Barely Functional Racing LS Swaps a Triumph TR4

With the engine mounts, exhaust headers (with O2 bung), and transmission mount now completed, it was time to pull the engine and transmission and move on to the next few tasks.

(The observant amongst you will notice the transmission on the work bench in the background)

This water passage thru the throttle body was hitting on the water pump I planned to use, so it had to go:

Indy-Kid #3 got involved in today's activities:

And this was the result:

With the engine out again and with a little bit more practice on the welder, I tackled the two broken off exhaust bolts.  The front one on the passenger side, & the rear one on the driver's side.

Welded a nice big booger onto the remains of the bolt, then welded a washer to the booger, then weld a bolt to the booger/washer combo.  Wrench it out.  

Success !

Nice job!

There are few more satisfying feelings in life than a sucessfully extracted brokenbolt.

I've never had to do that, but I'm definitely putting that in my playbook in case it comes up.  I'd guess the heat from welding does a lot to free up the stud.  Glad it worked out.

Nice job, Indy. I'm also putting that in my emergency playbook.

The best thing about broken ls manifold bolts is that it's rarely from corrosion and usually from the head being popped off by the manifold expanding.  I personally drill the holes in the manifold a tad oversize because of the amount that I've seen

Patrick (Forum Supporter) said:

The best thing about broken ls manifold bolts is that it's rarely from corrosion and usually from the head being popped off by the manifold expanding.  I personally drill the holes in the manifold a tad oversize because of the amount that I've seen

What size do you drill them out to?

Thanks guys for all the kind words.  It was a huge relief once they were both out.  It means I won't have to drill them out or worse yet, pull the heads off from a botched drill-out attempt.

Because nobody wants a rusty frame, I went ahead and did some prep & shot the new motor mounts with some bare metal primer:

Then I hit it with some flat black:

A couple more minor things, a garage clean up and un-bury the body and I'll reunite the body and frame.  I need to verify a couple things before final installation and see what else needs to be cut away.

Spent several hours in the garage tonight cleaning, rearranging, decluttering.  Planning to reunite these tomorrow:

68TR250 said:

Do you have a stock cross member?  I have a couple out of TR6s if you need one.

Do you still have any available?  I can offer up something from my many TR4 spares in trade.

Im excited!

I also think you need triumph decals on the quarters like the mazda on the miata you sent me!

(Which i think im doing to match the hotwheels)

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :

It'll be a while before I'm ready for the cosmetics part of the build (I don't work as fast as you do ), but I'll keep the suggestion in mind.  I think I'm leaning towards a "day two" vibe for the external modifications/cosmetics.

Racingsnake said:

Patrick (Forum Supporter) said:

The best thing about broken ls manifold bolts is that it's rarely from corrosion and usually from the head being popped off by the manifold expanding.  I personally drill the holes in the manifold a tad oversize because of the amount that I've seen

What size do you drill them out to?

All OE manifolds I've ever seen have one or two "locator" bolt holes in the middle, and the rest are grossly oversized so that the manfiold can expand and contract.  Until the holes fill with rust, anyway.

This is also why correct fasteners and torque is important.  Any old junk torqued to "all of it" is only going to fail faster.  The correct fasteners are studs and self-locking nuts, usually with special cone-shaped washers, and the torque is usually something really low like 15 ft-lb, so the manifold can be allowed to expand and contract.   Figure that the cylinder head is 220F aluminum and the exhaust manifold is 1000-1600F iron, sometimes, and sometimes it is all ambient temperature.

Now with 100% more engine and transmission mounts than the last time theses two were together.

While the help was here, they gave me a hand rolling the engine over to finalize the oil pickup tube/pan work & installation.

In reply to Indy "Nub" Guy :Yes I do

This makes me happy 

Indy "Nub" Guy said:

:D

In reply to 68TR250 :

PM sent.

I think your engine is wrong way up.

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

It's reverse flow engine oiling, adds 10hp since there is no oil splashing on the crank. 

Fantastic!  All of it.

We both put bodies on chassis on the same day for our crazy swapped project cars  Looks amazing!

maschinenbau (I live here) said:

We both put bodies on chassis on the same day for our crazy swapped project cars  Looks amazing!

I certainly hope my little project here turns out as nice as your Rice Rod.

So, 68TR250 and I emailed back and forth.  He generously offered to send me a spare front cross brace to replace my cobbled up (by the previous owner) one.  Turns out Triumph made three (3) different varieties over the years.  Two bolt, three bolt, and three bolt gusseted.  He has the later and I need the three bolt, small flange. 

Thanks again for the generous offer !