Engine Reinstall

So with the sump back on, the rocker covers stripped of paint and reinstalled it's time to get the engine back in the car.

 

With the gearbox off it's a fairly simple job of just lowering it back into the engine bay. 

Once bolted up, here comes the hard bit, getting the car onto the ramps which are on the other side of the garage, so I can install the gearbox. 

In a scene that resembled a World's Strongest Man event (well it is the run up to new year) I managed to push the Stag out onto the soggy wet grass outside and get it to a point that I could connect my 12v winch. (a very useful extra that came with the ramps). 

It was the first time I'd used it, but made getting the car up the slope so much easier. 

Now it's off the ground, I bolted on the clutch and then had to get the LT77 gearbox back on.

There's no more photos for the moment, but suffice to say, even with the ramps giving me 2ft of lift, and having a transmission jack, it still took me 90mins of wrestling (and swearing) to get it bolted up. 

The crossmember is also now back on, so hopefully at some point this weekend I might get it running again. 

Sumping

During the preparations for Christmas, I've found some time to take the sump off the Rover V8 and give it some attention. 

Once degreased with alternating uses of Gunk and White Spirit, it turns out to be an interesting homemade affair. 

Thankfully the baffle plate wasn't hiding too much sludge, and no engine parts fell out as I gave it the final few shakes. 

So once clean and dry, a quick coat of Red Oxide :

Then 2 days later some black gloss,

and it's ready to go back on. 

Winter Project

See the picture below. This really is the same Stag that sits looking rather smart a little further down this blog. 

It's been off the road for over a year now, thanks to house fires and other projects (workshop re-roofing and a 2.5pi Estate). But now they are all behind me, it's time to tidy it up and get it MoTed again and that includes trying to sort the exhaust once and for all. 

Earlier in the year, in trying to remove the tubular manifolds, I sheared the heads off 4 bolts on one side. These, along with one already sheared on the other side meant pulling the engine to get it sorted. This would at least allow me to sort a few other things while it was out. (Crumbling engine mounts, dicky starter motor, mummified engine bay wiring). 

Having had no luck with drills and 'EZout's, I entrusted the drilling and helicoiling to AFM Racing http://www.afmracing.co.uk in Ipswich. Once back and mounted on my engine stand, I'm taking the opportunity to clean up the old Rover P6 lump. Nothing too mad, but de-greasing, stripping and cleaning the rocker boxes, and removing, painting and re-sealing the sump are on the list. 

The Stag's alloys ended up on the 2.5pi Estate, but I have acquired another 15x6 set exactly the same, so the PI will be keeping hold of these. 

Rotten week, but getting better.

In the last 7 days I have discovered the power of Mother Nature. A storm over Ipswich last Thursday scored a direct lightning strike on our house, setting fire to the TV in our bedroom and taking the chest of drawers underneath with it. 

Although the fire was confined to one room, the smoke damage is extensive. We've lost almost all our possessions that were on the first floor and looks like we'll be out of the house for at least 3 months. 

Thankfully nothing too sentimental was destroyed, except for some hard earned Club Triumph T-Shirts which were in those drawers. Thought I'd take these poinient pics of them before they got binned. 

On a more positive note, my estate has had it's frilly extremities replaced by Andy Dann. New front valence, lower front wing corners and lower rear wing corners. Top job! Some before and after pics below. 

It's the simple things ...

Got back from the Le Mans classic last weekend, my 5th time attending with the TSSC and it never ceases to entertain me, it really is a fantastic event. 

There was three of us going so took the 2000 estate so we could get all the gear in. Travelling Wednesday night meant we were first on the site and chance of a couple of uncluttered photos in the early morning. 

Now we're back, today I had a chance to fix the disintegrating steering bush that led to a wobbly column through most if the trip through France. 

Pic below shows the remains of the old one, with a new Superflex one from Chris Witor. 

What made me smile was when rummaging under the dashboard to loosen the column I found this attached to the wiring loom. 

Always nice to find a little bit of originality still with the car. 

Stag Suspension

I had some free time last weekend, so in-between bouts of gardening (well, weed clearing to be more precise), I decided to fit the new struts to the Stag that I'd ordered from Chris Witor last month. 

I've never been entirely happy with the Stag's handling since I got it. Despite fitting lowered springs to the existing shocks early on, it always had a slight tendency to wander on uneven road surfaces. So to try and fix it once and for all I decided to go for all new parts. 

Rebuilt struts with 1" lower 205-400lb progressive springs and KYB shocks. Here's old vs new. (Not much visual difference other than cleanliness)

New tie-bar bushes, 80 shore. These are the blue ones in the photo. Looking at what was on the car before, I hoped this would be the cause of the wandering. Although poly-bushes, the centre holes of the old ones had a bit of wear to them.

Old strut off. Looking at these inner panels and the strut tower reminds me why I bought this car back in 2010, it really is rock solid. 

After taking a couple of hours per side, the new struts and tie-bar bushes were on. A test drive round my usual route, which is about 6 miles of country roads and an A14 blast, showed an improvement in the tightness of the handling. Because it had the same springs as before, it's always cornered with very little body roll, but that tendency to wander definitely seems reduced. Hopefully it will last. 

I'm really pleased with the stance of this car. People have always said the Rover engine ruins the handling of a Stag, but with the set-up I have now you can really throw it around without much drama, and those springs certainly alleviate any of the nose-up look you can get with the lighter engine. 

So, to re-cap, my suspension set-up is ...

Front : Chris Witor 205-400lb progressive springs with KYB shocks. 

Rear : Chris Witor PFLR575 Springs, with +5mm insulators. GAZ adjustable shocks (on the car when I bought it). 

... and I can thoroughly recommend it. 

Back from Hols - US Rental Car Heaven

No Triumph news at the moment, but I have just got back from a 10 day break in Texas. First 5 days were spent in Austin enjoying Austin Psychfest 2013 and it's build up.

The next 5 days was a whistle stop road trip. Austin - Dallas/FortWorth - Jefferson - Houston - Austin. This was made all the more enjoyable by our choice of Hire Car, a Chevrolet Camaro SS, pictured here outside an abandoned Drive-In Theatre we found on Highway 59, outside Lufkin.

1100 miles with 400bhp on tap, we were certainly sad to hand the keys back to Budget Rentals yesterday morning.