randalled' my engine in 1982.

Figured I'd drive as long as that held together and meanwhile save some dough (and get a lot smarter) by the time I was forced to rebuild.

 

[TR3driver]

At last I know the correct term. I 'Randalled' my engine in 1982.

:lol:

 

[HerronScott]

Randall,

Better get a trademark before someone opens up a chain of auto repair shops featuring 1-hour "Randallizing"...

Scott

 

[RFLX]

My opinion, tear down the engine first; then order parts. That way, you will know better which parts you need, and which sizes you need (for example, whether the crankshaft journals have previously been ground undersize or need to be ground undersize now). You'll also be less tempted to reinstall marginal parts.

With a lot of blowby, you may need to have the cylinder bores machined oversize and install oversize pistons and rings; or possibly just replace the pistons you have with the same size (which may already be oversize). Whether they get bored or not, plan on honing afterwards to get a good cross hatch pattern.

Inspect the valve seats and guides. Unless they are absolutely perfect, you'll probably want to machine the seats and replace the guides. Maybe the valves too. If the engine is 'tired', chances are that it needs new valve springs (but you can check seat pressure to find out).

Inspect rockers & rocker shaft. With lots of miles, probably the rockers will need to be rebushed and refaced; the shaft replaced.

There is lots more (eg timing chain and sprockets); get the factory manual and follow it. Check everything!

the head was rebuilt this spring, so nothing to do on this side. For rest, the plan is to tear down the engine, and then ordering th parts of course.

the car has 85k miles on it actually. should timing chain be changed?

seem's clean to me

 

[TR3driver]

Chain looks pretty good, from what I can see. The classic test is to try to flex it sideways. An unworn chain will have almost no side movement at all.

 

[RFLX]

thanks for the tip TR3driver

follow-up

big day today

We started by cleaning up the garage in order to begin the journey

the we got the beast inside

hood open

A few thing off

quickly enough, we noticed that the interior has to be stripped in order ot get the engine out :0

then we got an Idea to undo the crankshaft bolt

 

[RFLX]

There's not much to take out but everything is long!
step by step, we got to believe it would get out the same day

Hasn't been easy, there was forgotten tranny bolt. And everything you didn't thought would be in the way.

But the victory was there at the end.

Next step, make a list of everything we're gonne have to order. I can smell the carbs need a refresh!

We're really proud that it took us one day to take out the engine, with two break to eat and one stop to the canadian tire to get the missing stuff

 

[RFLX]

Another Big day

I wanted to start by refreshing the carbs but I went for the engine. Curiosity! :thumbsup:

the bearings didn't seam too bad, well for a 40 years old lady. I'd like to have comment on this please.

Ended up with the carbs.

rollinghassis out of the garage

first thing first, lets fix the engine support

Then, oilpan removal, found uncool stuff in there...

Remival of head, intake/exhaust, volve cover

This is why I've found stuff un the oil

 

[RFLX]

the the crankshaft, rod bearing and main bearing
these are the ones I want comments on

the block looked like this

the pistons

then I went for the carbs

When I got out of carb cleaner, I left everything as is

we made a nice list of everything we need, includes verything really.
I'll put it out, and you guys tell me what I missde
We got left to mesure to see if something is oversize or needs to be.

thanks for watching!

 

[TR4nut]

Wow- that dog looks tired, just from watching you work I bet!

Any issues with the cylinder where you dropped a valve? I'm assuming the previous owner removed the broken pieces before you bought it?

Bearing shells just look tired but I don't see any huge issues there - what about the journals - any obvious scoring?

 

[glemon]

Wow, I am impressed you got it out without removing the radiator, I would take the radiator out before I put it back in, once drained it is just 4 bolts and lifts right out if I recall correctly.

While out you can backflush it with a garden house and probably get some crud out unless it has been cleaned recently.

 

[glemon]

Sorry, I am behind, I didn't see your most recent post before I posted mine.

My 95,000 mile engine got by with a crank polishing and new bearings, a machinist just told me an old trick to check the crank, if when you rub a copper penny across the journal and cracks or ridges are deep enough to scrape off and grab some of the copper it needs work.

I am all for economizing and re-using, but if they are 80+ thousand mile bearings I would replace them while the motor is apart, at least the rods, don't they usually wear faster?

If they are a bi or tri-metal bearing you might see the outer (inner really) shell (the wear surface) worn through in spots, which would indicate time to replace to me.

I would at least replace the timing chain tensioner, they are cheap.

 

[poolboy]

You are going to need this for the carbs:
https://www.buckeyetriumphs.org/technical/Carbs/CarbsI/CarbsI.htm

I believe your best bet would be to go ahead and bring the crankshaft to a machine shop, The bearings need replacement but the crank journals may also need turning..
I wouldn't doubt that cam and tappets needs replacing along with the oil pump.
All the oil passages in the block need flushing.

 

[TR3driver]

a machinist just told me an old trick to check the crank, if when you rub a copper penny

Only problem with that, pennies haven't been made of copper for a long time. If you did have a real copper penny, it would probably be worth more than the tool to do it right :laugh:

Depends on your budget and time line of course, but I would agree with poolboy. Best to have it checked by a shop (if you don't have the micrometer to do it yourself). From the looks of the bearing shells, I'd say the motor has been driven with some very fine dirt circulating in the oil, which may have worn the journals undersize without leaving any scars. If it doesn't need to be ground undersize, the shop should charge almost nothing to just check it out for you.

 

[RFLX]

thanks for all the replies.

first off, all of the bearings are going to be replaced.
I can borrow a micrometer to mesure piston and crankshaft.

the rad has frozen bolt that prevent us from taking it out.

how can I flush the oil passages?

the garden hose trick I knew and was planning to do so.

as for the pennies :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(Canadian_coin)

thanks for thecarb pages I'll read that as well

oh and the machineshop here ask 140$ for mesuring block and crank wich is why I'll do it myself

the head has been resufaced, valve checked and valve seal replaced this spring. when we lifted the head, we noticed the damaged piston, there was no hole at that itme, we decided to put the haed back on for the time being, and do the rest this winter. finally didn't last quite long...

 

[poolboy]

140 just to measure the journals !!?
What in the world do they charge to "turn" the crank ?