1964 TR4 - Part 16 - Dropping The Engine In The Enginebay

[@jamessimmons8352]

The '64 TR4 series is my favorite so far because in 1970 at the ripe age of 18 I purchased my '64 TR4. It needed lots of TLC, but not as extensive as your "patient". I cut my Saturday mechanic teeth so-to-speak on that British Racing Green TR4 - my baby! I did a top end rebuild of the head, Piston rings and rod bearings, new timing chain & tensioner, Stromberg overhaul and lots of other small things. All done with only a manual (and a prayer). Looking back, how did I ever live without KZbin and experts like you to get me through it. I can remember like yesterday when I connected the battery and turned the ignition key for the first time and prayed it would fire up (and not blow-up LOL). It fired right up! Rough but it ran. Timing adjustment and carb sync rendered a purring kitten. And after watching this series, I see I did things almost 100% correctly - got lucky I suppose. Your videos bring back so many great memories. Thanks my friend!

[@RustyBeauties]

I did my first rebuild in my 20s without even a manual. It wasn’t available for the 76 Renault 5 in my country… only Russian car manuals lol. So prayed it would start as well… and it did… stayed running for entire 30 min even… and then seized forever LOL. God only knows what I did wrong. Probably reversed connecting rods, blocking some oil passages or something…. Plus it was a combination of two engines and I didn’t measure anything…. Just put it together….LOL then when I started learning more about engines I realized how many important steps there are and how naive I was

[@jamessimmons8352]

@@RustyBeauties LOL - I didn't measure anything either. Just replaced rings and bearings with STD size. I couldn't afford a micrometer. Cylinders didn't "feel" worn so figured I was safe. Drove that TR4 for 3 years, but the rear main seal kept leaking and ruining clutches. Couldn't afford to keep fixing that, so sold it. Wish I still had it now. 🙂

[@kennethbedwell5965]

It is great to see the care and skill with which you are doing the rebuild. The owner should count themselves lucky to have you doing the work.

[@johnmoruzzi7236]

The owner should have paid Elin to quickly clean and paint the engine bay and chassis... the car has not had any care in its recent life and is very overdue for some proper attention. It will be a nice usable reliable car when delivered so hopefully it will be enjoyed and appreciated.

[@BruceBoschek]

Wonderful work, carefully explained, and an excellent video. Thanks Elin (and David).

[@Patrick-Inc]

What can I say that hasn't been said already. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Can't wait to hear it alive. !

[@dude36]

Better than yesterday! Digging the project. Thanks for the updates! Freezing here in LI too…..-4 is balmy!

[@nigelbarton8350]

Excellent video. As you said, the worn rocker bushes will affect valve clearances. But once they start to wear, it also means the oil feed leaks out of the first few rockers and means even less gets to the ones further away- so it all gets worse quite quickly. Great job replacing the lot!

[@philtucker1224]

Very nice Elin, I suspect that with the care that you are taking to get the engine parts to “fit” and operate correctly, this old engine is probably going to run even quieter than the day it came out of the factory!😊

[@starckmad1779]

I like your half hour format.

[@davidberlanny3308]

I bet you get through exhaust pipes quickly out there, so putting on a stainless exhaust will be a great idea. The manifold to down pipe flanged connection on my '76 Spitfire was always blowing, so when I decided to upgrade to a stainless exhaust I changed the manifold to a piped stainless one without the flanged joint, best decision I ever made on that car!! It's really coming on this car, I forget what else you have to do on it, I remember you made out a list of jobs, can you remind us where you are. Look forward to the next episode. Good luck from Spain!! PS: Snow due for us next week but nothing like what you have, stay safe on the roads!!

[@pda49184]

Brilliant work Elin.. All those small mods futureproof the car and improve it from factory spec to cope with modern day motoring ..

[@barry6274]

Yup nice work,a great video!

[@ericvandomselaar8420]

That's good engine.

[@kjeldlarsen912]

Great work thx Elin

[@mileswalton2485]

Greetings my brother in Triumph! I have a RHD '49 Triumph Roadster 2000 that I inherited from my father. I took the engine and gearbox out in November. Same engine as yours but I have a 3 speed. Love the videos! They're a ton of help to me for some of the work I have left to look after. Maybe I'll see you at Triumphfest. I'm just down the highway at the Bluewater Bridge.

[@RustyBeauties]

Nice, that is a rare car for North America. Isn't Triumphest in California this year? It is a little too far for me LOL

[@andrepienaar6459]

The grille reminds me a lot of the Viva's.

[@jameszarlengo8794]

Another Great Video. Nice job! I'll give it 5 Stars.....

[@omphaloskeptic4989]

Another informative video Elin, thanks! I, too, agree with an earlier commenter that the cotter pins should not be used in place of the solid pins. Looking at the tiny rocker spray holes compared to the slop space around the cotter pins, I would think that there would never be enough oil pressure built up within the shaft tube to force oil spray out those orifices. I'm no pro, so I don't know.... lol

[@RustyBeauties]

There are plugs on both sides of the shaft a bit deeper than the cotter pin location. There is no oil coming from the ends of the shaft even if there was no caps on the side. The caps are only preventing the rockers and springs from coming out.

[@Odonta7]

Brilliant videos…. Just wondered about oil leakage from the split pins and is it worth sealing the end caps ….probably not significant but just wondered.. Is there any way of increasing the oil flow to rockers further away from the supply end. You might find this interesting …. I was a poor student in the early 70s and trying anything to keep my mk2 spitfire (1966) going especially with parts from a local scrap yard ( new parts directly from Triumph were very expensive ) to overcome the wear on the rocker end surfaces etc ie feeler gauge bridges the wear making very difficult to obtain correct clearance..this along with wear to the shaft etc .. to get round this problem which I not suggesting is a good policy but trying to save money I used to get engine to operating temperature and running engine just over tick over speed ( nice and smooth) , remove the rocker box, surround the engine with cloths to catch any oil … loosened the locking nut and then with my fingers carefully rotated the centre screw anti clockwise until an audible taping could be just heard then gently rotate clockwise until there was just no audible tapping ( you can also feel this even more accurately through your fingers) .. then locking the locking nuts carefully using a brilliant small Bedford ring spanner I had for the purpose…. Used to work really well and also seamed to get an increase in power… even though they were very worn it was still going many years later… not best practice properly but does show how important the rocker clearances are….Many years later at a Goodwood revival ( UK ) I was surprised to see a dragster car being prepared for another run and the mechanics were using the same method on the rockers! The above method and reshaping the rectangular exhaust ports to the smoothly fit the circular profile to the excellent branched free flow exhaust manifold that came standard in the UK with mk 2 gave quite a significant increase in power from the 1147cc engine….. top peed before this was just under 100mph and after to at least 110mph ( overdrive) … also the engine was much greater fun to drive…just thought this might be interesting …any work on the head coupled with the branched manifold has relatively big dividends in power especially at higher revs at least it did on mine… was quite a bit different from my previous mk 1. Again excellent videos … I wish your videos had been around in the 60s and 70s!

[@alanm.4298]

A couple questions about the engine torque limiter, on the lower right corner of the front engine plate... Was there a nut missing from that, to lock it in place after it"s adjusted? Also, is there a rubber "cap" over the end, where it contacts the frame rail? Great info about the rockers and shaft assembly. Have you ever worked with roller rockers in a TR engine? Any ideas do improve the shaft lubrication? I've seen a mod where a pipe or hose brought more oil to the top end to help with that, but heard that led to other problems such as oil consumption through the valve guides (no oil seals on them).

[@RustyBeauties]

Yes, there is a welded nut to the arm and second nut that locks it in place. I showed tightening it right after I adjusted the height of the buffer. There is nothing on the frame to "meet" the buffer.

[@papabash]

Great work as usual Elin ! Would it have been better to drill the rocker shaft to receive a roll pin on the end cap rather than using a cotter pin ? theres a lot of constant motion going on there and i would be concerned

[@RustyBeauties]

I don’t think so. There is no lateral force there. The split pin is more than enough. The TR6 uses just a washer and a split pin

[@jefflorygray3206]

Maybe I am wrong but won't the oil that is meant to oil the rocker assembly leak out through the cotter pins ?

[@RustyBeauties]

There are plugs on both sides of the shaft a bit deeper than the cotter pin location. There is no oil coming from the ends of the shaft even if there was no caps on the side. The caps are only preventing the rockers and springs from coming out.

[@royevans8866]

I’m late but really curious how you straightened the bent accelerator shaft

[@mikek847]

Elin, another great video. Great work What brand is the gray car shelter? Thoughts? Thanjs

[@RustyBeauties]

It is Shelter Logic. It is been good for 3 years, but now the tarp is starting to rip around the corners of the metal structure inside. I will have to invest in a new one this year. But other than that it served me really well. I've heard opinions that the round ones are better as they allow the snow to fall off easily, but I never had problems with that even though we had some pretty heavy snow falls the last two winters.

[@mikek847]

@@RustyBeauties Elin thank you so much for taking the time to give me a detailed answer. That sounds about normal for the Shelter logic tarps. Good to see it can hold a snow load as you said. There is a company in upstate New York think it's called Northeast? Shelters. Very good quality but very expensive but they will make a cover for any size frame so possibly you could check there. You are my kind of mechanic, very thorough and on top of everything. I wish we were neighbors I would be honored being a helper. Thanks again Mike

[@leo2caf594]

what do we see as the video starts, why it is Elin lying down on the job 🙂

[@RustyBeauties]

Too much Stella :)

[@russelblackwell6041]

if the fan belt is too tight wont it chew out the alternator bearing

[@RustyBeauties]

It is tight to put on, but once it is on it has more than enough slack.