TR2/3/3A Torqing the head again?....rebuilt motor... TR3

[karls59tr]

I've got a few hundred miles on my rebuilt 3 motor and was wondering when your supposed to retorque the head?....500mi? There was some minor cracks on the cylinder head at a couple of end bolts.(caused by an over zealous helper.) Theres no oil in the antifreeze so I think everythings holding up well.Am I pushing my luck by retorqing or should I leave well enough alone? Also:How many miles before these motors are considered broken in?

 

[TR3driver]

The book says to retorque after 1000 miles, but it certainly won't hurt to do it more than once. I definitely would retorque them at least once though, even if there's no sign of a leak. The most common leak is combustion gases into the coolant, and you likely wouldn't notice that until the gasket was ruined and had to be replaced. Good time to recheck the valve lash, too.

Your cracks sound worrisome ... do you have the special flat washers between the nuts & the head surface ? If the nuts were really tightened enough to crack the cast iron, I'd be worried about stretched studs.

After 500 miles, I'd say you're safe in driving normally. For maximum engine life you probably shouldn't go drag-racing at all /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif but I'd at least save it for after 1000 miles or so.

 

[TRTEL]

A mild note of caution also concerning those cracks. If your torque wrench was set at 100 stick with that number and don't raise it to l05. I used to regularly do that with a copper/asbestos gasket upon retorquing. No sense in aggravating a potential problem if one exists.

 

[karls59tr]

Thanks for the info. I probably should have installed new head bolts but they looked OK. Are you going to take whats useable from the 59 and incorporate it into the 56? Where was your car hit? Karl

 

[TR3driver]

Are you going to take whats useable from the 59 and incorporate it into the 56?

I'll certainly do that as necessary, but initially I'm going to focus on getting the 56 on the road (after the Stag of course). Long-term I plan to transfer some of the performance parts from the 59 (like the 4-synchro OD trans with dipstick & alloy flywheel). But very limited tests seem to show the drivetrain in the 56 is OK (except for needing all new hoses and such) so I don't plan to swap it out immediately unless I find a problem.

Where was your car hit?

Initial impact was in the left rear, but it pushed me into the car in front of me so the right front is also wrecked. The whole body is tweaked and several inches shorter than it used to be, so there's not much in the way of usable sheet metal.

Already sold the only decent fender to a friend. Doors are probably OK though, if anyone is interested.