All,
A progress report on replacing the rod and main bearings, and
thrust washers in Rags, my TR6.
FIrst, a heartfelt thanks to all those who offered great advice.
There were many tips not found in the Bentley of Haynes manuals;
I'll make sure they go into my final write-up.
The bearings are in! Yes, even this klutzoidal mekanik can renovate
the bottom end of the TR. However, I ordered the wrong size thrust
washers, so I was unable to finish the job. Nevertheless, I am
stoked, as the hard part is out of the way!
I started Friday evening by draining the oil; you know you are off
to a good start when the oil flows out, and stops after a few quarts....
What??? Only a few quarts?! Well, in my absentmindedness and
concentration on the job ahead, I had drained the gearbox oil!
Thats one extra job to do before I can get Rags back on the road.
Cleaning the oil pan has to be one of the most gruesome tasks ever
imposed on mankind. Rags has never been steam-cleaned (although
I have cleaned the top of the engine bay to a near-mirror shine),
and the bottom half of the motor is worse than the Thames before they
cleaned it up. Cleaning out the sludge from inside the pan
required that I use a plastic trowel - eueww, gross. I fully expected
the Troma Film Production crew to roll up and start shooting their next
"Toxic Avenger" film!
Saturday afternoon I started in ernest, changing the rod bearings,
starting with #6 and working forward. The first one took a good
45 minutes, but after that, I got through them very quickly, the
last one requiring only a few minutes of work.
Sunday afternoon I started on the mains, starting at #4 and working
my way forward (the front main bearing appeared to be the most
challenging because the forward frame cross-member gets in the way,
so #1 was left till last). These too proceeded
quite smoothly, popping out and replacing the upper bearing
surfaces being the most intimidating task. Actually, I tell a
lie; undoing and torquing the main bearing caps to 65ft-lbs
in limited space under the car for a guy who weighs 155lbs was
the biggest challenge. I'm going to have to eat a few more
potatoes!
All the old bearings were showing some serious wear, so I'm glad
I did this. I figure for an "old pro" this would still be at
least 8 hours labour, so I am at least $400 ahead.
When I'm finished, I'll write up a step-by-step "how to", with all
the really useful tips left out in the Haynes and Bentley manuals.
Cheers,
Shane Ingate in San Diego
PS: Thrust-washer grooves. The VTR page is very unclear on this,
and so too is the Haynes and Bentley manuals (some folk say the Bentley
manual is wrong). There is a very EASY way to remember which way
the washers go in: when installed, the grooved surfaces of the washers
must face AWAY from each other.
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