Fame at last - the engine rebuild laid bare

Take a trip over to the Canley Classics - Blog for new of my engine - Dave's working his magic on the pile of bits I dumped on his doorstep a few weeks ago.
Avid Blog readers will know I snapped the crank on my 6 pot - without really trying. This engine came with the car and had done sterling service with the previous owner - I'd not had my hands in it and apart from a little concern about crank case pressure (it could blow a little oil on a long trip) it was a strong performer, could easily pull some seriously quick manouvres and has been reliable. I'd added fuel injection and that did reveal marginal engine vacuum (Lucas PI likes strong vac) but I'd not had the change to actually test it - I bought the vac gauge a few days before the crank snapped.

Anyhoo - Dave's finding some interesting things in there, I'm surprised at the oil pump as the one thing that was always remarkable about the original engine was the great oil pressure.

Dave asked if he could put details of the rebuild on his Blog as a sort of technical news item, I'm happy for that to be happen. The engine's had a fairly hard life, it's done track days and Santa Pod, Round Britain Runs and two Sod Off runs (Club Triumph members will know what I'm talking about there) it's been uses to lug a very loaded car to the Isle of Wight a couple of times too. It's had fuel injection tested and retested on it and witnessed a blown diff and a broken rear spring in it's use. That's not to mention the fact that it's my fun car, so I enjoy it, to the full - it sounds great when nailled so ... I nail it!

The most alarming photo I think is the one of the stretched main bearing cap bolt - this must have taken some serious abuse with the torque wrench when it was assembled. Dave says there were bolts from different manufacturers used - he's replaced them all with new bolts.

I'll have to be more considered when I use the car this time around, a careful running in will be needed and then I can finish setting up the PI system - I was nearly there I think. Trouble is, I needed a long run to test it all properly, the RBRR was to be that test. No matter, it's a good learning experience and whilst the bill will be painful it'll be worth it in the end :-)

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