- This topic has 19 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated January 2, 2012 at 8:33 pm by
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I’ve been spending every spare weekend working on overhauling the engine on the Series 3. The oil pressure was dismally low, and compression on #4 was down. We found two broken rings, the cam bearings worn out, and the timing chain oiler mangled. I was surprised at the rod bearing wear too after only a few thousand miles.
Here are some photos of my progress so far. The only thing that’s actually gone back together so far is the overdrive unit.
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eric,
i could not believe how bad the bearings were ! did you know that i took the 25 spline clutch minus the clutch lining to dayton? i had some fun with that this week. i gave it to doug and told him TT sent it to him for little doug’s engine. doug gave me a very strange look before i gave him the new one with lining. -
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I found the problem with 3rd gear. (old gear from the barn’s junk pile for comparison) How the heck does this happen? The spline on 3rd separated smashing the sychro ring and making nearly impossible to shift into gear without a lot of finesse and sometimes a crunch. It looks as if it was never apart since it was built. The only explanation for why 3rd was whining like a banshee, is that the input shaft bearing was worn out.
The engine is back from the machine shop, so I can start on that after the gearbox and OD are re-united later today.
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We had some slight issues with the rear camshaft bearing being tight, but that was finally sorted by pushing in another bearing. The new crankshaft Anthony included with the car fits perfectly. Things are moving along… just not fast enough.
Tiger Tom always says it has to be clean enough to eat off of.
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eric,
listen to TT and problems will not occur. i picked up my engine friday. it had the crank,cam,pistons and rods installed. the machine shop said there is less than 1.5 clearance on the rod and main bearings. i installed the timing chain and cover this evening. a TT timing chain cover with seal from a few years back. it sounds like you’ll have your car ready for the united. i’m not sure my car will even be ready for it’s engine this year. although our body man said today that he is ready to put it back in the rack and start to epoxy prime it. all the metal work is now done. -
Finally got the modified timing cover installed today. It seems to work well. I had to draw the center stud bolt inward slightly. I think the cover got deformed a little in the machining and brazing process. Not a problem though. It seems to be fine.
Bob, I used your harmonic balancer to degree-mark mine, it all looks good to go. Annoyingly, the timing mark is fairly far away from the pointer.
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I’ve got most of the engine together. I just need to put the pan on, put the water pump on, and mate it with the gearbox. I had a brief moment of panic when I stripped the nut off one of the head studs. Luckily it was only the nut.
I still need to resolve my clutch travel problem. The inside of the throwout bearing touches the input shaft… that’s what was making that awful noise when I depressed the clutch.
I still haven’t even started thinking about painting the engine compartment. There’s still a ton of work to do.
Bad news though, I don’t think we’re going to make the United at all. I spent all the vacation money on the engine overhaul.
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eric,
i hate to hear that. we need all the alpines we can get. jean and i were in nashville tn last week since she had to attend a medical seminar for three days so since we had to pass thru louisville ky to get home we drove on to french lick. it’s a neat small town with lots of road construction going on. the timing chain cover showed up while we were gone andi like the way you guys installed the timing cover seal and retained the inside stud to fasten the cover. different than the last TT did. -
Even if we were able to come to the United, we’d be bringing an Imp anyway. I’m trying to maintain the original suspension on the Series 3, so that means making parts that are Unobtainium. Its taking longer than I thought due to other issues. The NOS QH fulcrum pins I got off eBay worked, but one was VERY tight. We had to grind it a little and re-fit it more than once.
The engine compartment isn’t even prepped for paint yet.
Here’s my custom trunnion bushing assembly. The originals were so loose, its no wonder the wheel was juddering the whole way up and back from Maine. I couldn’t go more than 55mph comfortably.
The assembly sits on a grade 8 bolt precision ground to fit into the lower A-arm. I drilled and tapped a new zerk fitting to grease the bushings from the center. They will seal by o-rings that fit tightly to the outside of the bushings against the A-arm. The drawback is that any caster adjustment will have to be made by shims or at the top ball joint.
I still have the passenger side to make yet.
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