Mister Towed on the road...

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by phil9

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-MK...item1e8c1d003e

Cheers Phil, had spotted that one but the resin repair put me off.

Mine should clean up ok, after all, it managed to put out 79hp in that state, so a clean and valve lap should boost it considerably, especially as one of the exhaust valves appears to be not fully closing due to the build up of crud.

I'll be rebuilding it with the mk2 cam and 1.75's next week and I'm currently looking down the back of the sofa for the £180 for Witor to flow balance my manifold. Might have half a chance of keeping up with your 2.5 then...

[phil9]

did not see that .....back on road soon then....

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by phil9

did not see that .....back on road soon then....

Hopefully by the middle of next week.

New valve springs suitable for the mk2 cam arrived today http://www.chriswitor.com/proddetail...CW2906&cat=431 still waiting for a few more things to arrive in the post before the head rebuild can begin.

Also need to sort out one of the front arb mounts which pulled a hole in the chassis front rail. I've welded it all up but I'm not happy with the result so I'll be modifying the arb mounts into a full width cross bar to make sure it's all strong enough.

[phil9]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/X2Lucas-Ro...item2c8418a53b

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by phil9

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/X2Lucas-Ro...item2c8418a53b

[Scottie22]

Hows the head coming along Mr T?

Back on the road this week?

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Scottie22

Hows the head coming along Mr T?

Back on the road this week?

Just finished my most exhausting set of shifts Scottie, a run of 11 hour shifts with 3am finishes, so I haven't been able to get on with it. Four days off now though so I'm about to make a start. Hoping to be roadworthy again by Friday...

[Scottie22]

I know the feeling, good luck with it!

[Mister Towed]

Spent most of today repairing the o/s front arb bracket, which had pulled a hole in the chassis -



Not pretty but pretty solid.

Made a start on cleaning up and lapping in the valves too -



Got three cylinders worth done, the ones on the left, they're not exactly new and shiny but a heck of a lot of carbon came off and they lapped in smoothly enough. Also changed the springs for new ones suitable for the mk2 cam.

[Paul L]

Mr T - Sounds like you are making good progress.

I loved your "Not pretty, but pretty solid" comment, as that sums up most of my repair work.

Good luck, Paul.

[Mister Towed]

Cylinder head refurb now finished and mk1 cam swapped out for mk2. Couple of observations:

1/ The Haynes manual neglects to mention that you've got to remove the fuel pump before pulling the camshaft out of the block or it'll jam after about 100mm of travel;

2/ Don't bang the timing chain cover back on with the palm of your hand like I did as it's got a ruddy great spike on the front, which is now covered in blood -



Something had been bothering me about my cylinder head too that I just couldn't put my finger on until this morning. Take a look at the picture below, the two valves on the left are the ones I'd decoked, lapped in and refitted with new springs and the two on the right are as fitted by whoever rebuilt the head last time -



The valve springs were all fitted the wrong way up, with the closed coils uppermost.

I'm beginning to wonder if that could explain why the engine wouldn't rev beyond 4,700rpm on the dyno, after all, they've got a right way up for a reason. Should find out tomorrow as I'm hoping to get the head back on and have the car ready for a test run by tomorrow afternoon.

I'll be refitting the 150 Strombergs to see if it'll pull harder for longer with the same carb set up that it had before. If there's a dramatic difference it won't just be down to the cam, which should only give me another 6 or 7 hp, but will indicate that the inverted valve springs were strangling the engine.

[Scottie22]

It will be interesting to find out any differences, as you say,
they are made and fitted that way for a reason!
Good luck with the test, and hope it comes out in your favour.

[Paul L]

Mr T - The more I read about your "rebuild" engine, the more I worry about my own "rebuild" engine.

Unfortunately, I would only make things worse if I started to "play" with the engine myself.

So hats off to you for having the skills to get this sorted out.

I will definitely be getting a Triumph specialist to bring my engine back to life and check it all out for me.

Good luck, Paul.

[swifty]

Good to see your repairs are nearly finished and it will be interesting to see if there's an improvement in engine performance.

I looked at the ARB mounts on my chassis after reading your post and mine too are showing signs of stress fractures so I'll make up two new plates to weld in position, it must be a weak point.

[Mister Towed]

Engine's all back together now, but I'm short by two 32mm pipe joiners to get the uprated cooling system all connected up. I''ve ordered a couple but they won't arrive until about Wednesday so I won't be back on the road til then.

Can't wait as the engine should have a new lease of life. In addition to the 1mm carbon encrustation I've scraped off everything and the valve springs being fitted upside down I also found that a couple of the rocker to valve clearances were way out too. One was more than double the gap it should have while another had almost no gap at all. It's these little details that sap power.

I just hope I haven't messed up during the rebuild, like fitting the cam 180 degrees out for example...

[oxford1360]

Just think of the reduced compression now that all that carbon has gone!

Looking forward to the results.

[Scottie22]

Mr Towed, only a very brave man would set out on a weekend trip of such magnitude without a roof!

I'm certain you do not transport the car in a van, like a lot of "enthusiasts" I have seen at shows!!

Good luck with the weather!

[Mister Towed]

Unfortunately I've failed to get my engine running, so I'll be going to Cholmondeley Pageant of Power (CPOP) in the tin top. Oh the shame

I'm completely stumped at the moment, it turns, sparks at 13 degrees btdc on no.1 plug and sucks fuel but just doesn't even try to fire. Phil J has made some suggestions regarding the cam/distributor orientation that I'll be mulling over until I take another look at it next week.

The most likely cause is that I might have got the cam sprocket misaligned with the crank sprocket as the timing mark on the latter was so worn I'm not certain that's what it was. The Haynes manual shows a thick slot cut into the face of one tooth on the crank sprocket, the only mark I could find was thinner than a human hair, invisible to the naked eye and only apparent through a watchmaker's eyeglass.

Oh, and my wife has offered the helpful advice that I probably shouldn't have messed with it. Damn it, she's probably right.

[Scottie22]

What a shame as you say Mr T.

Good luck with finding the solution, I have no advice I'm afraid, except that an old mechanic once told me if it had fuel and a spark at the right time, nothing could prevent an explosion!

[oxford1360]

Bad luck, T.

When I fitted my new cam I used new duplex sprockets that came without marks so I had to use the following approach to get the timing right -

http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/triump...ming/index.htm

This is, of course, for a four pot, but the method can be used assuming that your new cam profile and timing are symmetrical.