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llessur

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Everything posted by llessur

  1. Thanks Nigel, reply is much appreciated. As long as this profile is an improvement, however small, on the original I guess I'll live with it. I just didn't want to go backwards. I did tell the company I wanted to reprofile to the 308778 specs and they seemed to give the impression they knew what that entailed. In hindsight I should have been more specific about the exact specs I wanted. You live and learn I guess... It's not as if I can send it back to be reprofiled again so my options are limited really. The car will mainly be used for cruises to the beach, drives through the wine regions etc and won't really see much in the way of speed so top end performance isn't really that important to me. Hopefully if I can get the carbs and ignition set up 100% right then it should be fine for my needs.
  2. Any thoughts on this camshaft profile for a stock rebuilt 2500 S engine which will be running on twin SUs? I sent my 307621 for a regrind but the specs on what's come back doesn't seem to match the profile I expected. From what I can find online it's closer to the 311399 camshaft profile. Paperwork says it's a Wade profile 0480B but I can't find any details about that. I admit camshafts and timing boggle my mind somewhat so I'm not sure whether to kick up a fuss about this or whether to just fit it and forget about it. I'm not a particularly spirited driver but obviously don't want to go through the hassle of an engine rebuild to end up driving around in something unnecessarily asthmatic.
  3. Thanks all, some good points there. I might have a sneaky look over the Jaguar zone in my local breakers (they're really organised over here) and see what I can find, otherwise I'll have to bite the bullet and buy new. Still not sure if I can be faffed with mechanical as installation would take a lot more than an electric one. I'll gauge (no pun intended) my motivation levels on the day...
  4. I'm gradually approaching the tail end of my engine rebuild (yes, it's been around a year now - I blame having kids) and would like to fit an oil pressure gauge to my 2500S so that I can keep an eye of what's going on in there. I'd be interested in hearing what other people have done in this respect. What are benefits of a mechanical gauge vs electric? My gut feeling is that I'd be fairly keen to avoid a mechanical one as it's one more (very inconvenient) place for oil to leak from but lots of people use them. Are they cheaper, more plentiful or just better? I'm contemplating robbing an electric gauge and sender from a Jag XJ6 as they seem to be fairly plentiful in breakers yards over here. I think these only go up to 80psi - will this be enough? Otherwise I can buy a new Smith's dual water temp/oil pressure gauge and replace the existing water temp gauge currently sits. As far as I can tell these are all mechanical oil pressure gauges. Any thoughts or suggestions re the above would be welcome
  5. Any advice? I'm currently rebuilding my 2500 lump and have all the necessary plugs from Chris Witor - the old ones were removed by the machine shop. Do they go in dry? With Loctite? With RTV? Are they supposed to be a tight fit? Do they bottom out, or do I just drive them in a certain depth and leave it at that? The large one at the end behind the backplate feels quite tight going in - almost like it's cross-threading but Chris Witor's stuff is normally right for the job so maybe this is just how they are? Threads seem clean and in good condition.
  6. I am close to the stage where I can start building up my machined 2500 block. I'll primarily be following the workshop manual during the rebuild but have also seen a couple of fairly comprehensive YouTube videos which were useful - in one the guy used liquid gasket maker in conjunction with pretty much every gasket he used on the block with the exception of the head and manifold gaskets. What are people's thoughts on whether this required/beneficial or not?
  7. Cheers Pete, great advice 🙂
  8. Am still very slowly working my way through a rebuild of my 2500 S engine and need to make a decision about the slightly pitted camshaft. I've spoken to a respected camshaft machinist in Victoria and I can get it reground to the same profile for relatively little money, or I can splash out on a new one ground from a billet for around 3.5 times the cost. I'm leaning towards a quick and dirty regrind, these guys reckon the hardening on these chill cast camshafts is quite deep and that won't pose a problem. Before I commit does anyone have any words of warning about this approach?
  9. I'm building up a 2500 block from scratch having just got it back from the machine shop. They've removed all of the oil gallery plugs and I no longer have them - does anyone know off the top of their head how many of each I'd need to order? Chris Witor lists three sizes - 1/8", 1/4" and 3/8". I can call him on Monday but if anyone knows then I can put the order in now and save a bit of time 👍
  10. I swapped out the rubber steering coupling in my 2500 today as the last one had split quite badly but on reassembly it definitely looks like it's under quite a lot of torsional strain. I've loosened the top and bottom column clamps and also the steering rack clamps to see if a subtle shift in alignment might relieve things but nothing changed. As the old one had already split I can't really compare the before/after situation but does this look right? It seems like a recipe for early failure of the new coupling to me but maybe that's just how they are?
  11. My 2500 block is currently at the machine shop for a rebore, crank grind etc. They have asked about decking the block and want me to run the head gasket into them so that they can see how this will affect the recessed bores. Before I do, what are the general thoughts on decking the recessed bore blocks? I'll go in and have a chat with them about whether or not it's really required but thought I'd ask here first. Is this likely to cause problems with sealing of the gasket? Does any block decking need to be accompanied by a corresponding shaving of the pistons to maintain compression ratio? This is my first full rebuild so whilst I'd like to pretend I know what I'm talking about, I don't really :)
  12. Cheers Nick and Pete - good advice. I was thinking about this last night and think I'll do this one properly with a new camshaft, will probably just run on the existing bearing surfaces as they seemed OK to me. Can always ask my machine shop to give them a glance too.
  13. The block from my 2500S is currently stripped down and due to be refreshed with a re-bore, crank regrind, new bearing shells etc. My stock camshaft is OK with a little bit of wear so I haven't decided yet whether to replace it with a new Chris Witor or Newman shaft, or keep using it, given that I'll be doing fairly low miles and nothing competitive in it. If I were to replace it, can I just run a new camshaft on the old bearing surfaces in the block? Is there any benefit to having these bored to fit bearing shells? Also, a couple of people have offered me good used camshafts - does this change any advice relating to the above? My gut instinct would be to avoid something that's already been worn in to a different block. I presume with either option the cam followers should be renewed as a matter of course? Mine don't really show much wear and if I reuse my existing camshaft I'll just stick with these.
  14. A minor update to the old blog: https://triumph2500blog.wordpress.com/
  15. Another engine-related update to the 2500S blog: https://triumph2500blog.wordpress.com/2020/01/13/engine-update/
  16. Cheers both - this will be a near-total rebuild in that it will be rebored, with new pistons, rings, bearing shells, thrusts etc plus the crank will be reground. It was borderline whether or needed it or not but I really fancied it as a project having never done it before so thought I'd dive in. The budget-conscious side of me says reuse it, bit that would seem like a shame given the rest of the work that will be done...
  17. Cheers Johny - I'll give it some more beans and see if I can get it off 👍
  18. I'm in the process of stripping down the 2.5 block from my 2500 for a rebuild. As per my other thread this started as a quick thrust washer replacement exercise and has snowballed to something more expensive but hopefully more rewarding. I took the camshaft out yesterday but unfortunately whilst most of the lobes look OK, there is pitting on the nose of one of the lobes - here is the lobe in question: Here are the rest: Thoughts on re-use of this cam? Is it toast due to the pitting? If so, my question is what do I replace it with? I'm not a particularly spirited driver so don't want anything too sexy - do I try to source a replacement OEM cam, or is there something better out there? Budget is also an issue so I can't afford to spend big bucks. I think the OEM camshaft for the 2500S is 307621 - Chris Witor does not seem to stock it but Rimmers do both new and remanufactured. Has anyone had any experience with their camshafts? Any pitfalls around remanufactured ones? Also, I presume I should fit new followers if I'm fitting a new cam? What about the camshaft bearings? These seem like a specialist job to remove and fit...
  19. Am currently in the process of stripping down my 2.5 block for a rebuild. What's the best way to remove the collar/sleeve and oil thrower disc from the front end of the crank? Do I need a puller of some description? The manuals helpfully just say "remove". These are the bits in question: https://www.chriswitor.com/proddetail.php?prod=133235RM and https://www.chriswitor.com/proddetail.php?prod=119390RM
  20. An engine-related update to the 2500S blog: https://triumph2500blog.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/engine-decisions/
  21. I did a leak-down test today and seems there's quite a lot of leakage - the gauge showed around 40-45% leakage on each cylinder, most of which seemed to be coming up around the pushrod area so presumably it's getting past the rings. There was a small hiss from the dipstick tube and a little bit from around the valves too. Each cylinder was at TDC for the test, compressor supply PSI was around 90. I'm not 100% sure how much to read into this given that the engine was cold and hadn't run for a year or so but I'm thinking I'm going to bite the bullet and strip it down for a rebuild anyway. I know I could probably just chuck in some new bearings and run as-is for a long time yet but working on my own around parenting responsibilities means that taking the engine out and getting it back in again realistically results in the car being off the road for months. I'd therefore like to know that once the engine goes back in it hopefully won't need to come back out again for any reason for a long time. That'll hopefully be the case if it's rebuilt. I'll get the machine shop to do the bores and the crank and I'll aim to rebuild at home as and when time allows.
  22. Exciting times for anyone who's currently starting their car with a screwdriver. Rimmer Bros have had the long-obsolete and prone to falling apart steering column lock re-manufactured - they'll be receiving 1000 of them around 31st Jan. Part number 160337 - fits Stag, Saloon and Dolomite, maybe others It's not that cheap at £114 but very useful to have available nonetheless.
  23. So after a weekend of musing my plan of action is to do a leak-down test on the engine to see what the piston rings and bores might be up to. It wasn't noticeably smokey but I only did a few km in it before the car was broken for parts so I wouldn't say I trust it completely. I wish I'd done a compression test on it whilst it was up and running but time was limited to strip the car and get it off the driveway. The benefit of hindsight and all that... If all goes well I'll probably go a step further in my refresh and get the crank main and big end journals ground - I have rung around a couple of reputable local machine shops and this would come in at around the $200 mark (£100) including crack testing so not too bad really. If the leak-down test results aren't good then I'll think again about my options. If I did decide to rebuild then getting the block rebored is around $360 (£190) at the machine shop including honing and decking. Then I could rebuild the block myself, leaving any head work for another time. So with new pistons, rings, bearing shells, gaskets etc that'll be a total outlay of around $1000 (£500) which I don't think is too bad but still a little more than I had budgeted for at this stage. In reality if the bores are toast then I might just chuck in some new thrusts and bearing shells for now and run it until it dies. I can concentrate on stripping and rebuilding my spare block over time in readiness.
  24. Am still leaning towards doing a quick tart-up at this stage but just hypothetically if I decided to 'go nuclear' and rebuild the engine I'd like to do the dismantling and reassembly work myself. Whilst I've not rebuilt an engine before I'm fairly confident with my ability to follow the factory manuals, work to specs/tolerances, maintain cleanliness etc. Ignoring the head for a bit and just thinking about the block, what's the minimum amount of work that I'd need to outsource? Just the machining, or does any of the reassembly ideally need to be done by an engine shop? Can I get away with taking in a stripped block, getting it honed or rebored as required, getting the crank ground and then taking it all back home to reassemble? Or is that overly simplistic? At what point is skirt clearance determined? Does the machine shop measure the new pistons prior to boring and then bore the cylinders accordingly?
  25. Not sure on the price of a grind but stuff tends to be expensive out here in Oz - might ring around on Monday to find out. But then it's the slippery slope - if I have the crank ground, whilst that's out I might as well strip the rest of the block down and have the bores sorted and stick new pistons and rings in. Leave the head for another time... Will have a think about it over the weekend - my mileage will probably be quite low overall but individual journeys might be 100km or so return, including some freeway driving. Budget is low so the thought of doing a cheap and cheerful refresh now is very tempting, but deep down the idea of putting the engine back in knowing it's got a problem doesn't sit well with me...
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