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Triumph TR6 - Cooling

I run a 1976 TR6 and all is cool at the moment. But I am adding triple Weber carburators and headers and want my engine to run as cool as possible. I have done much reading on unleaded fuel and the only concensus is that there is no consensus. You should use a lead additive and you should not use an additive but keeping the engine cool is good. As I already have a mild camshaft I will increase the valve clearence too .0015 this I am told keeps the valve heads in contact with the cylinder head longer and therefore sheds some heat. Does anybody have any other ideas please?
Ralph

Hi Ralph

First off let me comment (add my 2 cents worth) on the lead or not to lead subject. I stronly beleive it adding the lead substitute for 2 reasons. 1: If it did not matter about adding lead to our engines, then why can we still buy this stuf? Our engines where designed (and intended) to run on leaded gasoline!! 2: why do all our our suppliers of parts for our cars offer "special" exhaust vlves and guides to be used where "leaded fuel is unavailable". Ya I read the article from the guy who has gone thousands of miles on unleaded fuel (wth original valves) and has not had a problem. WELL.....Consider yourself lucky buddy!! I do think it must be uncomfortable with those horseshoes up his.....
OK next subject. COOLING.. Ralph, Webers (especially) and a header are designed to be added to a "performance modified" engine. You should look into this subject a little further. All our emgines can be cooled by adding a product from RED LINE ( no I don't own stock) called "water wetter".Available from our suppliers. It is a cirfactant ( I think spelled correctly) which actually makes water wetter! GEE, I wonder how they came up with the name! Simply put it helps your coolant/water (50/50) mixture disipate heat better making your engine run cooler. This isn't expensive stuff. Good luck Ralph and enjoy your baby.
Rick
Rick rjcassoc@lynx.org

You could try leaving the battery out , jacking the car off its tyres and locking the garage. Guaranteed to keep the motor cool. Seriously, power and heat are inseperable. So to keep exhaust valves as cool as possible:
restrict rpm to no more than 3000.
avoid full throttle.
avoid retarded ignition and weak mixtures.
keep low compression ratio(eg USA-spec 8.5:1 or less)
dont regrind the valves. Over time the seats aquire a thin 'layer' of lead that will last for several thousand miles of gentle driving - destroyed by grinding.
Tests have been carried out in UK on several additives. Myself I plan to use one based on manganese , which gave excellent test results and boosts fuel octane somewhat.Hope to get away with not inserting hardened valve-seats , but this may be a forlorn hope as engine is supercharged and gets very hot. But cool's no fun at all.
Peter Cobbold pcobbold @email.msn.com

Regarding unleaded fuel, leaded fuel is not avaliabble since 1985 in Canada. I drive my TR6 (1975) and my B-Gt since without any additives and never notice any problem like valve recess or overheating. As long as you don't race with your car. Imagine that normally you have to fix valve train every 8 years and the fact that using unleaded gazoline accelerate wear by 25%, this = 6 years.
There a good site discussing that gazoline matter at
http://www.team.net:80/sol/tech/
Cheers, JGC
J.G.Catford

I have owned my 74 TR6 since 1988. The engine has never been rebuilt or modified since I have owned it.
(other than the electronic ignition I installed) The previous owner stated that he had not done any engine work at all.
I have only used unleaded gas as leaded gas has not been available in Canada since the mid 80's.
I have not had any problems. I have not used any additives.
I've put approximately 30,000 miles on the car in that time. Including several holiday trips over 2500 miles
each.
The only times I have encountered heating problems have been when idling in 90+ degree weather.
Terry Morphy 1eagle@home.com

This thread was discussed between 01/09/1999 and 25/10/1999

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