Subject: [Healeys] What happend to my 100 engine?

From: "T+ B Willig" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 10 May 2013 17:01:59 +0200

Hi Folks,

I am looking for some advice from the specialists on my 100 BN2 engine.
Here's the tale:

Last week a few buddies and myself went to the racetrack to enjoy ourselves.
During one of the laps I tried to keep a Bugeye with 1275 engine at bay. I
fear I was a bid overenthusiastic and for a few seconds revved the motor to
6000 rpm. The result was a sudden loss of power and a roll out to the green.
After opening the bonnet, fearing to see parts of a con rod coming out of
the engine block, I saw nothing disastrous on first sight. 

After trailering the car home, I started my investigation. Here is what I
found:

.         Distributor not clamped to the block anymore, it could be simply
pulled out. The distributor was adjusted just before the track outing. Maybe
it wasn't fastened  correctly

.         Piston and head in perfect condition

.         No compression on cylinder #2, as the inlet valve was not closing
anymore.  I found out that the pushrod was not seated in the lifter anymore.

.         So out with the cam followers to see what caused the problem. The
lifter in question had a piece broken of its bottom, about the size of a
finger nail cut-off (yak).

.         Off came the sump to look at the camshaft. The camshaft was not in
its original position, I could see from below that the cam was sitting about
3-4mm too far forward.

.         Off came the timing cover, timing gear and. there it was! The
bronze cam thrust was not flat anymore, but bulged 3-4mm out to the front of
the engine, allowing the camshaft to sit too far forward.

Now my question..how could that happen? Did the loose distributor cause this
drama? Please give me your thoughts.

Regards

Thomas Willig
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