Tuesday 24 August 2010

Stag & Spitfire update

Thought I ought to do an update on both cars.

The Stag as everyone will recall has had a 'new' engine fitted courtesy of Faversham Classics. I have been using this more or less every day since its return in order to get it to the required 500 mile oil change and head torque. I achieved this last weekend following a couple of appointments to 'celebrate' weddings.

I have to say that the engine is running very sweetly and I found it increasingly difficult to restrict myself to the 2500 rpm maximum during this period. The car is now booked in for this service next week, following which I will be allowed to increase the engine rpm to the heady heights of 3000rpm for the next 500 miles.

I am tempted to use this to go to the driver's meeting for the RBRR at Gaydon next month to put the miles on.

Whist talking of the Round Britain Reliability Run, I have now managed to set up a Virgin Money Giving page for our attempt this year. It can be found here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/RBRRCar97

I am planning to use the Spitfire on the RBRR, it is now running well and just needs some final adjustments to the mixture and fluid levels topping up. I have been using this fairly frequently since I put the engine back together, there is still a small leak where the new sports exhaust manifold meets the old pipe that runs below the car, but this should be easily sorted unlike the problems experienced with the standard manifold on last year's 10CR. I also need to empty the car of some of the rubbish accumulated on the 10CR - better late than never, the crisps are not so crispy now!

Tuesday 3 August 2010

The Stag returns!

At long last the Stag has returned from it's heart transplant! I collected her today from Faversham with a fully reconditioned Triumph V8 courtesy of Faversham Classics.

I have been given strict running in instructions from their engine build
er, Trevor, thus: No more than 2500 rpm for first 500 miles, then return her for an oil change and head torque, and keep away from constant rev driving such as motorways and dual carriageways. Then 3000 revs for the next 500 miles followed by another oil change. So no chance of using this on the RBRR unless I can put on over 1000 miles between now and 1st October!

Car is much quieter at the front and has a real Stag burble at the back. To keep costs down I opted to return to the standard exhaust manifold setu
p as the mild steel tubulars I had on it previously were well worn.

The engine has been rebuilt from the ground up with recon heads and block + 20 thou with new conrods, valves, guides and valve seats. The Crank has been hardened, recon oil pump and water pump.
Here are a few pictures of the 'new' engine - note I have retained my alternator bracket that moves it to a more accessible position, the carbs and distributor are from my old engine - so far I am very pleased with it. The car also had one new driveshaft fitted and a rear hub bearing replaced under warranty by SOC Parts as it had failed by dumping grease all over the shoes. They were also kind enough to supply a set of shoes FOC.