Jump to content

Staggering Shenanigans - Fixing a mates Stag page 6


richardthestag

Recommended Posts

After various quotes that bordered on obscene I took on the gearbox removal myself to fix that clutch that was very very notchy.

 

Even buying the fancy CJ Auto ramps I saved a small fortune on a specialist doing the job

 

post-3439-0-48568000-1492883571_thumb.jpg

 

post-3439-0-74977400-1492883575_thumb.jpg

 

Getting the box off is a bit tight, some of the bellhousing bolts are tight against the bulkhead

post-3439-0-77720000-1492883580_thumb.jpg

 

post-3439-0-49753400-1492883806_thumb.jpg

 

Clutch fork pins was something that I should have checked when I put the box on in 2006. these have nice flat spots on them which can lead to sticky clutch engagement

post-3439-0-18380700-1492883585_thumb.jpg

 

As can notches in the bearing carrier that is actually made out of cheese

post-3439-0-44670600-1492883588_thumb.jpg

 

I opted for a bigger release bearing, on the right but kept the pressure plate and pressure plate.

post-3439-0-33637700-1492883590_thumb.jpg

 

Also checked were the bushes in the bellhousing sides, and the cross shaft that runs through them. Satisfied that I had found the problem it all went back together in an afternoon

 

The car rewarded me with a very nasty metal on metal screech on the test drive which turned out to be a faulty pulley spinning on the alternator. The alternator is located bottom o/s on the front of the engine and about as inaccessible as it could be. 

 

post-3439-0-84977200-1492883924_thumb.jpg

 

Fixed that and on the test drive the clutch, which had been just fine on the last test drive, was now so bad that the clutch stayed disengaged even though the pedal was released. It then engaged with a huge clonk. Made the car completely undriveable. I did manage to reverse the ungrateful bastard back into the garage and shut the doors on it yet again! becoming a bit of a habit at this point!!

 

2 weeks later it was all apart again, before taking it apart while laying under the car and looking at the clutch lever I found that on depressing the clutch the lever moved but then didnt spring back. there is no return spring on a stag as standard. pressing the clutch again on this occasion made the piston pop out of the slave and jetted hydraulic dot4 into my face.

 

I pulled the gearbox again and piled it into the Range Rover to take it and the clutch to Enginuity for advise. they are very good at this. They told me that the fault is most likely in the splines on the gearbox input shaft. even though they looked clean, armed with a flat blade screwdriver their mechanic was able to remove a build up of baked on crud from the corners. I bought a clutch plate from them and returned home with enthusiasm. cleaned those splines up good and proper so that the clutch plate would slide up and down them by inclining the gearbox and was satisfied.

 

Problem fixed, clutch has been pretty smooth since though it does tend to get a tiny bit notchy when hot and stuck in traffic sometimes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you considered ditching the dreadful Triumph diff/shafts and converting to BMW E30 stuff? Very worthwhile apparently.

 

Had my diff been a screamer then I probably would have gone this way, the driveshaft splines are also good so the suspension doesnt suffer from the 7 year twitch. so called because in 7 years of production Triumph / BL did the square root of fuck all in fixing the root cause

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2011 was a happier year, rather than fixing broken stuff I found the time to restore and improve.

 

First up is the dash

 

removal from the car is pretty easy, all the instruments are connected to the loom by a single multiconnector, plus of course the mechanical oil gauge feed and the speedo cable

post-3439-0-45691000-1492939582_thumb.jpg

 

I ended up removing the whole dash from the car though for shits and giggles

post-3439-0-90940900-1492939584_thumb.jpg

 

heat gun used very gently indeed removed the worst of the old varnish, as you can see the veneer is intact. super gentle sanding with fine paper got it back to this

post-3439-0-04910900-1492939593_thumb.jpg

 

was so happy that i assembled it all back into the dash

post-3439-0-31748700-1492939597_thumb.jpg

 

rustins 2 pack was used to recoat the dash, less likely to crack or fade in the sun. needs about 20 coats with flatting back every 6 house or so, this took a week

post-3439-0-71591200-1492939605_thumb.jpg

 

all the dash pieces had matching date stamps on the back and grain patterns on the front. The only mismatched piece is the gearstick surround

post-3439-0-29705600-1492939612_thumb.jpg

 

gauges were cleaned up before reinstalling, at this age of stag the bezel should be matt black, I cleaned that back to the chrome finish. but they dazzle in the sun so maybe they will be matt black again soon

post-3439-0-48709200-1492939617_thumb.jpg

 

dash surround goes back in first so I have access to all the mounting bolts

post-3439-0-07775900-1492939621_thumb.jpg

 

steering wheel was off to save scratches and swearing

post-3439-0-00706100-1492939625_thumb.jpg

 

chuffed

post-3439-0-49237100-1492939628_thumb.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2011 also saw fitment of a header tank.

 

Staq cooling system is horrifically flawed. the top of the rad is a couple of inches above water pump. the expansion for when the system is hot goes into a pressurised tank which is located at the bottom of the engine bay. the Triumph idea is that the water expands into the tank and then siphons back as the engine cools. however any leak anywhere in the system causes air to fill the system rather than water, thus coolant level drops and the water pump does pump water anymore!!

 

There are a number of areas that can cause the leak. but these are mainly the inlet manifold, through which the coolant runs and the waterpump which has o rings and seals but are notorious for leaking. in stag circles "wet v" is a nightmare for owners. The wet v is when an owner can see coolant in the engine v around the back end by the distributor. This is the only bit of the V that you can see easily. Both leaky inlet manifolds - due to incorrect installation / shit gaskets and leaky pump cause wet v. There are also thermostats and heater hoses that can cause this but easily discounted by nipping up jubilee clips.

 

For a few years now enterprising owners have been creating header tanks or header expansion bottles to allow the cooling system to refill by gravity rather than vacuum. this is my attempt.

 

Tank was from an XR4i and chose for its fit around the suspension turret. and also that it has a reed switch level sensor

post-3439-0-53738000-1492941218_thumb.jpg

 

plumbing in was by t'ing off from the heater feed, and return was to the top of the rad, not see in these piccies

post-3439-0-06711400-1492941221_thumb.jpg

 

Alternator had beeen relocated to somewhere more sensible by this time 

post-3439-0-41042300-1492941225_thumb.jpg

 

reed switch was connected into a relay to light a bulb (seatbelt) in the middle of the dash

post-3439-0-50842300-1492941228_thumb.jpg

 

two or so issues as I found over the next few years, the light on the dash flickered all the time due to coolant moving about in the header tank!! I wired in a delay unit from the TR7 petrol warning light setup. simple unit that will only trigger the warning light after a prolonged signal.

 

the second and probably more serious issue, much debated on the Stag Owners Club forum is that the way it is plumbed in is not a header tank because it doesnt include the radiator in the circuit. more so and as I found out a few years later when the rad becomes even slightly compromised the circuit I used bypasses the rad altogether. water follows the easiest path etc

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

in other news 2011 I was a bit plagued by shit not fit for purpose parts that have flooded the market.

 

Bottom link balljoint on the front suspension item should not be an annual service part, nor should steering balljoints. especially when you are only doing a couple of thousand miles. suppliers tried to blame suspension failures on speed bumps, just bollocks.

 

I got quite good at knocking out old bottom links without using a press

 

post-3439-0-18902300-1492942724_thumb.jpg

 

post-3439-0-51867900-1492942728_thumb.jpg

 

I also found out why the car stank of petrol just after filling. there is a stub on top of the tank which is not used and blanked off. the old blanking plug had disintegrated so I made up a new one. no more stinky super unleads smell after filling up

 

post-3439-0-40929200-1492942804_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After 18 years I decided in 2012 to give the brakes a thorough overhaul, not that there was any particular problem but other than fluid changes and the odd rear cylinder replacement I had done nothing with the brakes since May 1994.

 

post-3439-0-37438500-1492943185_thumb.jpg

 

Rear Stag brakes are huge drums, when they work they are effective. Leaky cylinders and bad handbrake setup stop them working

post-3439-0-47994400-1492943192_thumb.jpg

 

Single cylinder with two pistons is at the bottom of the drum, the shoes pivot from the top and the adjustment is by an automatic ratchet. The handbrake operates the same shoes but independently of the hydraulics. the unknowning can render the hydraulics inoperative but still have a fine 2 click handbrake

post-3439-0-55885200-1492943198_thumb.jpg

 

for this job I chose to remove the entire back plate and lube up the driveshaft spines and ujs. The hub carrier is held to the trailing arm by 6 studs. UNF into 1970s BL alloy is always fun. With all 6 undone the outer drive shaft and hub can be withdrawn and once the handbrake and hydraulics disconnected so can the complete backplate

post-3439-0-60308100-1492943204_thumb.jpg

 

The backplate is viewed upside down here, the cyclinder is at the top. just underneath is the handbrake mechanism and to the right behind the shoe is the autoadjuster

post-3439-0-52739800-1492943209_thumb.jpg

 

salvaged the adjuster from the old show and fitted it to the new one as there was no wear in it and also it worked fine

post-3439-0-25875000-1492943215_thumb.jpg

 

All back together, the drive shaft splines between the inner and outer shafts can be an arse until you realise there is a keyway, even then they are an arse to assemble

post-3439-0-62848800-1492943219_thumb.jpg

 

fitted new aero hoses for unseen bling but mainly because i just do not trust unbranded rubber flexi hoses, the aero came from a respectable manufacturer.

post-3439-0-44986900-1492943225_thumb.jpg

 

once the other side was done to the same standard I bled the system. the mistake fools make is to connect and adjust the handbrake before getting the auto adjuster to do ts thang. Simple order is;

 

rule no1 leave handbrake cable disconnected

  1. bleed brakes through both sides,
  2. pull drum from one side, push back the adjuster, put drum back on and hold in place with screws
  3. stamp on brake pedal and hear the adjust ratchet click away, sounds like a giant zipper
  4. check that the drum rotates and you can feel the shoes kissing the drum
  5. repeat 2-4 for other side
  6. bleed brakes again
  7. fit and adjust handbrake
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back brakes were dead easy, for the fronts I chose just to clean the 1994 calipers and assemble with new greenstuff pads, for no other reason than supposed to be less brake dust on the alloys etc. 

 

New aero hoses again

post-3439-0-50145600-1492944454_thumb.jpg

 

I still get brake dust on the wheels but nowhere near as much

post-3439-0-52958500-1492944458_thumb.jpg

 

one side done now tother

post-3439-0-58319500-1492944462_thumb.jpg

 

had rear pad installed and when cleaning up the channel for the outer a lump of metal dropped to the floor - the outer half has been unbolted to show the break. and yes I know that the two pads on each side are handed

post-3439-0-34574800-1492944469_thumb.jpg

 

FFS, 

post-3439-0-26813800-1492944473_thumb.jpg

 

Bought a new calliper and installed it the following week

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2013 was a particularly testing year for me and Rupert and tensions were stretched for the following reasons.

 

April I threw in the towel on the Stombergs on the car as I could not get the CO reading anywhere sensible, I bought a set that had been reconditioned. yeah I know I should have done then myself but it happened.

 

The first set were rubbish, so were exchanged for a second set which flooded like fuck, filling the airbox with petrol. I decided to investigate and found that float levels were wrong but also a myriad of other issues. I got them running right but still they flooded for no good reason and the CO reading was all over the place.

 

post-3439-0-54800900-1492945252_thumb.jpg

 

I eventually decided to check on the fuel pressure coming from the pump, new float needle valves even though quality cannot cope with move that a couple of PSI in fuel pressure

 

I bought a FilterKing which combines fuel filter and pressure regulator functions into one attractive, blingy little unit. It bolts into the same place as the original OEM plastic fuel filter

post-3439-0-24158100-1492945261_thumb.jpg

 

Pressure was coming out at about 5psi, doesnt sound horrific but is way higher than the 1.8psi recommendation

post-3439-0-91732600-1492945277_thumb.jpg

 

Regulating down to 2psi

post-3439-0-69722100-1492945286_thumb.jpg

 

Gauge removed and plug fitted for regular running

post-3439-0-43656300-1492945269_thumb.jpg

 

Results were that idle was 10000000% smoother, as was pick up from idle and CO reading are now down to 5% fuck yeah

 

Fixed something yay, stormy clouds are ahead

Link to comment
Share on other sites

End of May 2013 agreed to drive to South Molton vintage rally and have some fun with Fatha thastag. I got as far as Swindon M4 when the low coolant light came on, no issues with temp nor running. pulled over and found the header empty. bugger. of course the system was pressurised at 20psi so releasing the cap even carefully saw it dump 3 litres of coolant on the road. I filled it up and set off again. Made it to Leigh Delemare when it happened again. This time I topped it up and ran the engine and of course there was a stream of bubbles filling the header. OMGHGFCHOAS

 

Still the engine ran nice and no overheating so I limped 15 miles at the time, to top it up and move on. 3 hours late I made it to the showground

 

One of these kept BL afloat, the other was instrumental in destroying a brand forever

post-3439-0-05020200-1492945818_thumb.jpg

 

Back at Fatha Thastags house I k-sealed the bugger with a hope to getting it 200miles back home again

post-3439-0-32641300-1492945820_thumb.jpg

 

It did but not without stopping every 40 miles to put another 5 litres of coolant back in. Made it home though without overheating.

 

this was the easy bit and patience has only been slightly tempted after all I rebuilt the engine just a few years ago and have covered just 30k miles since

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pulled the plugs and did a compression test

 

#2 and #4 (nearside front two cylinders) are down, a squirt of oil saw it go up but obviously investigashun required

post-3439-0-76566300-1492946131_thumb.jpg

 

Slightly ironic that I wrote the info on the back of a Chiltern Hill Vintage Rally envelope because it was just a couple of weeks earlier that I might have been giving Rupert some wheels off the roundabout and onto the Wendover bypass, naturally showing off to a stag load of burds pottering along, when I felt the rate of acceleration pull slightly, looking down at the dash I was over 7k rpm, Red is at 6.5k fuckedy fuck. Still I changed up and the car carried on without any sign of the storm.

 

Anyone who has been in a stag at anything over 5k rpm will understand the hair on the neck sound it makes. main reason why my stag still has its engine rather than a Rover v8

 

#2 plug showed some signs of cleaning, other plugs really should have been cleaned after the rich running, flooding episode earlier in the month

post-3439-0-92521500-1492946537_thumb.jpg

 

bought a block tester

post-3439-0-14869400-1492946133_thumb.jpg

 

yep exhaust/combustion gasses = hgf

post-3439-0-39866700-1492946134_thumb.jpg

 

Never mind I things, pop the old head off and fit a new head gasket

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I decided to do both head gaskets, cant be too bad can it.

 

post-3439-0-87691200-1492947210_thumb.jpg

 

not planning to go any further than the head gaskets I set it at Top Dead Centre which oddly is done on Cylinder #2 Front nearside, same as TR7/ 1850 etc on which It would be #1 if you get my drift

post-3439-0-27626500-1492947214_thumb.jpg

 

post-3439-0-88465100-1492947216_thumb.jpg

 

inlet manifold gave up its grip, the water pump is in the v at the front of the engine, yep inlet manifold has to be removed to access it

post-3439-0-97763800-1492947218_thumb.jpg

 

Anyone who has worked on a triumph slant 4 will know this "bastard thing!!!" broken stud scene

post-3439-0-18990300-1492947220_thumb.jpg

 

At this point things get serious, looks brutal, and it is! But the heads do move very easily as they bend the studs, the idea is to jack it up until the exhaust manifold is about to touch the chassis rail then cut through the stud, freeing the head and leaving enough stud to get an extracter onto

post-3439-0-92117000-1492947221_thumb.jpg

 

post-3439-0-42310200-1492947223_thumb.jpg

 

4 broken studs and unusually one broken bolt - they never break I am told!

post-3439-0-01772800-1492947225_thumb.jpg

 

No amount of heat nor any other trick would move the stub of the broken bolt. 

post-3439-0-64772400-1492947226_thumb.jpg

 

nor this stud, the other three wound straight out on the extractor

post-3439-0-17133900-1492947228_thumb.jpg

 

ok time to call around, local engineering company is prepared to have a go but the block needs to be bare. 

 

At this point only the bell housing bolts - easier to access without the heads and the front mounts are holding it in. so out comes the block

 

post-3439-0-66563100-1492947693_thumb.jpg

 

post-3439-0-45544600-1492947695_thumb.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

revised plan is to add a full engine gasket set to the head gasket set I have already. Plus a new set of bearing shells, piston rings and a new set of timing chains. not a horrific cost and easy for me to do.

 

I didn't have an engine stand at the time so my furniture removals trolley did the honours

 

post-3439-0-34556400-1492948089_thumb.jpg

 

Sump off and bearing removal gave me a nasty surprise, some of the journals were like the surface of a 78rpm record

post-3439-0-14151600-1492948092_thumb.jpg

 

post-3439-0-62093300-1492948093_thumb.jpg

 

post-3439-0-64043200-1492948094_thumb.jpg

 

Stag Cranks are part of the reason the engine has such a shit reputation

 

firstly the engine capacity was increase from 2.5 litres to 3 litres late in development and without re engineering the bottom end, thus the big end journals (that the conrods and pistons run from) are very narrow indeed, each bigend journal runs two pistons on opposing banks. The main bearings (that secure the crank to the engine block), all five of them are also on the small size for a 3 litre engine. thus engine rebuilds at 100k miles became the norm. Not bad when you consider that ford kent etc would struggle to get to 80k between major rebuilds. In fact it was not unusual to change the bearings every 20-30k on the 1340cc in the Consul Classic. 

 

Then on top of the underspec issue the cost accountants at BL decided to only harden the nice soft steel crank to 20thou . Not an issue in the early 1970s when you could still get the original very soft bearing shells. But as the 70s moved forwards cost accountants bit again and those nice soft shells were too expensive so hard shells used be all other manufacturers became the norm. but of course the crank was still only hardened to 20 thou.

 

Even NOW engineering shops insist that a stag crank does NOT need to be hardened when ground beyond 10thou (and most by now will), and with owners doing a couple of thousand miles a year it can be 5 years before the bearings wear the crank out and oil pressure drops. by which time ownership has changed and the new owner moans about how shit the stag v8 is.

 

BUT and this is the big but, my crank was bought as hardened and running 10 thou bearings, even by factory standards it should be able to support 10thou grind and standard shells. As you can possibly see some journals are fine for 30k miles and other are utterly fucked. BL 1970s quality control setting the standard again  :?

 

That'll be a reground and hardened crank, then. And this is how I found that engineering companies, even those that work on Astons etc tell me that hardening is NOT necessary. But if I wanted it doing there are two places in the country who can help. 

 

Slightly despairing I called up my old chums at Faversham Classics, I didnt buy the 1996 crank from them btw. and as usual Trevor is an absolute star, with the block at a local company to engineer the studs out, I take pistons and crank down to Faversham. Trevor is happy to exchange my crank for one of his properly tuftrided (factory hardened spec) 10 thou cranks. I also bought shells and piston rings from him. This is not wallet lightening but bank account emptying. At least I know that the crank will be good though. I do sometimes wonder if I should fuck this whole hardening thing and just rebuild the engine every 10k miles

 

Trevor is worried about the piston ring wear on my pistons but on explaining the rich mixture and low mileage we put this down to cylinder wash, unburned fuel washing oil off the cylinder walls. I assured him that there was no ridge at all on the bores and that the engineering company had declared the bores fit for purpose even with a light cylinder hone.

 

So with bank account hit, mrs thestag unaware I headed home to more unfortunate news.

 

The engineering company has drilled out and rethreaded the broken bolt as it is 90degrees to the block face but he cannot do the stud, this needs to be spark eroded out. Think a very small and controlled arc that melts the stud away but leaves the thread intact. That will be another £150 then please damnit!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Astonishing how omghgf can turn into a full engine rebuild.

 

Decided to treat the heads, except my engineer skimmed one of them so fucking much that it was only just usable, the same head that HGF occured on so I dont know. but the heads only really warp when overheating and these had not. not impressed. but extra thick head gaskets are now available to get the compression ratio back to where it should be.

 

post-3439-0-79187900-1492950506_thumb.jpg

 

Alcohol definately helps at this point, 

post-3439-0-19446800-1492950516_thumb.jpg

 

valves and springs are fairly easy to do, note how the valve is completely encased by the head moulding. A stainless bucket sides over the top of the valve spring which is what the camshaft pushes against

post-3439-0-73227100-1492950659_thumb.jpg

 

With valves in place and camshaft reinstalled time to set those valve clearances and have fun with shims

post-3439-0-72141300-1492950518_thumb.jpg

 

Inlet and exhaust have different clearances, need to set a baseline by measuring the clearance on each valve between the cam heel and the bucket. Then measure the shim that is under that bucket, then install a shim that gives the correct clearance. If there is no clearance then a thinner shim should be installed to set the baseline. if the valve stem is already touching the inside of the bucket without a shim then it will need machining back, valve seat recession can cause this (fortunately none of mine did)

post-3439-0-77952100-1492950510_thumb.jpg

 

So in above scenario

 

#1 valve is an Exhaust valve, the gap should be 016-018thou, the gap i measured was 019 thou so I need to remove CAM and bucket, measure the shim and install another 2 thou bigger to reduce the gap to 017thou? With me?

 

This shim measures between 087-088 thou* so I would need a shim 89-90thou to give me the correct clearance Clarence

post-3439-0-83216300-1492950513_thumb.jpg

 

* each vertical line on the shaft of an imperial micrometer = 025thou, i can see three verticals = 75thou

Add to it the bit of 025thou line that I cannot see, so looking along the shaft on the horizontal zero line up to the barrel read the number that is nearest the line, which in this case is between 012 and 013thou

 

thus the shim = 075thou + 012thou (to 013thou) giving me a shim thickness of 087-088thou

 

Told you booze helps

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really admire your persistence and determination to fix this Stag. Obviously, its a real love affair. I would have given up on it a long time ago and saved much strain on my wallet. Hope it is soon back on the road and meeting your expectations.

 

Cheers

 

this is from 4 years ago, it has been running but not right now. more soon :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Late July 2013 and the block is back and in rude health. 

 

post-3439-0-38665700-1492964511_thumb.jpg

 

nicely honed cylinders double checked with standard sized piston ring and well within tolerance

post-3439-0-69289600-1492964518_thumb.jpg

 

checking endfloat of crank with it just installed on main bearings and standard thrust washers.

post-3439-0-19827800-1492964523_thumb.jpg

 

perfect

post-3439-0-46365200-1492964532_thumb.jpg

 

something is going right for once, fret not though for lady fate is sure to fart in my face again anytime soon

 

Fount these two nuts, one mangled, right up inside the crown of this piston. the mangled one was properly wedged in, no idea where they came from, must have dropped down into the sump at some point but I havent got a scooby

post-3439-0-26016800-1492964637_thumb.jpg

 

Piston #1 showing signed of HGF also so I guess a good job I chose to do both gaskets originally. even if this minor job turned out to be a lot bigger

post-3439-0-22207100-1492964640_thumb.jpg

 

valves kissing pistons, I am pretty sure I know exactly when this happened, most of them were like this oops

post-3439-0-08563400-1492964653_thumb.jpg

 

scuff on the side of the piston below the oil control ring are very light and no cause for concern

post-3439-0-30993300-1492964655_thumb.jpg

 

With new piston rings installed I set about installing the pistons back into the block then this happened. Once again specialists never heard of this happening, i put it down to lady fate once more and bought another cap stud and nut

post-3439-0-65046000-1492964956_thumb.jpg

 

finally all together

post-3439-0-29200200-1492965022_thumb.jpg

 

installed sump

post-3439-0-59996800-1492965025_thumb.jpg

 

checked alignment of crank sprockets to jackshaft sprocket, shims are available, mine were spot on without

post-3439-0-61872500-1492965028_thumb.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

next I battled for a day trying to get the engine installed back onto the gearbox splines. the sump is a very tight fit behind the front cross member so after several hours I dropped the gearbox out and assembled on the floor.

 

post-3439-0-50751300-1492965262_thumb.jpg

 

David #2 son also fed up by this point, though mainly with me being grumpy

post-3439-0-16988600-1492965264_thumb.jpg

 

gearbox out took 30 mins

post-3439-0-70997800-1492965265_thumb.jpg

 

assembling it to the block took a couple of hours

post-3439-0-10141600-1492965270_thumb.jpg

 

entry angle for engine and box, you can see the issue

post-3439-0-87939700-1492965272_thumb.jpg

 

I get around it by lobbing a rope over the top of my ancient a frame hoist, I lift the gearbox up level and yes it is very heavy. then two mates take up the slack on the rope to hold the box level. mindful of course that they dont pull the whole frame towards them!!

 

Once the gearbox tail is over the front panel, the ropes around the gearbox tail end can be removed and the whole thing just drops back and in. total time to get the engine and gearbox in from the point of mates on the rope = 30 mins. not the sort of job that you want to be taking your sweet time over.

 

I had David #2 son on the steering wheel, while I pulled the car under the frame and 2 mates taking the slack on the gearbox to keep the whole shebang horizontal

post-3439-0-63975200-1492965275_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

by the way the chassis rails in the engine bay are too narrow to allow the engine and box to be installed from underneath. makes engine removal an utter cunt, I have mastered some of the tips and tricks though. I recently helped a mate get his 2500 straight six out of his stag and get the v8 back in. the straight six was a mother to get out, made the v8 install seem like a walk in the park..

 

miserable BL chod

 

It is critical to shim out the waterpump correctly, install cover without gaskets, measure the gap then install gaskets to bring it within tolerance. Too big a gap and water just sloshes around under the waterpump cover and too tight and the pump will snag on the cover causing a. gear to strip and/or b. the left hand chain to snap with predictable swearage. Who makes this shit up?

post-3439-0-30911000-1492965956_thumb.jpg

 

Cut off old head studs make for a good alignment tool to ensure the expensive head gasket remains in place and the head drops into the right place

post-3439-0-76062800-1492965957_thumb.jpg

 

It is also important that #2 piston is at tdc and also that the heads are set for TDC else valves will be bent

post-3439-0-24185300-1492965959_thumb.jpg

 

Getting there

post-3439-0-64475500-1492965960_thumb.jpg

 

LH Chain, the longer of the two is always straightforwards to install

post-3439-0-75231700-1492965961_thumb.jpg

 

The RH chain is easy to get one tooth out even when everything lines up. so it is critical to wind the engine over on a spanner for a couple of turns to ensure no interference. one tooth out on the chain is all it takes!

post-3439-0-92993700-1492965992_thumb.jpg

 

evidence inside of the timing cover of a disaster in the past. not at my hand i must admit. could also explain why 100k mile old heads were in such good shape back in 1996 for the original engine rebuild

post-3439-0-91340100-1492965993_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With heads on and chains in place it was a race for the finish

 

I bought a new o/s cam cover on ebay for a tenner, looks nice huh? power coated an all

post-3439-0-76041300-1492967072_thumb.jpg

 

err even on the inside and all that black grit on the bench came out of the breather filter. it was bead blast material!! No fucking way is that going near my engine, I salvaged the HT lead clips off it and then flattened it with a 10lb hammer. - to get that powder coat off the inside would need an acid tank, then I would need to drill out the welds on the gauze cover and throw away before finding new gauze and welding it back into place then repaint. Put it all down to experience

post-3439-0-23195200-1492967074_thumb.jpg

 

original cam covers painted and reinstalled

post-3439-0-72105200-1492967075_thumb.jpg

 

spare bolts left over lol

post-3439-0-26973200-1492967077_thumb.jpg

 

almost started, just need to sort that ignition timing, the rom is wrong for my car so it seems, the rotor needs to point at the nearest coil mounting bolt and NOT the furthest. the car would start but had no guts. checking the timing against the cap and ht lead soon showed me the cause of the error. it fired straight up with the dizzy in the right position

post-3439-0-95946500-1492967480_thumb.jpg

 

misty pics are not tears from my eyes not smoke from the exhaust but my phone camera had a gert big greasy finger print right across the lens

 

post-3439-0-85820500-1492967080_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2013 had one more ickle treat for me, on retorquing down the head studs and bolts the rear most bolt on the RH head was broken (before I even got to the fucker) - FFS speshalysts never heard of this and i have two bust on the same engine!!! Anyway had to remove that head, fortunately the thread remains wound out of the block using a screwdriver.

 

I replaced all the head bolts with used old stock bought from a reputable supplier as the new stuff is very clearly made from batshit

 

after that it seemed ok

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really like Stags (and wish there was a V8 2000). It's always nice to see stories like this of cars people have always had, and I hope I can have my own story one day too.

 

Ah but there was, early 70s there was a dealer called Del Lines who fitted Triumph V8s into the Saloons and estates. Triumph stamped on him eventually though by refusing to sell him shells nor engines that could make the project viable.

 

There are a few of them still about if you look though :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

in other news 2011 I was a bit plagued by shit not fit for purpose parts that have flooded the market.

 

Bottom link balljoint on the front suspension item should not be an annual service part, nor should steering balljoints. especially when you are only doing a couple of thousand miles. suppliers tried to blame suspension failures on speed bumps, just bollocks.

 

I got quite good at knocking out old bottom links without using a press

 

attachicon.gif19052011007.jpg

 

attachicon.gif19052011008.jpg

 

I also found out why the car stank of petrol just after filling. there is a stub on top of the tank which is not used and blanked off. the old blanking plug had disintegrated so I made up a new one. no more stinky super unleads smell after filling up

 

attachicon.gif2011-fuel.jpg

 

 

A lot of people have the same problem with XJ40s - some of the aftermarket suspension parts are very poor quality, with aftermarket parts from British parts having a reputation for being particularly short lasting and poor fitting. There are some good aftermarket parts about, but generally OE or genuine Jag parts are the only way to avoid doing the whole thing again in a year. Ridiculous really.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't want to own a Stag. Just seems like so much pain and aggro.

 

I think the whole BL story can be summed up with just one car.  :lol:  :roll:

 

spot on, if there was a car BL made that should have conquered the USA it would have been the Stag but after just 3 years of imports it became the Snag. badly engineered, useless published maintenance schedules, arse management and a sabotage mentality workforce destroyed any chance.

 

Part supply these days is simply carrying on with shit quality parts that are not fit for purpose that continue to impact reliability. I went through 2 recon steering racks before I realised that cheapest is not best, the 3rd was double the price but is still on the car 15 years later.

 

The problem I have now is running a 44 year old car sensibly using 44 year old parts or repro parts that are often made out of cheese

 

That said the Stag is proper good fun when it is working. I have hauled mine across France to Le Mans at speed, more of that in upcoming posts. I have never really had any concerns about jumping in it and driving across the country. It is the bits inbetween, ironically it has only ever once been relayed home and that was because of a cheapo 21st century electronic ignition module. the noise it makes accelerating hard brings tears to eyes. and when driven reasonably sensibly but not truck bothering it returns 30mpg!

 

It is comfy, not quite a 4 seater but used to acccomodate the lads in the back, has a good tight fitting softtop and doesnt handle too badly.

 

there are a lot of positives for the Slaaag, just dont buy bits off ebay, or reputable suppliers lol. Jag suppliers seem to have a three tier part list, OEM, Pattern and Reproduction, you pays your money you gets your quality. Sadly in Triumph circles we have yet to get this luxury,

 

4 suppliers/specialist I know of are fastidious about the parts they sell. i.e. they would rather NOT supply a part than sell you shit, even if they cannot provide an alternative! SOCTFL (Stag Owners Vlub Tooling Fund Limited) is a business that is reproducing long obsolete parts for at the very best quality. 

 

things are heading in the right direction but it is very slow. 

 

Note Stag is not the only 40+ year old car plagued by quality issues of OEM and reproduction ;parts :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe the Stag has a different firing order to the Rover unit hence the fabulous noise it makes. Another, less publicised problem was the distributor. Triumph - as you'd expect from a disorganised shithouse like BL -  stuck with AC Delco for electrical bits. Delco makes Lucas look like a Bosch rivalling product of quality and the Stag's V8 distributor (a cheap copy of a Rolls V8 unit I'm told) could have a problem with the shaft wearing leading to dwell variation as well as the advance bob weights sticking, leading to detonation and the mother of blow ups.

 

The Stag is such a pretty car and sounds so nice that you'd forgive it so much, but a mate had one 20 years ago, a white (colour changed from yellow) auto that was a complete and utter disaster. It broke down every time he used it. Having had to do a head gasket on an 1850 Dolomite in the late eighties, I point blank refused to work on it. It seemed to me that everything you touched on one broke. It was just the lowest common denominator standard of engineering...........the sheer stupidity of the slant four/V8 design is just mind boggling. The daft water pump, angled head studs, a crank with A Series sized big ends - what the fuck were they thinking?

 

The Acclaim was the best thing to ever wear a Triumph badge, and was exactly what BL should have naturally progressed to, but didn't.

 

I still reckon another V8 is the way forward but not a Rover V8 - they're fairly tough, but not really that good. A small block GM unit would be ideal. Would a 3.2 Jaguar V8 or one from a Lexus or BMW fit in the bay?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...