It finally time. The stag went in for a complete overhaul on Monday the 10th of June 2001.
I had to towed to Triumphs Only in San Jose. They removed the engine and transmission
for rebuild.
I know the Engine needs to be rebuilt for sure. I am going to see what the transmission
and overdrive need.
This is the engine bay without the engine in it. Looks lonely. The steering rack will be removed and rebuilt when the engine and trans are close to being finished.
The engine without the car.
The only obvious thing on the engine aside from the required oil seepage is the clutch spring fingers. They are badly worn. The face of the pressure plate has some strange cupping on it as well.
The transmission will get new seals and anything that is worn will be replaced.
I am having a new engine built by Stag Specialists in Tucson. My engine was
too worn to be rebuilt.
I have decided to make some modifications since I am starting from scratch.
My goal is to have a
reliable and quick daily driver not a concors restoration or a race car.
I am getting hotter cams, a downdraft webber and manifold, upgraded radiator
and electronic ignition.
The transmission rebuild is done and we are mostly waiting for the engine.
The machine shop found a problem in the area of the flame ring so the heads
are back in the welding
shop.
The new engine has been done for a few months but no work was done until last
week. I went and
visited my car at the shop that Triumphs
Only has subbed the install out to. The engine is in the car
and things are looking pretty good. I am starting to believe that this incredibly
slow process is
almost over. I just hope the rest of the car has not disintegrated in the 3
years it has been in the shop.
You can see the new Webber carb and the overhauled steering rack in these photos.
Here are some examples of the minor damage it has picked up in the shop over the last 3 years.
Now I need to figure out what tires to put on it as the ones it had when I
bought it 4 years ago have
rotted out. I am currently considering 195/75R14 Michelin Xs.
I ended up putting the Bridgestone Potenza 930i 195/75R14 tires on it. We will
see how they do once
the car is moving again. The engine is in and running... Sort of. It starts
and if it was a diesel garbage
truck it would be perfect. It has quite a knock. It sounds like my brand new
engine needs an overhaul.
I am extremely disappointed in the entire project at this point. Between the
incredibly long time it takes
between bursts of progress at the shop and the mounting damage to the car in
the form of dents and
decay it feels like a losing battle. The total damage so far has been a broken
door handle, scrapes
shown above, several small dents in various places, a big crease in the drivers
side door and a dent
in the bottom of the oil pan on the new engine. Some plastic pieces were broken
and replaced, and
the fan coupling went bad. The ignition switch became very flaky also. We were
able to fix it by
removing the escutchion and re-hammering the indents that hold the connection
block to the back of
the switch body.
On the plus side the The new stainless steel exhaust is in and it looks very
nice on the car. The engine
is installed an running. The new radiator core is in and the broken door handle
has been fixed.
Here is the sound the engine makes.
I should have a disclaimer here but I really can't think of anything. All rules
subject to my whim.
Someone may win but it might not be you. If no one guesses correctly I am spending
the $20 on
booze. Please do not point out how stupid I am to spend this much on this car.
I know. I really know.
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Entries so far:
From D. D:
"The audible sounds emanating from the running engine are symptomatic of
irregular and untimely fuel detonation caused by the combined effects of
incorrect ignition timing, old fuel and possibly incorrect valve timing."
From S. H.
"The valve buckets are causing the noise as they are not properly shimmed."
From S. J.
"Plug leads swapped round"
From T. H.
"incorrect timing causing detonation"
From H. F.
"My first guess is the timing, especially since you are running the Weber.
What did you do with the vacuum line to the carb? Did you hook it up at all?"
From M.
"Missing balancer pipe on the exhaust or uneven length headers."
