Traction 11CL8 engine

[DougTrewenack]

I bought my traction two weeks ago.It's a Slough built 11CL8.
I have removed and disassembled the engine.
How can I identify the main crankshaft bearing shells so that I can order a new set? The lower centre has a little white metal missing.
Are the bottom seals for the cylinders available.
My cylinders haven't been disturbed. Can I clamp them in place and have the block flushed and treated etc and not replace the seals?
Is it necessary to change the valves and seats to accommodate lead free petrol?
When cranking the engine it registered 30psi oil pressure and 100, 95, 94 and 85 cylinder compressions cold.
The pistons, rings and cylinders look to be in excellent condition.
The camshaft and followers show no pitting or discolouration.
I'm inclined to clean it, renew the valves and seats and reassemble it.
I'd love some opinions

 

[David S]

For parts have a look at what is on offer from CTA, Franzen, Der Franzose and a few others.
Measure the crank main journals and look for new bearings to suit. They are poured bearings and replacements may not suit the crank if it's been reworked in the past and bearings scraped to suit. They could have been reworked to an imperial size in the past so don't assume anything is standard.
Does it have poured bearings or shells in the big ends? If they are OK now, maybe reuse, but you would likely want to find some ID19 rods with shell bearings if they need rework.
Sometimes old-time poured bearings were shimmed so that you could take out the shim when the bearing became worn and extract more life from them. Pouring bearings is expensive specialised work and it can become difficult to just slap in a new set of repro bearings as you don't know whether they will clamp properly in the block and whether the tunnel remains straight. The bearing with a bit missing might be OK to keep using as is. That's a matter of measurement and judgement.
Liner seals will be available but check the liner protrusion before assuming you can leave them as is. Are the liners worn? that may determine how you proceed, but you are really better off removing them to properly clean the block if it's needed.
For the low miles you might do, using a fuel additive would probably save the head rework if what you have now remains serviceable.
The manual has a test procedure for the pump. First make sure the rotors are OK an have the correct endfloat and consider replacing he relief valve ball and spring. Then you do the test per the manual to set it up.
If you think most of what you have is serviceable, then, yes, clean it and reassemble it and see how it performs. You could quickly several thousand on new parts just replacing anything with a little wear. Holden pistons were sometimes fitted so if everything looks very clean and not much wear, that would be a possibility to check.

 

[Trading Estate]

Look up the Citroen Classic Owners club of Australia (CCOCA) and consider joining. They sell many speciality spares for Tractions. You really need a full gasket set including the figure eight seals. it sounds like your bore, pistons etc are ok but I would hone and replace rings if you have it apart now. As well as crankshaft work you probably will have to replace the water distribution tube in the head, as they rust. I would take it all apart to clear all the passages around the barrels which will be full of 'muck'. As David S says you need to determine whether you have white metal big ends or ID rods with shells. Have you a workshop manual?

 

[jaahn]

Doug good luck with the Traction. They are tough old style engines and do not need special treatment.
There is no need to put hardened valve seats in the head IMHO unless you are going to use it on a daily basis. Waste of money and effort for almost no gain if you do occasional driving as most old cars get, just use a fuel additive if you feel the need to spend.

I have in the past repaired the pits in the poured white metal bearings on a couple of old engines and then scraped them to fit the shaft. It was common for poured bearing to have small missing pits due to poor quality control of the process. If only a small area is gone that will not affect the use actually. But as I said i used a big old plummers soldering iron, some acid flux and white metal to over-fill the pit holes. Then carefully hand scrape the soft metal back to level. They do run at a larger oil clearance than slipper bearing anyway so it is not as precise.

The big ends usually had shims under the caps so they could be removed to take up wear. If they are still there then that might be all you need to do for them. Note do not set them too close as the white metal needs bigger clearances than new bearings.

The important thing with the sleeves is they must be protruding a little and never recessed. If you are not removing them then they must be clamped so they will never move. If they move they get shit under them and must come out. I have cut my own gaskets for them.

I did an engine which had old grey Holden pistons in it. Real easy to get rings for them. I think they were slightly bigger bore than the standard bore so the sleeves had been bored. With a hone and new rings it went "good".
Jaahn