Engine Update

I knew I was in trouble when Ted from TSI called and asked me if I was standing up and wanted to take the news like a man !  Now I was already  prepared for the worst, so I told him to let me have it ! ;-)

As a review, the two half- moon- shaped things laying in the oil pan (below) are called thrust washers.  Their job is to control the fore/aft movement of the crankshaft.....they should not be laying in the oil pan!

They should be nestled in on both sides of the crankshaft's rear main bearing journal.  Because of wear, they dropped out of place and allowed the crankshaft to bang into the rear main bearing cap, causing all those metal pieces and shavings you see in the oil pan.

The short story is my crankshaft is scrap metal.  But what about the block and the cylinder head?

Well, it seems someone had already been into Tillie's engine.  The block bores are already 30+ thousandth over,so I would need to go to 40 thousandths over...pushing the limit, and the head had already been milled down 55 thousandths, again pushing the limits.  Rather than rebuild an engine of questionable strength, I asked Ted if he had a different stock engine we could use for the rebuilding. He checked and came up with an engine out of another 1974 TR6 that was in running condition when it when it was salvaged. 

The new '74 engine was sent off to the machine shop to be cleaned, pressure tested, and measured. The report back was that we now have a solid engine to rebuild.....stay tuned !

A Peek Into the Body Shop.....Part II

My last body shop blog left us with Tillie cut in half and with me hoping that John and all the kings horses could put her back together again !
Well, I had nothing to fear ! A few days time produced amazing results....let's take a look!

Yes! We have floors bolted to the frame and tack welded in place for the initial fitting.

A new battery tray is welded in place.

Both new wheel arches are welded into place.

Hey, this is starting to look like a car again ! The hood required quite a few hours of massaging under John's skillful hands to eliminate all the waves/bows/dents, etc.

Cracks had devoloped in the hood on both sides where the hinges bolt up, so these were repaired.

Tillie was getting lonely in the body shop, so John arranged for some high class British companionship !  ;-)

The rings that hold the head light buckets were full of rust holes, so John carefully drilled out the welds, removed them, and is arranging to have new rings created.

The "B" pillars on both sides were in pretty bad shape.....

New metal and great welding skills make an amazing difference.

As always, fit, adjust, fit, adjust....gotta get those gaps right !

More body shop excitement to come !

It's Finally Engine Time !

Those of you who have been following this blog may recall my March 2010 post where I discovered the thrust washer condition in Tillie's engine. The  thrust washer's job is to control the longitudinal movement of  the crankshaft, and since they are made out of a bronze alloy, they take the wear and tear saving the crank and block.  Once the TWs had dropped out of their places, the crankshaft and rear main bearing cap started beating each other up !

Rear main bearing caps should not have grooves on the side !

The rear of the crankshaft (behind the orange seal) also has grooves where it shouldn't !

 That discovery was the straw that pushed me into doing a frame off restoration. At that time, I pushed the engine off into the corner of my mind, and my shop, and focused on other things.  Well it's time to deal with engine, so I called Ted at TSI and setup an appointment to meet him at the machine shop that has done all his work for the last 40 years !

What would I have done without the engine hoist !

 All tied down and ready to go !

My engine will get disassembled, cleaned, magnafluxed to check for cracks, pressure tested for leaks, then measured to see how much wear & tear the various parts have endured.  I'll get a report back, and we'll decide how to proceed !  More to come.