[Fot] What a week. What a month. What a year.

[fmccjr at aol.com]

Rings were stuck, and rust prevented valves from sealing. Head and pistons are at machine shop. Hoping to get it buttoned up before the VSCCA weekend st Lime Rock, first weekend in June.

I’m learning stuff about this TR3 race biz all the time. 

Rick McCurdy
Newburgh, NY

> On May 13, 2019, at 10:58 AM, Bill Dentinger <billdentin at aol.com> wrote:
> 
> Good for you, Rick.  
> 
> Just another one of us unstoppable...tenacious Triumph merry masochists...down, but not out!
> 
> I am proud of you.  
> 
> Bill Dentinger
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rick McCurdy via Fot <fot at autox.team.net>
> To: fot <fot at autox.team.net>
> Sent: Mon, May 13, 2019 4:17 am
> Subject: [Fot] What a week. What a month. What a year.
> 
> Some of you may have heard about a New Yorkers’ attempt to get to the 
> K Cup last weekend, but here’s the skinny:
> 
> After long weeks of long days, I finished repairing bodywork from when I smacked the wall backwards at the Canadian Vintage Gran Prix at Mosport last June, and the car reassembled (just) in time to depart New York’s Hudson Valley on Sunday morning,  April 28. Of course, the one thing I didn’t have time to do before loading was to get the car running. Since I was planning on passing through Dayton, I called a long time Sunbeam club friend and asked for help. (How tough is it to get a tractor engine to run?!) Doug Jennings, who owned Tiger Auto in Dayton for decades before retiring a few years ago was the perfect choice.
> 
> I arrived at Doug’s around 8:30, had a quick bite of his wife’s (wonderful!) Lasagna, and winched the car into his garage to get the tr3 started. 3 hours later, nothing. Bupkis. Nada. We could not get the car to even cough using starting fluid! New plugs the next morning didn’t matter. The car would. not. start. 
> 
> I left Dayton for home sometime after noon the next day, an unhappy camper. Disappointing as it was, there still is no sense in dragging a dead race car to California and back. So, I went home. 
> 
> There is spark, fuel and (barely)compression. When I got home I took it to another Brit car friend who owns a shop and offered to give it a look. We measured an average 105 lbs for comp (it should have done SOMETHING!) and timing was judged to be correct. What we did not do was a leak down test. I don’t know why we didn’t think of that before removing the head... Where the heck is mine when I need it?!
> 
> Head removal revealed some scoring of the walls, ugly corrosion in the chambers, but nothing blatant. When I crashed last year, apparently the top rad hose popped off the spout and water was introduced into the intake. Who knew!? I hit the wall backwards after rounding turn 10, and the little birdies were flying around the little stars before I shut down the motor and gingerly extricated myself from the car. I didn’t know for 6 more weeks that I had a handful of broken vertebrae (thank you, HANS device..!), now fully repaired with the neurosurgeons approval to race, by the way. I discovered the water evidence when I had to remove the manifolds to weld up the ripped exhaust collector. Inside the ports were rust remains that definitely should not have been there- and the starter didn’t spin the motor until I pulled plugs, squirted WD-40 into the cyls and bumped the started button until it loosened up and spun freely. 
> Next season, when the water is drained for winter, it will get the cylinders lubricated! That is, when I finally get the darn thing to run...
> 
> My big adventure was a bust. Bummed I missed it (a good one, from all the great comments!), bummed I didn’t get to see west coast friends, but still determined to be at Mid-Ohio next year!
> 
> Since I’ve had the head and manifolds off a number of times, it’s time for a new gaskets (both head and manifold). The solid copper gasket worked great, but took me at least three tries to get it to seal after the prev head gasket failed at the ‘17 Lime Rock Historics. I ended up using silicone ll. It worked, but it’s messy and unorthodox.
> 
> So, does anyone have a suggestion for replacement gaskets? I’m not trying to be a frontrunner, I just crave reliability at this point- a weekend where I can drive off the trailer, race, and drive back on the trailer with nothing broken or suspect. Just once!
> 
> Down, but not out. Yours truly,
> 
> Rick McCurdy
> Newburgh, NY
> 
> I know... I know, I waited a long time to work on the car, but I was working on restoring a friends big Healey, and that had priority. It’s beautiful, but took much longer than anticipated. Just call me “Mr. Vertical Learning Curve”!
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