Metal Conduit In Lieu of Factory Pushrod Tubes — Not A Successful Idea

One of our local TR4 owners had us take a look at his motor. We did and found, among other things, that someone had removed the pushrod tubes from the cylinder head at some point. Sometimes, this is no big deal, but those times coincide with cars whose cylinder heads have REMOVABLE pushrod tubes. TR4s do not. Technically, I suppose, they are removable, in the same way you can remove one of your teeth if you have to… but it will never be the same. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

If you double click on the photo, I labelled one of the tubes. The others are the same. The factory tubes were replaced with metal conduit. Yep, conduit. Can’t blame that oil leak on Triumph.

Combine that with problems with the block, and this owner is looking for a new motor.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not casting stones. I am a guy who once hit an entire 50 cap roll of caps with a sledgehammer, rendering myself deaf for 30 minutes. I’m fully capable of mangling a cylinder head. We’re just here to educate. Don’t try this at home.