Old chestnut, apologies...rocker shaft feed on six cylinders....

[MostEasterlySteve]

Oh great wise ones....

 

I know it's been done to death but I'm looking for a bit of guidance on this topic for my specific circumstances.

 

'71 TR6 on PI....

 

Original engine, just under 100k miles. Never been rebuilt. Uses negligible amount of oil. Oil pressure when thoroughly warm at 2000 rpm is about 55 PSI. 50 if it's been absolutely thrashed at high speed in the summer. I use 20W/50 engine oil.

 

My Dad used the car before me and got it back on the road in 1989 after a lay up since the early '80s. I remember tagging along as a teenager during the trips to Cox and Buckles in Oldbury, and Dad being told (practically instructed!) by Peter Cox to fit a rocker shaft feed kit. So he did. I've no idea if there's a restrictor in the pipe or what the bore is etc. I assume it is a fairly early kit of its type.

 

An observation I would make about the TR is that it is smelly (exhaust) - it absolutely stinks the garage out when manoeuvring it back inside for instance. It smokes a tad on start up too. It's not a rich mixture smell. In fact the metering unit is newish and if anything it is a tad lean mixture-wise. So I do wonder if it's a small amount of oil burning in the combustion chambers thanks to the over supply at the top end due to the rocker shaft feed kit. Although it uses only a tiny amount of oil some must get past the valves and guides given the mileage the engine has done. Out on the road it gives the impression of being an engine in very fine fettle actually. And the valve gear is very quiet so maybe the lubrication has done its job up there.

 

What would you guys do?...leave it alone or remove? For some reason my instinct is to remove. If I do remove it, what would I put in the tapping in the head? And - silly question time - is there any chance the internal drillings might have 'blocked up' over the years due to the bulk of the oil going externally through the feed pipe? My nightmare scenario is that I remove the feed kit and as a result the rocker gear is starved of oil.

 

Tell me what to do chaps!

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

[Guest ntc]

Steve

At 100,000 you can expect it,just leave as is or engine rebuild

[Peter Cobbold]

Steve,

Oil smoke is blue and not especially stinky. The ethanol in fuel burns to acetaldehyde and formaldehyde that are nose-wrinkingly stinky. Modern cars have cats that convert aldehydes to CO2. A TR exhaust gives the full undiluted aroma of internal combustion !

Peter

 

If it smells a bit like a new cheap cotton shirt, its formaldehyde:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2088623/Toxic-dyes-Lethal-logos-Cotton-drenched-formaldehyde--How-clothes-poison-you.html

Edited January 29, 2017 by Peter Cobbold

[Steves_TR6]

My engine too has the rocker oil feed fitted, done in the '90s and 20k+ ago.

 

It too runs great so am leaving it well alone !

 

One day it will need some attention, when it does will evaluate whether to refit the feed.

 

Its not broken, dont fix it!

 

Steve

[oldtuckunder]

I personally hate the things, the standard rocker set up needs very little lubrication and rocker shafts are cheap and easy to replace in situe, oil starved bottom ends are expensive. Needle Roller Rockers I understand do need them, but are also usually fitted with valve stem oil seals.

 

However given where you are leave it alone, especially if done "properly?" the original oil way "block to head" should have been plugged, so just removing could cause real problems.

 

Wait until you have to remove the head in the future for another reason before making the choice.

 

You can always tie a tag around it saying "I know this is Dick, please don't copy"

 

Alan

[Graham]

I always make a point of driving the car in nose first, that way most of the fumes stay outside the garage !

[DaveR]

Back in the 1960's Triumph stated the small 4 and the 6 cylinder engine's oil consumption was between 600 and 1,200 miles per pint. The oil pressure sounds OK at 2,000 rpm though the real test is a long run at a steady 2,500 rpm.

 

If the oil light is going out within a couple of seconds and there is no rattle when starting up from cool things sound OK.

 

Probably not due for a re-build just yet.

 

I have never used the top oil supply mod and not found any problems with early wear.

 

Dave

[john.r.davies]

Having preached loudly about the Spawne of Beelzebubbe that is the external oil line, I think I can list you as a repentant sinner and tell you go on your way and sin no more!

Perhaps it has a restrictor in it. If you look down the oil filler hole while its hot and running and see the rocker chamber flooded with oil, it hasn't.

 

Just don't use it like you stole it.

John

[MostEasterlySteve]

Chaps, thanks very much indeed for the wise words. Yes, oil light goes out quickly and no rattle or rumble whatsoever. My mind is made up....I'm going to leave it until major engine work becomes necessary (a way off hopefully!).

 

Thanks all!

 

Steve

[Red 6]

Fitting the rocker oil feed is a mistake.

 

The problem is that too much oil ends up in the rocker box.

 

When you switch the engine off the hot and now thin oil seeps down the valve stems and waits for you to fire up again and all that waiting oil is now in the combustion chamber spewing out blue smoke, fouling the plugs and building carbon deposits in the engine.

 

That burnt oil needs to be replaced, and the replacement oil finds its way to the rocker box and seeps down the valve stems into the combustion chamber.

 

It was fashionable about 20 years ago to fit the oil feed but everyone I know who did this removed them, there was quite a glut of 2nd hand ones in tr action.

 

However it is a rite of passage so fit it or leave it fitted and make you own decision.

 

On my race engine I had roller rockers but I also had valve stem oil seals so did not suffer with the problem.