Triumph Repair: engine1500cc crankcase presure., compression rings, compression ring

Question
I have a 73 spitfire for 29yrs now. the last 16 it didnt get drove much. putting it it on the road now, drove it a few days and its starting to put the the exhaust in the base and blowing oil out of the dipstick. the engine only has about 3000 miles on the the rebuild bore .30 over. i took the head off today and the pistons look good and the rings are not stuck.  compression from 1 to 4 185,170, 160.50psi.  the valves are pitted and a lot of carbon on number 4 cyl. do you think if i do the valves it will solve the problem. the exhaust valve was very stiff in the guide i had to hit it with a hammer to get it out..

Answer
Darrell,

Was the rebuild done before or after the car sat?  And was anything done to the car while it was sitting; ie oil down the cylinders, etc?

Without pulling the pistons you can't really tell if the compression ring is stuck in it's groove.  

When I first bought my '73 1500 it started pumping oil out the dipstick hole also.  When I finally tore that engine apart all of the scraper and compression rings had cracked.  It's possible that you're getting blowby though the valve guide, but what you describe sounds more like ring issues.  

You can try just rebuilding the head to see if that will solve the problem.  If it doesn't, it's time to rebuild the lower end also.


Cheers,

Jim