Stag that needs some help.

We have here a Triumph Stag with its original Triumph engine. Stags have benefited greatly from the continued development undertaken by owners since Triumph went out of business. I dare say if you wanted to get a Stag and have it run dependably you could now do so. Personally, I like the Triumph For The Family Man, though I also confess I favor the Rover V8 conversion (gasp!), but I’m getting off topic.

Jobs 1 and 2 on this particular Stag are a window switch that blows breakers and windshield wipers that don’t move. Let’s discuss the window switch first. As Dean explained to me, rather than simply reverse the polarity at the window motor to accomplish the up versus down of the glass, British Leyland’s electrical wizards decided it was better to use the window switch to reverse polarity. That makes for a more complicated switch. This particular complicated switch was trying to both raise and lower the window at the same time whenever you pressed it for anything. Whoops.

On to the windshield wipers. Take a gander at the photo below of the wiper motor. Double click to blow it up if you need to.

Rust has welded parts together that are not supposed to be joined together. We’ll be looking for a new wiper motor.

BUT NONE OF THAT IS AS INTERESTING AS FUEL INJECTION. Yes, the owner has decided he’d like to add fuel injection. So, we’ve ordered the parts from Patton Machine to install it. I will get some photos of the installation once it’s done so you can see how it looks, which will be fairly close to stock. This came about because he was discussing with Chip what he wanted from the car. I don’t know the exact quote, but something along the lines of “I just want to turn the key and drive it” was the thought. Fuel Injection seemed a good choice.

What are the benefits of this magical fuel injection? Horsepower? No. Rather than words, I’m going to ask you go to this page and watch the video of a cold start on a TR6. THAT is the benefit of fuel injection.

I am, admittedly, a biased fan. More info here.

We’ve been working on a very clean TR6. We’ve removed the motor and transmission. The motor will be rebuilt and the factory transmission will be replaced with a Toyota five speed, an increasingly popular conversion. We just so happen to have a few extra that we’ve brought in for occasions like this, so contact us if you’re interested.

Is a Toyota Five-Speed superior to a factory box with overdrive? Frankly speaking, I never noticed any shortcomings with the standard transmission, but then again my experience is quite limited. The large majority of Triumphs I’ve ever driven have been Dean’s, who has the unusual habit of working on transmissions and enjoying himself at the same time. Consequently, the transmissions in his cars tend to work pretty well. I asked Chip to tell me the merits of one versus the other. I’ll summarize our conversation in a separate post in the near future so you can draw your own conclusions, and provide a link on This Week at the Shop to a conversion site for further information.

Let’s see the car… click any picture for a larger view.

Prior to engine/trans removal, guarded by Zeus

From the rear

As it sits now

Engine Internals

The block belted in for the ride to the machine shop. Safety first, doncha know.

I’ll make every effort to take pictures of the re-installation arrangement so you can see what parts are involved.

Smiling Face

When we last saw our TR3, it had no face. Now, it’s almost ready to go, save for the carbs that aren’t back from Gary Martin yet.  The motor is rebuilt, the trans is ready, the wiring is all tested.  Once we have a way to mix fuel and air, we’re in business.

Interior back together.

Psst, Hey Buddy, Can I borrow a carb?

Metal Conduit In Lieu of Factory Pushrod Tubes — Not A Successful Idea

One of our local TR4 owners had us take a look at his motor. We did and found, among other things, that someone had removed the pushrod tubes from the cylinder head at some point. Sometimes, this is no big deal, but those times coincide with cars whose cylinder heads have REMOVABLE pushrod tubes. TR4s do not. Technically, I suppose, they are removable, in the same way you can remove one of your teeth if you have to… but it will never be the same. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

If you double click on the photo, I labelled one of the tubes. The others are the same. The factory tubes were replaced with metal conduit. Yep, conduit. Can’t blame that oil leak on Triumph.

Combine that with problems with the block, and this owner is looking for a new motor.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not casting stones. I am a guy who once hit an entire 50 cap roll of caps with a sledgehammer, rendering myself deaf for 30 minutes. I’m fully capable of mangling a cylinder head. We’re just here to educate. Don’t try this at home.

Rebuilt TR3 engine back at home

Waiting is a downer. Old cars just make it worse, because the last time I checked NAPA wasn’t stocking sleeves for a Triumph wet-liner four cylinder. When you get into the old iron, you don’t just wait on the mechanic, you wait on the parts, the machining, and sometimes the verification that the parts you ordered actually work. Heaven forbid they no longer make what you need. If keeping up with these things were as easy as speaking (as opposed to accomplishing) the necessary tasks, I’d have a warehouse full of old stuff. It’s magnitudes quicker to say than do.

Snapshot of some wiring harness progress

Such were my thoughts when I saw this TR3 on the lift with the motor installed. I’ve been looking at parts of it for a few weeks now while other parts got divorced and sent off for counseling. It’s a relief to see everything reconciled. Start up will be another comforting moment.

The front with no apron. With the apron and hood, it will look like a car again.

We have two TR4s in here now, so I suppose it can get confusing keeping them straight.  They’re both red, too.  And both have needed a bunch of metal.  The one in these photos has been here longer and was the subject of this earlier post.  In addition to the battery box, the car needed metal on many different parts of the body.  It had been repaired earlier using the “It’ll do for a while” method.  I find consolation imagining that it kept the car going long enough to get it here.  The following photos show the new metal in the floors, sills, and battery box.  It’s beautiful work done by James Bowler of Weldone here in Richmond.  The man can bend some metal.  Take a look at the finished product and the things we found in the car.

New Battery Box

New Floorpans

James’ Sill Work

Here’s A Sign We Uncovered and Removed from the Floor

Here’s the pile of rusted metal and fiberglass patchwork removed from the car.

Here is a clean Spitfire that seemed to have some brake problems.  In reality, it had some adjustment problems.  The driver’s side rear brake drum was dragging, causing someone out there to shake his head muttering, “No way in *&%$ my kid’s first car will be British.”  Channeling Batman, “Not so fast, Joker.”

Take a gander at this brake drum below.  If the web guy (me) was worth anything, you’d actually be gandering at the square-headed adjustment screw on the back, but I didn’t take a picture of it.  So, on the back side of this drum is the adjustment.  Screw it one way and it moves the shoes towards the drum, the other way and it moves them towards the center of the axle and away from the drum.  Real simple.  Well, this one was adjusted too tight.  Which makes one wonder who did that, because they don’t adjust themselves.  No matter, Dean fixed it like he normally does. Problem solved so easily it hardly qualified as a problem.  It was really pretty simple, like the cars tend to be themselves.  When I think they’re not, I point at something and have Dean or Chip explain it, I say “Oh”, and then we’re back to simple.

Here at UK Motorsports, we make owning an old British car an almost reasonable proposition.

Pictured above is the TR3 that will receive the motor Dean’s been rebuilding.  He’ll also be doing some cosmetic work to the frame and checking out the transmission.  Last I checked, the crank was not back from being turned yet.  Once that gets back, Dean can screw the motor back together.  It’s also receiving a new wiring harness.  Then, it should be good to go for another 50 years.

For background on this car, see these posts (One, two, and three).

Here is our transplant patient in process.

Observing the decrepit hunk of steel that previously formed the nearby TR4A’s rear frame, any thought I entertained of learning rusty metal resurrection yielded to Harry Callahan’s advice, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”  Some of us lack the constitution for such carnage, so we pay Dr. Chip to do it, which he does seemingly absent the least bit of queasiness.  He detailed the operation for me while I grunted and aggressively furrowed my brow to convince him I understood whatever he was saying.  I suppressed the urge to inquire about the Johnson Rod and blinker fluid.

The weak frame portion that was removed.

This one came to us after sitting until it couldn’t shake the habit.   It was unnaturally flexible, which allowed Chip and Dean to teach me how to check for frame rot by watching for them to look at each other with the “One Eyebrow Raised”  universal British Car Mechanic signal for “This Car Has Frame Problems”.  After walking among the ruins on the shop floor, I marvel at people who do this stuff and need to lie down for a moment.

Current view underneath the TR4A

Despite the problems, I like the car, which could be a bumper sticker on the back of every British Car.  I once believed I valued Function Over Form, not realizing I was lying to myself.  Function Over Form disciples don’t drive British cars, the style and charm being the only idiosyncrasy untouched by progress.  It relieves me that the owner of this car found it in his heart and wallet to put it right, grisly surgery and all. Like most anyone who stumbles on this website, I look forward to seeing it drive away under its own power.