nicrguy1966

That looks like a very good idea, and a lot less expensive than an impact driver. I'm still hoping brute force, a hammer and a blow touch will shift it, as I'd like to get the job done without waiting for new tools to be delivered.

Did the manual plan for a 50 year old car?

Maybe I just need someone to sit in the car and put their foot on the brake? Triumph handbrakes are feeble at best!

Sadly I don't have one, or a 15/16th socket, but I'll put that on the list of possible solutions.

I have a blow touch (somewhere!). I'll try that before sending my ring spanner through the bonnet!

Sounds a bit scary. I'll see if soaking overnight with WD40 has any effect first, but it might come to that. I tried a ring spanner and hitting the handle with a hammer to see if the shock wave would free it (I wasn't expecting that to work, but worth a try!)

Ok, 2.5 hours into the job and the radiator is out and the fan is off. I'm stuck at undoing the nut on the crack pulley. Even with the car in gear and the handbrake on, the car's just edging towards the garage door every time I give it a really hard pull. I've soaked it in WD40 and thought I'd see if the hive mind of TSSC would tell me I'm missing something obvious.

For those still following this saga, the plastering is almost finished. Three weekends of work to get to something close to acceptable! I'll be draining the cooling system and taking out the radiator tomorrow (hopefully).

I've bought twice as much plaster as I need for exactly this reason!

I'm not sure I have the skills to do either, but I like to give everything a try! 🤣

I've ordered the gasket and oil seal from Canley Classics. I don't think I'll need to change the tensioner as the engine was reconditioned around 12 years ago (when the timing problem probably started). Now I just need to wait for the postie, and for a gap in my work schedule (and probably plaster a wall that's also on my to-do list, and is higher on my wife's list of priorities!)

Good tips about the crank oil seal and the timing chain. I hadn't thought of those, I only considered the timing cover gasket. When I was speaking with the mechanic that did seem to understand the Triumph engine, he said that the marks on the crank and cam gears would have been put on by whoever rebuilt the engine when it was reconditioned. So if they put the engine together wrong, the mark would also probably be in the wrong place. I'll have to rely on setting the cam timing using another method, such as finding the "balance point" (described in the WSM). I'll order some parts next week, then it's just a case of finding the right time to pull the engine apart.

I spoke with 2 garages that I know have experience working on older cars. The first didn't seem to have a clue about my car and I felt I'd be paying him to learn more than fix anything. The second was clearly very knowledgeable but seemed to want to create a much bigger job than just fixing my cam timing (seemed very keen on fitting a different cam shaft as well as a vernier gear on the cam shaft). The idea of just flipping the gear over seemed totally beneath him. So I've decided to try and do it myself, and I'm just waiting for a good time when I don't need the car for at least a week and I'm less busy at work. The only question remaining is whether to do it in my tiny, one car garage, or take it to a workshop with much more space, a hydrologic lift, but much more pressure to get the whole job done in a single day. Otherwise the car will be stuck there, undrivable, and about 45 minutes walk from home.

Before I pay someone to look at it, there was one suggestion earlier that I've not investigated and I think it's within my DIY skillset, and that's to check if the distributor is "one tooth out". How likely do people think this could cause the problem? I'm doubtful as I can adjust the ignition timing all the way from 13 degrees BTDC to 26 degrees BTDC by twisting the distributor body, so what difference would changing the way gears at the base of the distributor fit make?

I must admit I did think it was more for his convenience than absolutely necessary for a road car. It's not like I'll be striping the engine and tuning it on a regular basis.

The mechanic I spoke to has recommended the "vernier jobbie". He thinks it's the only way to set the cam timing accurately. I'm just waiting for him to have a slot in his garage to fit me in for some professional diagnostics and hopefully a fix.

If sounds very fiddly, and my garage isn't very spacious or well equipped, so even with the radiator out, getting a good view of the front of the engine and clear access will be difficult.

My car has a reconditioned engine (probably when the cam timing was messed up) and the engine number isn't readable (sadly).

I didn't think I had domed pistons, but I've not taken the head off to look (not since I owned a Herald anyway).

Another reason it might be time to let a professional mechanic do the work!

Good to know! This is making me think it might be time to give a professional a chance to look at it. Luckily, a neighbour has recommended a 72 year old mechanic that's "seen it all before" and likes playing with classics.

I've read about how to adjust the cam timing, but I've never done it (or even removed the timing chain cover). Any idea how much of a tooth 6 degrees is?

The skin has grown back on my finger and I repeated the whole procedure again, this time taking all the sparkplugs out first! 1) TDC market on the crankshaft pulley appears to be in the correct place (feeling the piston position through #1 sparkplug hole. 2) After widening the gaps on valves 1 & 2 as per the workshop manual, the gaps are definitely not equal at TDC. 3) The part I missed last time, the "balance point" where the gaps on valves 1 & 2 are equal seems to be 6 degrees after TDC. What have I learnt: 1) It doesn't save time to try doing any work on the engine without removing the sparkplugs. Without the sparkplugs it was far easier to make fine adjustments to the crank position (and I kept the skin on all my fingers). 2) Sadly, I can't turn the engine using the nut on the end of the alternator, the pulley turned, but the fan belt didn't. 3) It's possible that my camshaft has been 6 degrees out for the last 15 years (when a reconditioned engine was fitted), and somehow my ignition needs to be way out in the opposite direction for the engine to run smoothly. So, I ask the combined triumph hive mind, does a camshaft set 6 degrees After TDC make sense to cause the engine to need ignition set to 20ish degrees Before TDC to run smoothly? Thanks in advance.

Great tip, I'll give that try.

Thanks. That all makes a lot of sense. I was hoping to have another play with the car today, but my fingers haven't recovered from 2 hours of pulling the fan belt to turn the engine on Saturday yet (see photo). I have labelled all my spark plug leads so that next time I do a final check that the cam timing is off, I don't (stupidly) think I'm saving time by not removing the spark plugs.