Yes, removing the viscous coupled fan apparently frees up a few horsepower, assuming the car is moving and so the electric fan isn't needed either. The other mod I didn't mention is electronic ignition, I use the magnetic pickup sort, pertronix or similar as in my experience these seem the more reliable option.
I bought a yellow one. It is on arry the stag. The owner before me, made some Upgrades so till now, I drove 1000 km in 5 weeks, I haven't any problems with Chesters engine. Hope it will stay like this...wish you safe rides...
@@comeinhandynow thank you. You know I am great fan of the stag now. I didn't know this car till I was looking for a classic convertible with 4 seats. So I try to get as much Informations about this car as I could....what do you think about oil coolers?
@@frankabels5761 In my opinion, not necessary unless you are racing the car or it is overheating (but better to sort out the cooling system to fix that0.
@@frankabels5761 rev a bit more on occassion and enjoy it! ruclips.net/video/buz4UU6pmKs/видео.htmlsi=qKOhtrvOrx_OOpAo Just make sure you don’t scare your wife too much! Lol ruclips.net/video/x8AY4rcSCpE/видео.htmlsi=9yonRBlCFngtFfTH
Nice video. The water expansion bottle modification solves the stags main problem of overheating and warping heads. With this modification there is no need for putting a different engine in the car like the rover V8 or the Ford V6 and you can keep the wonderfull sounding Triumph V8
My dad bought a stag when I was about 8, always remember taking that out for drives along the highway/motorway. Unfortunately we sold it to some family friends for a bit of work we got done... maybe they still have it though! Good video man, keep it up.
That's a lot of oil. What evidence do you have that says you need this? I've never done it and never had any problems. I do have unleaded converted heads though with hardened exhaust valve seats and brass valve guides.
Hi Sunil, I did the mods myself and the painting. So can't recommend a garage. The header tank came from from a vauxhall Astra diesel. Just have a look around your local scrap car yard and look for one the right size. There will probably be many that will fit. Regards Jon
The original dual points system on stags were quite unique, Most of the time these worked fine, One set of points closing the circuit and the other opening it, The advantage being an increased dwell time over a single point set. however the down side would be overdue wear on the base plate due to the increased spring pressure on the plate, making the moving plate give inacurate timing and misfire, Setting the points gap usually is best done staticly. Then doing the timing with a strobe. The best solution is an electronic type with chopper wheel etc, I'm sure luninition made a kit for this, that also fitted the rover V8.
Luminition did make optical ignition circuits but the one i had in a sprint was far from reliable. The pertronix magnetic system in my stag now is very reliable.
@@comeinhandynow , now interesting that you say that, I've had 3 luminition systems in my time, 2 of them for honda engines and the the last was for a citroen SM, and all of them have failed, the last honda engine i went back to the magnetronic system and it was just fine.
I haven’t found it necessary, engine temperature never fluctuates from nominal in this car, probably due to the recored radiator, electric fan + electronic control and engine block cleaned out when I rebuilt it.
hi good evening thanks for replying back, i like you bodywork ideas about water not getting in and getting trapped did you do that your self can you recommend some one as also i would like to get my car paInted and the headertank which car did it come from did you fit that yourself, i await your comments regards joe
Had one come into garage once had expansion bottle mounted on rool bar behind driver driver said it fixed its problems and if it did get hot could hear it bubbling
ever thought of haveng the cast block shaved down by 30 mm and had a stanless steeel shim bolted to the block and to the gasket and redrill more head bolts my m8s dad did this to his stag and bored the oil and water holes in the engine bigger it worked wel and better rad and fan motor
Interesting. I never considered this however this engine is quite reliability and has never overheated despite some aggressive driving. The rad was recored, the engine well cleaned out of any corrosion crude or any casting sand (some had some from the casting process) and a powerful modern cooling fan with electronic control also made a big difference. The higher coolant tank is also a wise precaution.
A waste of time and effort, as other fixes are available: *1)* An electric fan is fine as fitted here; *2)* Higher located expansion bottle; *3)* Modern fully and semi synthetic oils are fine for the oil galleries. Thinner these days. Could have: *i)* An electric water pump; *ii)* Maybe Evan waterless coolant operating in a non-pressurised cooling system. Evans also prevents corrosion and prevents hot spots in the engine making bother.
Pressure gauge, designed for petrol. was just used to diagnose an intermittent stopping problem. Will probably remove at some point. As it’s designed for petrol it should be fine.
@@comeinhandynow But is it suitable for below freezing? Well it was only for testing so fine. ;) Just standard cheap plumbing fittings are superior to auto junk. In some old cars I had, I used off the shelf soft copper pipe, run around the engine bay. Rubber pipes connected to them where movement is needed. But there are _quality_ flexible stainless plumbing braided pipes that are available that are superior to hose clips and rubber pipes. Would you have you house plumbing in rubber pipes and hose clips? Yet rubber pipes in cars are operating over 100C at times. Appalling engineering by auto people. Heating engineers when looking inside car bonnets say _"WTF! Cheap!"_ People expect that rubber hoses in cars are changed every few years, but would never accept that with pipes on their heating system at home. Even fuel lines were connected up using flex plastic/rubber pipes and hose clips. Amazing! No heating engineer would connect up a gas or oil line to your home boiler using plastic pipes and hose clips. But, saying that, latex hoses are excellent but _expensive._
What model air filter is that please?, my Holley from Hart is just foam held on with a grid, what advantage do you get from linking the cam-covers?, surely they have pressure equalized in the front can cover?
The air filter is similar to the 14"x2" one that Rimmerbros sell part RB7439. The cam cover breathers allow for the moist crankcase vapours to be drawn out of the engine. It is similar to a lot of other v8s in that clean air is drawn from inside the air filter into the left cam cover, the air is drawn through the engine into the right cam cover and sucked out into a high vacuum point of the inlet manifold. Normally a PCV valve sits in the right cam cover and regulates air flow. I choose to change my PCV to a simple isolating valve to manually set the air flow. The reason being was so I could adjust it to give just a bit of vacuum inside the crankcase to stop oil dripping out of the rear crack oil seal.
Hi, I'm interested in the tie bars you mentioned to stop the twichiness of the rear end, can you let me know where to buy these from. Love the video, thought the issue of the seams was spot on as I have water leaking into my boot.
They were from Monarch stags, not sure they still do them though. They did suffer from stress cracks on the right angle joints, so they are off mine at the moment, but when they were on they did the job.
That tank was from an old astra diesel that i saw in a scrap yard I think. It was a long time ago. Best to have a look at ebay to see if there are coolant tanks of the right size.
What car did the coolant header tank come from? The stainless or alloy ones look nice however I prefer to see the coolant level at a glance. Yours looks like it fits nicely in that space next to the wiper motor and it's at the highest point possible.
I looked around a scrap yard for something suitable, quite a long time ago. It was from an old style Vauxhall Astra Diesel 2L I think. And yes I agree, definitely better to watch coolant, as if you need to open the tank to check it will go to a different level as its lost pressure.
Really good use of modifications, thats the exact engine mods i want to do to my stag, also i didnt realized the engine could survive with just a thermostat modern electric fan? Does it really free up some bhp?
I have owned chevy v8 350 engined cars and although any v8 is nice and the small block chevy is good, it is not as good in term of revs and exhaust sound as the stag, especially my stag. The chevy is pushrod, the stag engine is overhead cam, which makes for better high revs.
Thanks. There is another couple of videos on my channel with me trying to capture the sound, not quite the same as being there though. I’d also like to know the HP, I’ve not measured it yet but it certainly revs well now with noticeably more HP at high revs due to it breathing better.
comeinhandynow great stuff. Not that it matters too much what HP it has..it was just put of interest. I always loved the looks of the Stag. Are the cooling problems a thing of the past with the mods you made?
comeinhandynow great work. Makes you wonder why BL didnt do the basic sensible stuff in the first place like a properly placed water expansion tank etc. I know that electric fans didnt exist back then but still....
The best improvement would be to buy a Z4 or MX5. Just winding you up, I’ve had 2 Stags and loved the drive, the SOC social stuff and a bit of tinkering. But even good ones are a money pit and you must take a rabbits foot, St Christopher icon etc. for long and high speed trips. I admire the dedication and resources of owners and remain a bit jealous, but I’m over Stag ownership in 2024.
If it is restored and upgraded with good care and engineering then it can be reliable and cheap. This video was done 10yrs ago and it has been very reliable since I rebuilt it. A recent leak from the coolant tank (from an Astra 1996) is the only current job to do. Zero tax and £100 insurance makes it very cheap.
@@roadrunner708 sorry in my opinion you can't compare these cars with a stag. It is like to compare apples with pears ... In my eyes a porsche 996 convertible would be a good alternative to a stag, but in germany you can't find a porsche, a good Z4 or even a good mx5 for the price I got my stag. And also the prices for repairs or maintenance are lot higher for the other cars than for a stag...
Wish I had kept mine it was fun. Love your mods they all make sense and keep the car original enough. If only they had been sensible with the engine design/choice this could have been great. They had a lovely straight six they could have used off the shelf The Rover V8 in house. The old Daimler V,8 would have been great. Instead they stuck two dolomite units together to cobble a ,V8 up, I wonder if they could have used 16v sprint heads but doubt the bottom end would handle it .. They do sound great tho I have to admit Poor cooling , dodgy dizzy, and a torturous timing chain but with all these faults I still love em.
Thanks for for input. I read that the USA market wanted a v8 which is why a s6 wasn’t used. The rover V8 should have been used (not without its own problems) but the stag v8 has some nice features being smaller and a free reving overhead cam engine. The Daimler one was a bit small. The stag v8 uses the same design principles as the dolomite unit but doubled up, but of course is not what some people say of two dolomite engines bolted together! They did apparently make one sprint headed v8, which would have been great but I guess needed more time and money to engineer than they had available. Cooling is sortable with modern bits and a good clear out. Disti is par for the course in the 1970’s although I’m not that keen on all that load on the jack shaft - water pump, disti and oil pump. Agreed that they do sound good.
@@comeinhandynow Thanks for getting back. I always wondered why the didn't fuel injection them too given triumphs use of it . What a shame they didn't develop this car with a bit of care and attention in manufacturing and some improvements it could have been a world beater I remember when they closed the factory, the local news showed them destroying and skipping brand new hoods, it was criminal. I think BL just wanted the Triumph brand dead . Get rid of the dealers and concentrate on Austin Jaguar and Land Rover.
Hi great video i am thinking of buying a Triumph stag there are so many at different prices, and some people say buy one with a rover V8 more reliable i am looking at one with a 4.4 Buick V8 what would that be like and what are your thoughts. Thank you
Thanks, a 4.4 v8 would be interesting but is the rest of the gear train up to the increased torque? The 3.0 v8 triumph engine can easily spin the rear wheels on pull away, so for a 4.4 you should check if bigger tyres, axles, gearbox and diff have been put on. A car with the Triumph v8 is going to be worth more and is a free revving engine when given some of the improvements mentioned.
@@comeinhandynow Hi Thank you i messaged a Triumph stag club here in Australia they said stick with the original engine and get one that has a good service history
Good it will help some cars but yours obviously doesn't need it the issue was the stag had been banded about by some that they overheated yours runs fine changing or working on the radiator has also helped .
Yep, plenty of reports of overheat issues. One old original problem was the block water channels blocked up. Stripping down and cleaning out the engine water channels as well as recoring the radiator certainly helped a lot on this car. The modern fan with electronic control also helps. No overheating ever for me now.
Hi just out of curiosity, what temperature does your stag run at with the electric fan? I’ve got very similar modifications to yours. My temperature ranges from 80-90 degrees Celsius.
@@comeinhandynow is your oil cooler in the original position or have you relocated it? I’m considering moving it behind the grille, I think it will run the gear box a lot cooler reducing overall engine heat plus allow more air to flow through the underside of the engine.
Great stuff! I'll do some of this. I especially like the expansion tank and the fan mods. Lots Waxoyl also helps with the rust. I love it on hot days when the stuff drips out of the hollow sections, as proof that it has got into all the seams. And if you heat Waxoyl till its really runny and pour it over the joints, that "seams" to works, too ;). On mine I solved the overheating problem (the word issue is only used by OEMs trying to play things down ;) by fitting a modified water pump impeller devised by a German and a "T" piece so that the heater return is fed equally to both cylinder heads (can you imagine the thermo-shock to the right head when you switch on the heater on a cold day?) I use the green Renault coolant. All these basic errors by Triumph, no wonder the Stag bombed! And it has to be said - though I hate to agree with Clarkson - they should have fitted the Rover V8. Not least because it has a lot more main bearing surface area.
+jonnybottle Thanks for your interesting comments. On the subject of Waxoyl, as well as heating it I now also add a bit (~10%) of old engine oil. It makes it a bit oilier and lasts longer and penetrates more. The original Waxoyl mix can dry up a bit too much for my liking after several years. I'd be interested to see what water pump impeller you use. There are the 6 vane and 12 van ones from Triumph. The later 12 van one was supposedly meant to improve flow, but there are various stories floating around as to which is best, and some also use electric pumps instead. On the cylinder head to heater connections, yes it seems like a good idea to connect both heads, and indeed when I rebuilt my engine I also had a pipe connected to both heads, but never got around to doing a t-junction to join it up. It's still sitting there with a cap on the pipe. I don't think thermal shock is too much of an issue though as I believe the water flows out of the cylinder head to the heater rather than in from the heater. I don't know the green Renault coolant, but is it designed for Aluminium engines? i.e. With OAT? The modern coolants (like the pink OAT stuff) look after our engines so much more than could be done in the 70's with just glycol. The rads clogging up with corrosion products from Ali/iron reactions added to the woes of overheating in those days. Regards Jon
Another good tip, but I'll use new oil. I have enough 1970s GTX cans with a bit left knocking about. When I went round Shell's Hamburg lubricant development department I was impressed by all the warning notices, telling staff not even to put a rag with used oil on it into their pocket for fear of getting dioxins on their skin. My Haynes manual is at my lock-up, but according to the drawings on Rimmer's website it's definitely the heater return that goes to the back of the LH head. The flow comes off the water pump. I have a modified impeller in front of me. It's in sea water resistant alloy and a more sophisitcated shape than either of the Triumph ones. Unfortunately it's one where the hole was drilled just a shade too big. But you might be able to fit it with plenty of spline cement and a couple of grub screws to hold it fast. It would also act as a pattern if you wanted to cast one. How can I get a pic to you? And, I'm in UK next week and could send it to you. I could also send you a new oil pump spring. I have a number that were given to me when I visited the maker, and anything that fatiques is worth renewing on a preventive maintenance basis. I had one break and it cost me a crankshaft regrind. I have a theory about Stag water pumps. They were assembled on the engine as it went down the track and setting the vital tolerance between the impeller and the housing is a bit fiddly as a production line process. On an outboard pump that would be done at a bench. And while its a good idea to have gear driven water pump, they are always a potential place where the lube oil and the coolant can meet. Yes, the Renault premixed coolant is specially for alloy but not OAT apparently. Since it costs an arm and a leg and my other car is a Golf Variant and my Daughter has a Polo , I have quite a bit of pink coolant knocking about. I'll try it next time I drain the system. Thus endeth the sermon ;) Regards Jon (namesake?).
+jonnybottle I think that rimmerbros diagram must be wrong, as the water pump sucks in from the top and pushes out into the block. The water then flows from the block to the heads, and from there to the heater. I haven't run the stag up to double check this but it certainly looks this way and the way other sources describe how it flows. Let me know if you check it and I'm wrong. You're right about the water pump design, it's a tricky setup to manufacture. I had one fail on a dolomite sprint, I think it was dragging on the cover (probably my fault on a rebuild) and the jack shaft gears got stripped off, so I wasn't that happy with the design. It's been ok on the stag so far, but that jack shaft has a lot of work to do driving the water pump, distributor and oil pump. Thanks for the offer of various bits but when it's all working well I think I'll leave it that way and I don't have any overheating problems. Nice chatting with you. Jon.
thanks I would make it your worthwhile unless you are miles and miles away I am about 8 miles away from heathrow airport are you going to be at stonleigh triumph show this year
I'm in Ringwood Hampshire. I am not going to be at stoneleigh. Would have to charge you £500 labour plus bits so as I say not competitive for you. Try somewhere local. Regards Jon
If you ever read this comment , good video , but please if you ever do a video again , try doing it without a handful of keys , rattling off everything
Yes if you can get it higher than the water pump, but a bottle with two or more connectors helps purge any air in the system as the water will then flow through it.
do you mean 2 pipe connectors going in to the pressure bottle as mine only has one that goes back in to the radiator how can you have 2 when my stag rad only has one return pipe in to rad
so were will the other pipe go as one goes in to rad as of now when the pressure builds up a bit in expansion bottle the water raises and stays ther in the bottle should it not return back in to rad and were did you buy that piece that takes the small hose from the top hose
The pipe goes to a T-junction that you make on the top hose to the rad as shown in the video. That way it takes out any air in the system. That point is shown in the video. The bottle is used was from an old Vauxhall’s Astra. The T-junction was made from plumbing copper fittings, a 1” T junction and a reducer.
@@comeinhandynow Just because you are choosing to be upset about a valid comment does not mean it shouldn't be said. Maybe you should turn off the comments if your feelings at are risk?
Hi Sunil, fitting it for you would probably not be practical, I doubt if we are close. And it is not my primary business so I would have to charge you a high rate, Probably not competitive with your local garage. Why not have a go your self?!
3:28 I mentioned the reason I chose that valve: to optimise the engine vacuum at idle where a pcv would be shut off. It reduced oil dripping from the crankshaft oil seal at idle by introducing a vacuum in the crankcase.
It obvious triumph didnt get this car right when it was made you shouldn't have to do all these adjustments they should have had it right from day one ?
It was a bit too rushed due to the desperate need to make money, but also the technology for some of the improvements didn’t exist in those days, like reliable magnetic type electronic ignition and electronics for the electric fan ciontrol.
Lewis72 Good point. Thinking..... Actually the bulkhead is quite good! That would be a pain to change. It's best to cut out all of the rust and thoroughly reseal/repaint everything. A big job! Took me years, while working at the same time. Had to go part-time for a while just to get the car finished! Nice and reliable and rust free now.
Haha...actually yes! Compared to most modern cars where the space around the engine is very compacted meaning for big jobs you have to take the engine out. Do you see the length of that bonnet(hood) on the stag. It's long!
Yes, removing the viscous coupled fan apparently frees up a few horsepower, assuming the car is moving and so the electric fan isn't needed either.
The other mod I didn't mention is electronic ignition, I use the magnetic pickup sort, pertronix or similar as in my experience these seem the more reliable option.
I bought a yellow one. It is on arry the stag. The owner before me, made some Upgrades so till now, I drove 1000 km in 5 weeks, I haven't any problems with Chesters engine. Hope it will stay like this...wish you safe rides...
Great! Enjoy!
@@comeinhandynow thank you. You know I am great fan of the stag now. I didn't know this car till I was looking for a classic convertible with 4 seats. So I try to get as much Informations about this car as I could....what do you think about oil coolers?
@@frankabels5761 In my opinion, not necessary unless you are racing the car or it is overheating (but better to sort out the cooling system to fix that0.
@@comeinhandynow no I am not a racer. Only between 1500 to 2500 rpm...and changing cooling fluid once a year? And which one do you use?
@@frankabels5761 rev a bit more on occassion and enjoy it! ruclips.net/video/buz4UU6pmKs/видео.htmlsi=qKOhtrvOrx_OOpAo
Just make sure you don’t scare your wife too much! Lol ruclips.net/video/x8AY4rcSCpE/видео.htmlsi=9yonRBlCFngtFfTH
Nice video. The water expansion bottle modification solves the stags main problem of overheating and warping heads. With this modification there is no need for putting a different engine in the car like the rover V8 or the Ford V6 and you can keep the wonderfull sounding Triumph V8
Thanks. Absolutely agree!
However you may have to get the sand out of the cooling system left inside in the casting process to fully get it right. 😏
@@terrificspokesman7416 what exactly do you mean with the water expansion bottle modification?
My dad bought a stag when I was about 8, always remember taking that out for drives along the highway/motorway. Unfortunately we sold it to some family friends for a bit of work we got done... maybe they still have it though! Good video man, keep it up.
Mazerix Thanks, nice to have feedback.
I'm sorry but your keys bashing the car made me wince.
Thanks I'll look out for that!
Sensible mods that the makers should have addressed in design and in the factory. Good work. Congrats.
Thanks, yes if only they had more time and more money. Too much done in a rush on a shoestring budget.
Never forget always add 1% two stroke oil to the modern dry fuels when using them in old carbed cars with alloy engines
That's a lot of oil. What evidence do you have that says you need this? I've never done it and never had any problems. I do have unleaded converted heads though with hardened exhaust valve seats and brass valve guides.
Hi Sunil, I did the mods myself and the painting. So can't recommend a garage. The header tank came from from a vauxhall Astra diesel. Just have a look around your local scrap car yard and look for one the right size. There will probably be many that will fit. Regards Jon
The original dual points system on stags were quite unique, Most of the time these worked fine, One set of points closing the circuit and the other opening it, The advantage being an increased dwell time over a single point set. however the down side would be overdue wear on the base plate due to the increased spring pressure on the plate, making the moving plate give inacurate timing and misfire, Setting the points gap usually is best done staticly. Then doing the timing with a strobe. The best solution is an electronic type with chopper wheel etc, I'm sure luninition made a kit for this, that also fitted the rover V8.
Luminition did make optical ignition circuits but the one i had in a sprint was far from reliable. The pertronix magnetic system in my stag now is very reliable.
@@comeinhandynow , now interesting that you say that, I've had 3 luminition systems in my time, 2 of them for honda engines and the the last was for a citroen SM, and all of them have failed, the last honda engine i went back to the magnetronic system and it was just fine.
Regarding the expansion bottle are those just universal hoses or from a specific car ?
I used what I had as spares or what I could pick up from a scrap yard. You can also get new general coolant hoses on ebay / amazon.
@@comeinhandynow did you bolt the bottle to an existing mounting point or did you have to make one ?
@@mitch5806 I bolted mine to a point on the wiper motor. Use whatever is convenient with a bracket if necessary to reach your tank.
@@comeinhandynow cheers, I forgot to ask you.. on that header tank did you have to run a third hose from the bottom of it ?
@@mitch5806 Yes that tank does have a connection at the bottom, I just T-jointed it to the other hose that you can see.
Agree. Lose the keys !. One improvement would be check (and tighten ?) that shock tower nut.
What is wrong with the tower nut?
What about an oil cooler might be needed to keep temperature down ?
I haven’t found it necessary, engine temperature never fluctuates from nominal in this car, probably due to the recored radiator, electric fan + electronic control and engine block cleaned out when I rebuilt it.
hi good evening thanks for replying back, i like you bodywork ideas about water not getting in and getting trapped did you do that your self can you recommend some one as also i would like to get my car paInted and the headertank which car did it come from did you fit that yourself, i await your comments
regards joe
Had one come into garage once had expansion bottle mounted on rool bar behind driver driver said it fixed its problems and if it did get hot could hear it bubbling
It certainly helps having a tank at least as high as the water pump on the engine.
ever thought of haveng the cast block shaved down by 30 mm and had a stanless steeel shim bolted to the block and to the gasket and redrill more head bolts my m8s dad did this to his stag and bored the oil and water holes in the engine bigger it worked wel and better rad and fan motor
Interesting. I never considered this however this engine is quite reliability and has never overheated despite some aggressive driving. The rad was recored, the engine well cleaned out of any corrosion crude or any casting sand (some had some from the casting process) and a powerful modern cooling fan with electronic control also made a big difference. The higher coolant tank is also a wise precaution.
30mm? Do you mean 3mm?
A waste of time and effort, as other fixes are available:
*1)* An electric fan is fine as fitted here;
*2)* Higher located expansion bottle;
*3)* Modern fully and semi synthetic oils are fine for the oil galleries. Thinner these days.
Could have:
*i)* An electric water pump;
*ii)* Maybe Evan waterless coolant operating in a non-pressurised cooling system. Evans also prevents corrosion and prevents hot spots in the engine making bother.
It looks like a standard plumbing temperature or pressure gauge fitted. Check with the makers that it is suitable for below freezing conditions.
Pressure gauge, designed for petrol. was just used to diagnose an intermittent stopping problem. Will probably remove at some point. As it’s designed for petrol it should be fine.
@@comeinhandynow
But is it suitable for below freezing? Well it was only for testing so fine. ;)
Just standard cheap plumbing fittings are superior to auto junk. In some old cars I had, I used off the shelf soft copper pipe, run around the engine bay. Rubber pipes connected to them where movement is needed. But there are _quality_ flexible stainless plumbing braided pipes that are available that are superior to hose clips and rubber pipes. Would you have you house plumbing in rubber pipes and hose clips? Yet rubber pipes in cars are operating over 100C at times. Appalling engineering by auto people.
Heating engineers when looking inside car bonnets say _"WTF! Cheap!"_ People expect that rubber hoses in cars are changed every few years, but would never accept that with pipes on their heating system at home. Even fuel lines were connected up using flex plastic/rubber pipes and hose clips. Amazing! No heating engineer would connect up a gas or oil line to your home boiler using plastic pipes and hose clips.
But, saying that, latex hoses are excellent but _expensive._
What model air filter is that please?, my Holley from Hart is just foam held on with a grid, what advantage do you get from linking the cam-covers?, surely they have pressure equalized in the front can cover?
The air filter is similar to the 14"x2" one that Rimmerbros sell part RB7439.
The cam cover breathers allow for the moist crankcase vapours to be drawn out of the engine. It is similar to a lot of other v8s in that clean air is drawn from inside the air filter into the left cam cover, the air is drawn through the engine into the right cam cover and sucked out into a high vacuum point of the inlet manifold. Normally a PCV valve sits in the right cam cover and regulates air flow. I choose to change my PCV to a simple isolating valve to manually set the air flow. The reason being was so I could adjust it to give just a bit of vacuum inside the crankcase to stop oil dripping out of the rear crack oil seal.
Hi, I'm interested in the tie bars you mentioned to stop the twichiness of the rear end, can you let me know where to buy these from. Love the video, thought the issue of the seams was spot on as I have water leaking into my boot.
They were from Monarch stags, not sure they still do them though. They did suffer from stress cracks on the right angle joints, so they are off mine at the moment, but when they were on they did the job.
Can you please specify the parts for upgrading the expansion tank?
That tank was from an old astra diesel that i saw in a scrap yard I think. It was a long time ago. Best to have a look at ebay to see if there are coolant tanks of the right size.
What car did the coolant header tank come from? The stainless or alloy ones look nice however I prefer to see the coolant level at a glance. Yours looks like it fits nicely in that space next to the wiper motor and it's at the highest point possible.
I looked around a scrap yard for something suitable, quite a long time ago. It was from an old style Vauxhall Astra Diesel 2L I think. And yes I agree, definitely better to watch coolant, as if you need to open the tank to check it will go to a different level as its lost pressure.
@@comeinhandynow Thanks
Here’s that header tank ebay.to/2X6vSb7
can you tell me were the breathers go to from the dizzy and the ones under air box little tubes cant find a diagram
Try this site rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GRID005203
Really good use of modifications, thats the exact engine mods i want to do to my stag, also i didnt realized the engine could survive with just a thermostat modern electric fan? Does it really free up some bhp?
Edward Murray Great engine mod is to fit a 327 Chevy V8.
I have owned chevy v8 350 engined cars and although any v8 is nice and the small block chevy is good, it is not as good in term of revs and exhaust sound as the stag, especially my stag. The chevy is pushrod, the stag engine is overhead cam, which makes for better high revs.
Great mods. Would love to hear it and also know what HP you get now with those engine mods etc.
Thanks. There is another couple of videos on my channel with me trying to capture the sound, not quite the same as being there though. I’d also like to know the HP, I’ve not measured it yet but it certainly revs well now with noticeably more HP at high revs due to it breathing better.
comeinhandynow great stuff. Not that it matters too much what HP it has..it was just put of interest. I always loved the looks of the Stag. Are the cooling problems a thing of the past with the mods you made?
Yes, correct. My stag has never overheated.
comeinhandynow great work. Makes you wonder why BL didnt do the basic sensible stuff in the first place like a properly placed water expansion tank etc. I know that electric fans didnt exist back then but still....
The best improvement would be to buy a Z4 or MX5. Just winding you up, I’ve had 2 Stags and loved the drive, the SOC social stuff and a bit of tinkering. But even good ones are a money pit and you must take a rabbits foot, St Christopher icon etc. for long and high speed trips. I admire the dedication and resources of owners and remain a bit jealous, but I’m over Stag ownership in 2024.
If it is restored and upgraded with good care and engineering then it can be reliable and cheap. This video was done 10yrs ago and it has been very reliable since I rebuilt it. A recent leak from the coolant tank (from an Astra 1996) is the only current job to do. Zero tax and £100 insurance makes it very cheap.
@@roadrunner708 sorry in my opinion you can't compare these cars with a stag. It is like to compare apples with pears ...
In my eyes a porsche 996 convertible would be a good alternative to a stag, but in germany you can't find a porsche, a good Z4 or even a good mx5 for the price I got my stag. And also the prices for repairs or maintenance are lot higher for the other cars than for a stag...
Wish I had kept mine it was fun.
Love your mods they all make sense and keep the car original enough.
If only they had been sensible with the engine design/choice this could have been great.
They had a lovely straight six they could have used off the shelf
The Rover V8 in house.
The old Daimler V,8 would have been great.
Instead they stuck two dolomite units together to cobble a ,V8 up,
I wonder if they could have used 16v sprint heads but doubt the bottom end would handle it ..
They do sound great tho I have to admit
Poor cooling , dodgy dizzy, and a torturous timing chain but with all these faults I still love em.
Thanks for for input. I read that the USA market wanted a v8 which is why a s6 wasn’t used. The rover V8 should have been used (not without its own problems) but the stag v8 has some nice features being smaller and a free reving overhead cam engine. The Daimler one was a bit small. The stag v8 uses the same design principles as the dolomite unit but doubled up, but of course is not what some people say of two dolomite engines bolted together! They did apparently make one sprint headed v8, which would have been great but I guess needed more time and money to engineer than they had available.
Cooling is sortable with modern bits and a good clear out. Disti is par for the course in the 1970’s although I’m not that keen on all that load on the jack shaft - water pump, disti and oil pump.
Agreed that they do sound good.
@@comeinhandynow
Thanks for getting back.
I always wondered why the didn't fuel injection them too given triumphs use of it .
What a shame they didn't develop this car with a bit of care and attention in manufacturing and some improvements it could have been a world beater
I remember when they closed the factory, the local news showed them destroying and skipping brand new hoods, it was criminal.
I think BL just wanted the Triumph brand dead .
Get rid of the dealers and concentrate on Austin Jaguar and Land Rover.
Hi where did you get the rear suspension tie bars from Cheers
I got them from monarchstags.com/ but it seems they no longer list them. Maybe polybushing the trailer Arms would help instead?...
Will look into that Cheers for response
Hi great video i am thinking of buying a Triumph stag there are so many at different prices, and some people say buy one with a rover V8 more reliable i am looking at one with a 4.4 Buick V8 what would that be like and what are your thoughts. Thank you
Thanks, a 4.4 v8 would be interesting but is the rest of the gear train up to the increased torque? The 3.0 v8 triumph engine can easily spin the rear wheels on pull away, so for a 4.4 you should check if bigger tyres, axles, gearbox and diff have been put on. A car with the Triumph v8 is going to be worth more and is a free revving engine when given some of the improvements mentioned.
@@comeinhandynow Hi Thank you i messaged a Triumph stag club here in Australia they said stick with the original engine and get one that has a good service history
thanks would you be able to fit this for me if i supply the headet tank, i would pay for your time
Good it will help some cars but yours obviously doesn't need it the issue was the stag had been banded about by some that they overheated yours runs fine changing or working on the radiator has also helped .
Yep, plenty of reports of overheat issues. One old original problem was the block water channels blocked up. Stripping down and cleaning out the engine water channels as well as recoring the radiator certainly helped a lot on this car. The modern fan with electronic control also helps. No overheating ever for me now.
Hi,
I’ve just bought a stag. How much roughly would all these improvements cost to do?
Many thanks
Very much depends if you diy or pay to have it done. So ranging from maybe £500 up to £5000, maybe.
£15,000 buys my stag.
comeinhandynow thank you for your reply. I can’t do it myself, so shall take it in for a quote 👍
Hi just out of curiosity, what temperature does your stag run at with the electric fan? I’ve got very similar modifications to yours. My temperature ranges from 80-90 degrees Celsius.
Always stays at ‘N’ on the gauge or very close to it, often a bit under. I’ve not measured it in degrees but I guess around 90C
@@comeinhandynow is your oil cooler in the original position or have you relocated it? I’m considering moving it behind the grille, I think it will run the gear box a lot cooler reducing overall engine heat plus allow more air to flow through the underside of the engine.
@@evangrammatikos5649 I don’t have an oil cooler, that was only on automatics, mine is a manual gearbox.
Great stuff! I'll do some of this.
I especially like the expansion tank and the fan mods.
Lots Waxoyl also helps with the rust. I love it on hot days when the stuff drips out of the hollow sections, as proof that it has got into all the seams.
And if you heat Waxoyl till its really runny and pour it over the joints, that "seams" to works, too ;).
On mine I solved the overheating problem (the word issue is only used by OEMs trying to play things down ;) by fitting a modified water pump impeller devised by a German and a "T" piece so that the heater return is fed equally to both cylinder heads (can you imagine the thermo-shock to the right head when you switch on the heater on a cold day?)
I use the green Renault coolant.
All these basic errors by Triumph, no wonder the Stag bombed!
And it has to be said - though I hate to agree with Clarkson - they should have fitted the Rover V8. Not least because it has a lot more main bearing surface area.
+jonnybottle Thanks for your interesting comments. On the subject of Waxoyl, as well as heating it I now also add a bit (~10%) of old engine oil. It makes it a bit oilier and lasts longer and penetrates more. The original Waxoyl mix can dry up a bit too much for my liking after several years.
I'd be interested to see what water pump impeller you use. There are the 6 vane and 12 van ones from Triumph. The later 12 van one was supposedly meant to improve flow, but there are various stories floating around as to which is best, and some also use electric pumps instead.
On the cylinder head to heater connections, yes it seems like a good idea to connect both heads, and indeed when I rebuilt my engine I also had a pipe connected to both heads, but never got around to doing a t-junction to join it up. It's still sitting there with a cap on the pipe. I don't think thermal shock is too much of an issue though as I believe the water flows out of the cylinder head to the heater rather than in from the heater.
I don't know the green Renault coolant, but is it designed for Aluminium engines? i.e. With OAT? The modern coolants (like the pink OAT stuff) look after our engines so much more than could be done in the 70's with just glycol. The rads clogging up with corrosion products from Ali/iron reactions added to the woes of overheating in those days.
Regards Jon
Another good tip, but I'll use new oil. I have enough 1970s GTX cans with a bit left knocking about. When I went round Shell's Hamburg lubricant development department I was impressed by all the warning notices, telling staff not even to put a rag with used oil on it into their pocket for fear of getting dioxins on their skin.
My Haynes manual is at my lock-up, but according to the drawings on Rimmer's website it's definitely the heater return that goes to the back of the LH head. The flow comes off the water pump.
I have a modified impeller in front of me. It's in sea water resistant alloy and a more sophisitcated shape than either of the Triumph ones. Unfortunately it's one where the hole was drilled just a shade too big. But you might be able to fit it with plenty of spline cement and a couple of grub screws to hold it fast. It would also act as a pattern if you wanted to cast one. How can I get a pic to you? And, I'm in UK next week and could send it to you.
I could also send you a new oil pump spring. I have a number that were given to me when I visited the maker, and anything that fatiques is worth renewing on a preventive maintenance basis. I had one break and it cost me a crankshaft regrind.
I have a theory about Stag water pumps. They were assembled on the engine as it went down the track and setting the vital tolerance between the impeller and the housing is a bit fiddly as a production line process. On an outboard pump that would be done at a bench. And while its a good idea to have gear driven water pump, they are always a potential place where the lube oil and the coolant can meet.
Yes, the Renault premixed coolant is specially for alloy but not OAT apparently. Since it costs an arm and a leg and my other car is a Golf Variant and my Daughter has a Polo , I have quite a bit of pink coolant knocking about. I'll try it next time I drain the system.
Thus endeth the sermon ;)
Regards Jon (namesake?).
+jonnybottle I think that rimmerbros diagram must be wrong, as the water pump sucks in from the top and pushes out into the block. The water then flows from the block to the heads, and from there to the heater. I haven't run the stag up to double check this but it certainly looks this way and the way other sources describe how it flows. Let me know if you check it and I'm wrong.
You're right about the water pump design, it's a tricky setup to manufacture. I had one fail on a dolomite sprint, I think it was dragging on the cover (probably my fault on a rebuild) and the jack shaft gears got stripped off, so I wasn't that happy with the design. It's been ok on the stag so far, but that jack shaft has a lot of work to do driving the water pump, distributor and oil pump.
Thanks for the offer of various bits but when it's all working well I think I'll leave it that way and I don't have any overheating problems.
Nice chatting with you. Jon.
thanks I would make it your worthwhile unless you are miles and miles away I am about 8 miles away from heathrow airport are you going to be at stonleigh triumph show this year
Good video, just lose the keys. I woudn't drag keys over my pride & joy.
Cheers, good tip! Have you any idea what a stag like this is worth nowadays? I’m debating whether to sell or not...
@@comeinhandynow not that much... Sadly
I'm in Ringwood Hampshire. I am not going to be at stoneleigh. Would have to charge you £500 labour plus bits so as I say not competitive for you. Try somewhere local. Regards Jon
Excellent improvements thank you!
Cheers.
If you ever read this comment , good video , but please if you ever do a video again , try doing it without a handful of keys , rattling off everything
Thanks, yes I am still here. And yes Ok, your not the first to notice that, but no harm done.
my rads knakerd is ther any other rad that will fit the stag off old or modern car don't want pay 350
Get the old rad recore’d. There is another video on my channel showing how you could do a DIY rad recore, or look up a local company to do it for you.
will raising the original water bottle help
Yes if you can get it higher than the water pump, but a bottle with two or more connectors helps purge any air in the system as the water will then flow through it.
do you mean 2 pipe connectors going in to the pressure bottle as mine only has one that goes back in to the radiator how can you have 2 when my stag rad only has one return pipe in to rad
That’s why you need a different bottle from a modern car. Look at the video or look at a modern cars plumbing.
so were will the other pipe go as one goes in to rad as of now when the pressure builds up a bit in expansion bottle the water raises and stays ther in the bottle should it not return back in to rad and were did you buy that piece that takes the small hose from the top hose
The pipe goes to a T-junction that you make on the top hose to the rad as shown in the video. That way it takes out any air in the system. That point is shown in the video. The bottle is used was from an old Vauxhall’s Astra. The T-junction was made from plumbing copper fittings, a 1” T junction and a reducer.
What a great idea to hold your keys in your hand so you can bang them on everything.
Have you heard the saying: “if you can’t say anything nice say nothing at all”. Appropriate.
@@comeinhandynow Just because you are choosing to be upset about a valid comment does not mean it shouldn't be said. Maybe you should turn off the comments if your feelings at are risk?
@@SamRFixes No offence taken.
Here's the sound
ruclips.net/video/vGI2GuX7lzY/видео.html
Hi Sunil, fitting it for you would probably not be practical, I doubt if we are close. And it is not my primary business so I would have to charge you a high rate, Probably not competitive with your local garage. Why not have a go your self?!
Pcv valve is better than a plumbing valve. They work differently
3:28 I mentioned the reason I chose that valve: to optimise the engine vacuum at idle where a pcv would be shut off. It reduced oil dripping from the crankshaft oil seal at idle by introducing a vacuum in the crankcase.
Very Good, but still have a Stag.
Crobular I Thanks.
It obvious triumph didnt get this car right when it was made you shouldn't have to do all these adjustments they should have had it right from day one ?
It was a bit too rushed due to the desperate need to make money, but also the technology for some of the improvements didn’t exist in those days, like reliable magnetic type electronic ignition and electronics for the electric fan ciontrol.
Just tell us where they don't rust !!
I swear I can hear mine rusting right now.
Lewis72 Good point. Thinking..... Actually the bulkhead is quite good! That would be a pain to change. It's best to cut out all of the rust and thoroughly reseal/repaint everything. A big job! Took me years, while working at the same time. Had to go part-time for a while just to get the car finished! Nice and reliable and rust free now.
+comeinhandynow
Yeah, mine may become a bit of a money pit.
I have half a mind to sell it and get an XK convertible.
ruclips.net/video/x8AY4rcSCpE/видео.html
Please put your keys in your pocket!
Lol
easy to work on!? ahahahahahahahaahahahahaaaaaaaaaahhhhhahahahahahahahaha
Haha...actually yes! Compared to most modern cars where the space around the engine is very compacted meaning for big jobs you have to take the engine out. Do you see the length of that bonnet(hood) on the stag. It's long!
Have you tried to locate and tighten up the top bolt to the starter motor ??