Bryan Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 Decided to change the original exhaust for s/s unit last week. Exhaust came down fairly easily as i'd already had it off whilst having the welding and rear suspension done earlier this year. Every manifold stud came out of the heads............except one which just would not move. I couldn't get it out with any stud removal methods at all and fear prevented me from drilling - even if i could have got the angle to do so. So - a brain wave - i'll take the heads off and replace the gaskets while i'm here - next rally is not until September and it's raining this week (it's Scotland remember - we can plan the rain) and i'll have them done in jig time. How many of you are laughing at this now. I should have known better. Having removed all the ancilliary equipment to get to the position of getting the heads off i spent 3-4 days trying. No joy. The heads were locked onto the studs and i'd already snapped two of them and stripped my stud removal tool trying to remove others. The engine was looking more and more like it was going to have to come out. With the car being automatic, that also means the transmission comes too and i just don't have the tools or garage height to be able to perform that task. So she has headed off to a Triumph specialist in Bo'ness on Saturday past and i'll have the engine fully refurbished while it's there. A simple task that turned into an expensive nightmare. Will advise on progress as it occurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lacey Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Hi Bryan, Looks like you have had abit of a nightmare. Andrew actually said when we were doing our head the worst thing would be if the studs are seized and deceide to snap off. Ours were abit stiff, Andrew did not use a stud extracting tool he locked a nut against a nut with a ring spanner and exstension bar. a hit with a hammer and fast yank and they freed. but then again the engine was out. The studs are now coated in copper grease. so will help with any future removal.Sorry you have had problems yet again. Its a pity you live in scotland, as andrew would have lent a hand.RegardsTina ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volospian Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 :'(What a nightmare. I keep meaning to do various things to mine, but I'm simply to scared to touch the engine at the moment in case it falls apart. If it ain't broke, as they say :)Once the summer is over (so that'll be next week then ;)) I'll get things sorted but until then, as long as it keeps going, I'll leave things well alone :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted August 9, 2005 Author Share Posted August 9, 2005 Thanks both of you - words that will ring true in my ears for some time. Waiting to hear from the garage what it's all going to cost. I guess it's gonna hurt quite a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nibby Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Sorry to hear about your nightmare Bryan, did you have overheating problems anyway or was it soley to get the snapped stud out of the head? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted August 12, 2005 Author Share Posted August 12, 2005 That's what makes it all the more frustrating - i had no heating problems at all. the engine was running sweet - - up till that point anyway. However, once she is back i'll have a pretty good car. Might change my mind about selling her after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wakaday Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 I guess thats just unlucky Bryan. 99% of the Stags poor reputation in practice has been sorted now. Its just annoying things like the Head studs that cause that headache.I have rebuilt quite a few over the last 18 ish years and have been down the broken and seized stud route more times than I care to remember. I always advised my customers that a simple Head Gasket job may result in Engine removal and a slightly higher Labour charge. Most of them have been with me for years and accepted it. Now they know if they need any head work that the studs will come out easy because they are copa slipped and the holes in the head are reamed out very slightly. Now you may have heard of this before and not seen any results but I always add one more thing. I run an Earth Strap from each head to the body. This alledgedly cuts down the aluminium heads acting as a sacrificial anode. Does it work? I don't know because I have only had One repeat failure of a Gasket in all that time but if anyone gets a Stag with an earth on each head, let me know if it comes off easy if you have to remove it.I stopped my Stag work full time in 97 and just do a little bit here and there now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted August 18, 2005 Author Share Posted August 18, 2005 Thanks all for your replies and sympathy!! A further update. The engine is out and heads are off. Pistons have been removed and it has been discovered the engine has had work already done on it. Barrels re bored and +20" pistons fitted. According to the garage this is recent work and the bores and pistons are in excellent order. The annoying thing is i didn't get any of this in the history. Anyway my bill will be reduced a bit. Heads are being skimmed as well as inlet manifolds and she will be re built. They say i'll have her back in just over a weeks time depending on the skim. Maybe get some summer running yet! But i guarantee, the minute i open the garage the heavens will open. Cheers, more later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lacey Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 Hope all is fine when she returns, nice to know the bottom half of the engine is OK. Ours is now off the road, our recent recon brake master cylinder has been leaking, it was reconed with a stainless steel sleeve so we thought we would not have any problems. We had renewed the whole braking system. Andrew had notice fluid loss, he thought maybe it was because it was all bedding in. It has now been sent back and hopefully back on the road soon.We did manage to go to a local area meet at the Plough, Enfield which was really good last monday. It was open top motoring all the way there and back. It was great, so I would like her to be back on the road A.S.A.PTina :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wakaday Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 Bryan.Any reason why your heads need Skimming? If you have MK2 Pistons on MK1 heads then your compression ratio is already going to be high. It may be worth while fitting the Thicker Head Gaskets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted August 22, 2005 Author Share Posted August 22, 2005 Wakaday,The reason for the skimming is that we scored them while ammateurishly trying to remove them in my garage. My fault not the repairers unfortunately. Everything is original as far as i know - except pistons etc ofcourse. All MKII components. Engine block is original as numbers tie up.Tina, hope you get back on the road soon and thanks for your thoughts re the engine. I have no one close to me except my dad who is an ex mechanic who knows anything about these engines. Andrew would have been a great help. That's my philosophy too, help where i can... if i can. Hope you are both well and enjoying the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volospian Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 I'm beginning to worry about mine. There is moisture in the V. I wondered if it was fuel/oil mix as the carbs needed a rebuild and I noticed both have leak "stains" and one was leaking fuel quite badly the other day (hmmm, fuel dripping onto a hot engine... nice!) but I've also noticed a slight drop in coolant. The top rad hose was not tightened up very much and neither was the rad filler plug, so hopefully it was just boiling off. However, I'm keeping an eye on it and I'm fairly concerned. Still, another couple of weeks and it'll begin to get miserable weather again, so she'll be out for the winter and a carb rebuild and good inspection of the heads will be made.Now, who reckons I'll get the heads off in one piece ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wakaday Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Have a look at a lot of stags and you will see that quite a few have a wet Vee.If it aint broke, don't fix it. Try retorquing the heads. I bet you will find they are quite loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volospian Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Yeah, a retorque is on the list. They haven't been done for a while so I would suspect they are indeed quite loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave w Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Hi, had water in the vee on mine for ages so last time i was working on the car i tightened every thing in sight, hoses, manifolds ect. wich seems to have donethe trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted September 26, 2005 Author Share Posted September 26, 2005 Update on the nightmare. A few weeks ago the car was heading home with the restorer driving. He phoned half way and said he was turning round as the engine was heating up greater than he would expect following a restoration. He took it back and discovered the temp gauge was faulty by replacing it with new. A bit frustrating but also pleasing that's all it was. Car is now back in my possession as of the 17th of September and is running sweet. The s/s exhaust makes a very different sound and to be honest i preffered the old exhaust note... but i'm not complaining. Have done about 150 miles since and very happy. Ready for next year now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire4me Posted September 26, 2005 Share Posted September 26, 2005 That was interesting reading. having rebuilt my engine almost a year ago.I agree about the exhaust. mine was new stainless and it does resound differently. I have done 5,000 miles and the exhaust is quieter less booming now. I guess it has a coat deposited over it.Bet you keep checking the V for coolant etc! 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lacey Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 Good to see you have your Stag back on the road :) We have been all over the place lately, the weekend before last we did approx 400 miles in the stag. We have had no coolant loss what so ever. So all the hard work has been well worth it, she drives like a dream. (Well not at the moment) You cannot beat the stainless steel exhaust with the tubular manifolds.Only problem we have had is that we brought a recon Brake master cylinder and it started leaking from the back of the cylinder into the servo. It was sent back, received another one a few weeks ago to find we have the same problem over again. Andrew is at this moment packing it to send back to the company once again. Strange thing is that the original one we sent in never leaked, Andrew thought it looked abit iffy needed new rubbers etc. So to be on the safe side sent it in for a recon.Tina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volospian Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 Nice to have you back in the fold, so to speak. I hope you get to enjoy her a bit now.I've now done over 1100 trouble free miles in mine since I MOT'd it last June :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lacey Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 Just checked last MOT which was end of may. Since we put it back on the road we have covered just over 2000 miles, a few more miles than we thought. We Have not really had any problems. Mainly open top motoring 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted September 29, 2005 Author Share Posted September 29, 2005 Thanks for the comments guys and gals. Looking forward to further motoring until end of October (although not sure about top down, it's getting chilly here) and next season. The car is running a bit rich at present and i need to weken the carbs a bit. I've bought the tool and the procedure appears reasonably simple.Whilst we are discussing the Stags, i have a question. My fuel tank appears to have two breathers. One vents back through the filler pipe, the other is NOW vented through the bottom of the boot. The garage always smells of petrol because this pipe is basically an open vent to atmophere. The drawing in my manual doesn't help other than it doesn't show this vent on the tank. Can anyone advise? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volospian Posted September 30, 2005 Share Posted September 30, 2005 I wonder if it's similar to the spitfire tank which needed a special breather for the american market. On the spit it is normally closed off with a rubber cap, which perishes and leaves everything smelling of petrol. Apparently you can safely cap it off with an 8mm central heating pipe cap thing. It may be something similar, needed for the yank market, but I can't say that for certain. I haven't noticed one on mine (MkI) but to be honest, I haven't looked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire4me Posted September 30, 2005 Share Posted September 30, 2005 Yes there is a capped pipe. Stag Owners Club have mentioned it several times. It seems many cars are suffering with petrol smells caused by the perished cap.Mine smells and I must have a look at it soon! With roof down though you cant tell.I reckon the cap has a life of around 30 years which is why its so topical now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lacey Posted September 30, 2005 Share Posted September 30, 2005 Just checked ours and it does have a cap on it, we have had no problems. I would just cap it off. We do have a smell of petrol in the boot but ours is coming from the fuel pump, although we have a new one, I dont think the seals are doing the job.Tina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire4me Posted September 30, 2005 Share Posted September 30, 2005 Ahh my pump weeps a bit from time to time. It makes a bit of noise to which i find annoying but i am told is normal. Anyone got experience of a sold state pump? New thread for that me thinks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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