Bit fed up….

[mike@thenook]

So, been losing water for a week or so, no idea where until today after a nice run out for around 40 miles and temperature started to climb very high then dropping back over and again until we go home. I put 5 litres of water in and saw it dribbling out under the left hand manifold over the starter motor. I guess the gasket has broken on the edge between the two water ways.
And after I spend all my time saying how reliable my stag is and never lets me down!
Oh well, nearly the end of summer I guess and a ‘lovely little’ job to get done after our holiday late September…..

[DJT]

Feel for you Mike. That is what led to me taking the engine out of mine last year. 8 years (30,000 miles) after doing both heads it lost some water during a trip out with SWMBO. Managed to top it up with some water purchased from a convenient Lidl and completed the day out. A pressure test next day revealed water leaking from the rear of the LH head, above the starter motor.

Rather than just replacing the gasket I stripped the engine and got the block decks skimmed locally. There was unevenness I had not noticed when I did the gaskets before.

IMG_0815.jpg

[RobinLegin]

Following the engine rebuild on my Stag, there was a slight water leak into the V. The solution was to tighten the inlet manifolds awkward though this was. Thankfully since then the water level has remained unchanged. As you may have read my issue is a breakdown in Switzerland. My car is on car transporter on its way from Italy to Germany whilst other broken downs are collected.
i would love to get the car back and get it sorted and back on the road.
Do hope your water loss is properly sorted before winter.

[mike@thenook]

Looks like mine has gone in the exact same place as yours Dave, I’ll certainly have it all, checked for straightness once I get the heads off, I could be tempted by the Cometec gaskets next time round too if I can find where to get them now Tony has retired.
Really sorry to hear about yours Robin what a pain after the lengthy rebuild!

[flying farmer]

Feel for you Mike. That is what led to me taking the engine out of mine last year. 8 years (30,000 miles) after doing both heads it lost some water during a trip out with SWMBO. Managed to top it up with some water purchased from a convenient Lidl and completed the day out. A pressure test next day revealed water leaking from the rear of the LH head, above the starter motor.

Rather than just replacing the gasket I stripped the engine and got the block decks skimmed locally. There was unevenness I had not noticed when I did the gaskets before.

IMG_0815.jpg

I have not found many blocks that don't need skimming. When I built a fresh engine a few years back I bought a crank from a guy locally. He said he had broken the engine as he couldn't stop the cooling system pressurising. He had binned the heads thinking they were the problem.
I asked him if he had checked the block for warping, it was something that hadn't even crossed his mind.
My Mk2 had 3 sets of head gaskets fitted in 15,000 miles according to its history file when I bought it. When I had to rebuild it following catastrophic water pump failure I found it needed 8 thou off both block decks. The head faces were perfect. That was about 12 years ago now and I have not had any problems since then.
Neil

[mike@thenook]

That’s interesting Neil as it’s around that mileage since I last rebuilt the engine and, while I had the heads very mildly skimmed I never considered the block being a solid cast iron lump.
I will check this for sure once I dismantle it..

Cheers

[mike@thenook]

Finally got round to stripping everything off so I can get the heads off and to my annoyance I have more studs stuck than I did the last time I did the rebuild just over 10 years ago.
I bought one of the paddocks stud extractors (just under £30) and it removed around 6, one came out without using it but 1 sheared on the RH head and I now have the two at either end of the LH head ceased solid with the thread stripped on the inner section of the JP extractor and the one nearest the bulkhead on the RH head also ceased solid.
Been trying to work out a way of lifting the heads and looking back over old posts on the subject I found this:
Does anyone on hear have a similar device they would be happy to lend me depending on where you live happy to pay whatever and for postage etc., if need be both ways..?

Cheers

[DJT]

Mike,

That is my kit. I could send it to you, but it is heavy. I have the head lifting jig, but this is really only useful if the studs are not snapped off. The bits between the heads are heavy angle iron and some pushers made from scaffold tube and lengths of 1.25 stud bar and nuts. I also have a long spanner to fit the nuts.

Let me know if you want it.

[kev100]

Finally got round to stripping everything off so I can get the heads off and to my annoyance I have more studs stuck than I did the last time I did the rebuild just over 10 years ago.
I bought one of the paddocks stud extractors (just under £30) and it removed around 6, one came out without using it but 1 sheared on the RH head and I now have the two at either end of the LH head ceased solid with the thread stripped on the inner section of the JP extractor and the one nearest the bulkhead on the RH head also ceased solid.
Been trying to work out a way of lifting the heads and looking back over old posts on the subject I found this:
Does anyone on hear have a similar device they would be happy to lend me depending on where you live happy to pay whatever and for postage etc., if need be both ways..?

Cheers

I made one of those, still might have it, took me two days of fighting to get my heads off, and even then I had to lift one head just enough to be able to get a small hacksaw in to cut through the studs that were still holding the head down

I can check tomorrow if I still have it

I live near Birmingham

[kev100]

Finally got round to stripping everything off so I can get the heads off and to my annoyance I have more studs stuck than I did the last time I did the rebuild just over 10 years ago.
I bought one of the paddocks stud extractors (just under £30) and it removed around 6, one came out without using it but 1 sheared on the RH head and I now have the two at either end of the LH head ceased solid with the thread stripped on the inner section of the JP extractor and the one nearest the bulkhead on the RH head also ceased solid.
Been trying to work out a way of lifting the heads and looking back over old posts on the subject I found this:
Does anyone on hear have a similar device they would be happy to lend me depending on where you live happy to pay whatever and for postage etc., if need be both ways..?

Cheers

Here is mine in action, doesnt have the top plates that DJT has on his though, but worked perfectly well

image.png

[mike@thenook]

Hi Dave

That’s the kit I was looking at, thanks very much for your mine offer and Kev too, much appreciated.

I’ve got a porta power device coming on Monday hopefully and hoping that may do the trick once I’ve rigged up a framework but if it doesn’t work (and I’ve got to say I’m not holding my breath!!) may I come back to you to arrange?

Cheers!

[DJT]

No problem Mike. Good luck with the Portapack.

[mike@thenook]

Cheers,

I’ll let you know how I go …….

[jbuckl]

Cheers,

I’ll let you know how I go …….

There’s a sketch of the 75mm angle iron plates uploaded to the fb triumph stag fan club files page.

[dasadrew]

and lots of pics and the like in the technical section here; saves a lot of 'trawling through posts'