Another week!

Things went pretty well this week. The TD with the snapped valve is going home. The thinking is that the intake valves were of a softer metal; all of the intake valves were mushroomed on the stem. Also someone had put in hydraulic lifters, which may have contributed to the failure. We changed to original lifters, changed the pushrods, put 4 new intake valves in. It’s running smooth, has a bit more power and is getting picked up in an hour.

As planned the engine parts to the Beast (TF1500) went to the machine shop Wednesday (I think it was wed) and the TD engine we had there was picked up. There was sticker shock when we picked it up. I think my engine was the last one we had fully machined back in 2002. A lot of work is done everything is cleaned, bead blasted and magnafluxed. The block and head are resurfaced. The crankshaft, flywheel and pistons are balanced. The valve seats are replaced and valves seated and installed with new springs. There is a lot of work done and the engine is better than it was when it was originally built but it’s now costing around 2700 at the machine shop. It cost me around 1800 when I did mine. Take care of your engines! Check oil pressure and levels! Watch for loss of power.

MGA cylinder head also had to go to the machine shop. The head gasket was blown and the heat generated cracked the head between #3 and #4 cylinders. It had to be welded and machined. The heat generated also loosened one valve seat. On the bright side it’s already back at the shop. It should only take a couple hours to have that car ready to go home.

Next week should be busy for Dad. He has an engine to assemble and the MGA to get done. Me…I only have one goal in the shop next week and that is to get the frame sandblasted and painted for the TF. That would be the last thing I need to get done to have my winter work lined up. I have three cars for the winter (four including my own.) BlownTC that is still waiting for the paint booth! 53TD, which is waiting for its’ center panel to come back from the shop. And the Beast.

Wednesday I’m off to Buffalo for a “recharge.” My house is on the haunted tour this year for the neighborhood association. I’m letting them use three rooms of he house for the tour. Plus I have loads of catching up to do with friends etc. My next post will be from Buffalo.

Just a couple pics of the Beast.

Left front spring, broken.

The frame is almost ready to sandblast.

See ya…

UGH!!!

It was nice while it lasted. For a short, really short, time the shop was “open and airy.” We had one engine at the machine shop…I had gotten the TF engine ready to exchange with that one when we picked it up, eliminating one trip there. We had room to roll BlownTC into the paint booth when the TD fender was painted. It seemed like things were in an ordered plan, all was well with the world, then all hell broke loose AGAIN.

Wednesday we had a quick fix on a TD that has a Datsun 5 speed trans and rear end (the owner has the originals in storage.) The trans had worn bushings in the shifter. The fix took half an hour. There was a “rocky” engine and a little tightening on the stabilizer bar bracket took care of that. A test ride with the owner and they were off in an hour and a half. All was fine. Until the phone call…an hour out there was a strange noise, a loss of power, a couple of phone calls and the car and owner were on a flatbed truck on their way back to the shop. The car got aback to the shop about 4:30 and with in 20 minutes we had found the problem. What are the odds??? On the day the car had some unrelated items fixed, the engine decides to drop a valve? Now there is an engine with the cylinder head pulled off.

That is two engines completely pulled apart (one restoration-no rush, and one-“gotta get it out.”) And one with its’ cylinder head off.

An MGA, dad restored a while back, was on its way to North Conway, lost power and wouldn’t run well. He went over and looked at it, did a tune up, got it running and it was still down a cylinder. They drove it back to the shop on three cylinders and guess what? We pulled the cylinder head. The head gasket was blown.

If you’re counting that makes four engines. The restoration isn’t critical other than being ready to go to the machine shop when we pick up the one that’s there but the others were not planned work. I had thought the repair season was coming to a close, I guess not.

On the plus side we had just gotten a set of valves in for the TF restoration and so we had a set of intake valves to use on the TD. All the intake valves on the TD were mushroomed on the stem (dad thinks they were an odd set of valves made from a softer metal) and the one that broke did so just below the end of the stem. That was a good thing because the valve wasn’t able to fall into the cylinder, just ride up and down on the piston, making one small dink in the piston top. On the MGA we have the gaskets in stock to repair it. Both of these cars should be out on Monday.

Most of the machine work is done on the TD engine and she shop is waiting for the crankshaft to come back from being ground down, which is expected to be back Monday or Tuesday. It’ll take two days to put it back together and half a day to install it. I really hope (there I go again) to have it gone within a week. Then we can get back to restorations. LOL, of course I’ll keep you posted!!!

I know sometimes my writing is a little choppy. I hope you are able to follow it!

Later…