Paul H Posted July 29, 2020 Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 Newbie ? Theres a part finished engine for a GT6 on EBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-GT6-Vitesse-2000-Engine/333668365572? Question 1 the pistons are domed so this engine is from Triumph 2000 ? ME Series ? Question 2 The seller says cost effective route is to resleeve 2 of the pistons , can u Resleeve Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Clark Posted July 29, 2020 Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 2 litre Mk2/3 engines for the UK market all have domed pistons, whether fitted to Vitesse, GT6 or saloon. Triumph used the same basic cylinder head casting for 2 and 2.5 litre engines from the late sixties. To achieve a reasonable compression ratio, 2 litres have domed pistons and 2.5 litres have flat top. Sleeving is both possible and accepted practice. My question would be: why is the seller really wanting to dispose of this engine? Buying another engine to rebuild instead of repairing this one doesn't make sense... Unless perhaps this one is worse than described. Nigel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul H Posted July 29, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 28 minutes ago, Nigel Clark said: 2 litre Mk2/3 engines for the UK market all have domed pistons, whether fitted to Vitesse, GT6 or saloon. Triumph used the same basic cylinder head casting for 2 and 2.5 litre engines from the late sixties. To achieve a reasonable compression ratio, 2 litres have domed pistons and 2.5 litres have flat top. Sleeving is both possible and accepted practice. My question would be: why is the seller really wanting to dispose of this engine? Buying another engine to rebuild instead of repairing this one doesn't make sense... Unless perhaps this one is worse than described. Nigel Thanks Nigel , so my mk2 vitesse HC xxxx has domed pistons ? Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted July 29, 2020 Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 26 minutes ago, Nigel Clark said: 2 litre Mk2/3 engines for the UK market all have domed pistons Are you sure? I thought mk2 GT6 and very early mk3 (up to KE10000) had flat-top pistons, as do all Vitesse Mk2 and early mk2 saloon. The change to dome-top was, as you say, for a common head casting, but it wasn't done at the introduction of the Mk2 engine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Clark Posted July 29, 2020 Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 2 minutes ago, Paul H said: Thanks Nigel , so my mk2 vitesse HC xxxx has domed pistons ? Paul Yes, I would expect so. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Clark Posted July 29, 2020 Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 1 minute ago, NonMember said: Are you sure? I thought mk2 GT6 and very early mk3 (up to KE10000) had flat-top pistons, as do all Vitesse Mk2 and early mk2 saloon. The change to dome-top was, as you say, for a common head casting, but it wasn't done at the introduction of the Mk2 engine. I didn't realise that, and thought the change to domed pistons came when the Mk2 engines adopted the TR5/6 type cylinder head, that is with the first Mk2 engines. Anyone know for sure? I'm happy to be corrected. For what it's worth, my GT6 Mk3 engine KE14xxx has domed pistons. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted July 29, 2020 Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 I checked the parts listing on Paddock's web site and it shows the same pistons for all 2L Vitesses. The Mk1 is unquestionably flat-top, so... (My GT6 is also KE14xxx so that's dome-top) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul H Posted July 29, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 I thought my mk2 vitesse HC xxxxx had flat piston heads as when testing for TDC with the plugs out and a screwdriver in I couldn’t detect a dome section . If it is domed would there be a telltale tab in the gasket rear Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted July 29, 2020 Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 I don't know about gasket tabs - the context I know them from is the recessed bore change on the 1300 engine. It's possible the same change happened on the 2L at some point and possibly simultaneous with the pistons / head casting / camshaft but it's decades since I've had the head off the GT6 so I don't remember that detail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted July 29, 2020 Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 GT6 domed pistons came in in 1972 on KE10001 http://triumphspitfire.com/historyG3.html Doug 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Clark Posted July 29, 2020 Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 3 hours ago, dougbgt6 said: GT6 domed pistons came in in 1972 on KE10001 http://triumphspitfire.com/historyG3.html Doug Thank you Doug. Every day is a school day. Back to the main question... Why does the eBay vendor really want to sell the engine he bought to rebuild that turns out to have two dodgy cylinders? It would be interesting to ask the vendor for close up photos of the cylinders in question. Surely it needs a rebore and six new pistons. Nigel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted July 29, 2020 Report Share Posted July 29, 2020 Yeh, I wouldn’t touch it. There’s something he’s not telling. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted July 30, 2020 Report Share Posted July 30, 2020 13 hours ago, dougbgt6 said: Yeh, I wouldn’t touch it. There’s something he’s not telling. Doug I just read it that he is trying to do a very cheap job and so won't pay for a rebore or regrind, intending to get away with just fitting new rings and bearings as he has a STD set of both. he mentioned resleeving as a way of using STD pistons as they tend to be much cheaper if picked up NOS as no-one wants them usually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted July 30, 2020 Report Share Posted July 30, 2020 14 hours ago, Nigel Clark said: Back to the main question... Why does the eBay vendor really want to sell the engine he bought to rebuild that turns out to have two dodgy cylinders? It would be interesting to ask the vendor for close up photos of the cylinders in question. Surely it needs a rebore and six new pistons. Nigel In all probability he's bought another engine as a complete unit for far less than it will take to have this one rebored and then to source oversized pistons and rings. Depending on the cost of the rebore - say £50 per cylinder, that's £300 for the rebore, another £200 for pistons, add £40 for rings... over £500 if he wants to do them all properly, and on top of what he's already spent... so it could be the case that the costs are spiralling. He'll need to be very sure of the condition of the replacement engine, though, otherwise he could be back to square one again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Clark Posted July 30, 2020 Report Share Posted July 30, 2020 1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said: In all probability he's bought another engine as a complete unit for far less than it will take to have this one rebored and then to source oversized pistons and rings. Depending on the cost of the rebore - say £50 per cylinder, that's £300 for the rebore, another £200 for pistons, add £40 for rings... over £500 if he wants to do them all properly, and on top of what he's already spent... so it could be the case that the costs are spiralling. He'll need to be very sure of the condition of the replacement engine, though, otherwise he could be back to square one again. Hi Colin, You're not as suspicious as me! I was in a similar position to this eBay vendor when rebuilding a 2500S engine for my GT6 a couple of years ago. The original pistons were good enough to reuse with new rings and four of the cylinders would have cleaned up with a light honing. The other two cylinders had scoring and corrosion pitting, necessitating a rebore. I had the engine bored +20. I never regretted spending the extra money to do the job properly. The total cost of the rebore and new County pistons including rings was about £450 including VAT. If i had the block hones and pitted new rings on the old pistons, the cost would have been around £100, so in effect I paid about £350 extra for a 'proper job'. One message here is that when buying an engine, whatever the buyer may say, you never really know its condition until you strip it down. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted July 30, 2020 Report Share Posted July 30, 2020 2 hours ago, Nigel Clark said: One message here is that when buying an engine, whatever the buyer may say, you never really know its condition until you strip it down. Nigel True; I've had the Herald block rebored to +30 and bought new pistons and rings - I could have run as is but it was smoky and needed the work. At least this way I'll know it's been done, and properly. A total cost of about £400. It all depends on what the vendor in this case wants as an engine for his own car, and how much he's prepared to spend in the end; maybe he's just scared himself off, when faced with the final cost? I'm not suspicious as it won't be me buying it! If I was, it might be a different matter... but then I'd be buying one with the expectation of having to complete the work from scratch, no matter what claims are made about previous work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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