Discussion
Now I know they aren't everyones cup of tea and they have a reputation to rival TVR for unreliability, but they have always been a favourite of mine and hell, I had an extremely reliable TVR for 3 years so:
Can anyone give me some pointers as to what to look out for, firstly what are the differences between mark 1 & 2, apart from wheels and s/s sill trim and extra side windows in the early cars?
Secondly I know about the 3 thicknesses of rust on the wheel arches, rusty boot lids, rusty boot floor and down the hood well, cracked windows in the Mk 1 hoods, and that they allegedly overheat quicker than a pensioners convention at a Jonathan Ross show.
Intend to go looking at a Mk 1 (with mk 2 wheels) next week.
Thanks for any guidance
Tony H
Can anyone give me some pointers as to what to look out for, firstly what are the differences between mark 1 & 2, apart from wheels and s/s sill trim and extra side windows in the early cars?
Secondly I know about the 3 thicknesses of rust on the wheel arches, rusty boot lids, rusty boot floor and down the hood well, cracked windows in the Mk 1 hoods, and that they allegedly overheat quicker than a pensioners convention at a Jonathan Ross show.
Intend to go looking at a Mk 1 (with mk 2 wheels) next week.
Thanks for any guidance
Tony H
1) http://classiccarsupplies.co.uk/triumph-stag-buyer...
2) The only Mk1/2 difference I know of is in the engine - early cars had a 6 vane water pumpt, later cars had a 12 vane (but then I'm only interested in the engine as I'm fitting one to my 2.5PI).
2) The only Mk1/2 difference I know of is in the engine - early cars had a 6 vane water pumpt, later cars had a 12 vane (but then I'm only interested in the engine as I'm fitting one to my 2.5PI).
BurblingBrownOne said:
Dont get a brown one, I thought it would grow on me.......Still undecided!
Funnily enough a friend of mine had a brown one and whilst he liked it I wasn't that keen either. Had a Russett Brown Doly 1500HL though and brown Avenger, a Sandglow Marina, a collection of Sandglow Minis.....Of all the colours I think the Blues both the lighter and darker shades suit a Stag best.
over the years various mates had Java Green, Brown, burgundy red sort of colour, this one is red.
had one from 1976 to 2005. body problems werent at all bad - much better than an MGB but still prone to rust as you would expect of a car of that era. enginewas simply badly designed with a high up water pump (like the K series - they never learned) so any water leakage rapidly meant that the pump ran dry and the engine overheated big time. if you can avoid water leaks from the head gaskets or the inlet manifold to head join, and can keep the cooling system clean then the engine wont overheat.
the bottom end is weak and wear on the big end bearings will cause a loss of oil pressure that will first of all cause damage to the camshaft bearings - the last place the oil reaches (front left hand side from memory). So carefully check that the oil pressure warning light is working and that it doesnt flicker on and off when a hot engine is idling. If it does, walk away.
the mechanical distributor isnt good but will probably have been replaced with a lumenition or similar by now.
fancy bits of chrome trim are becoming hard to get.
I'm glad I got shut of mine. I never could rely on it, and when it was going it wasnt so much fun to drive anyway. TBH it was an illustration of why the Brit industry went down the pan like the TVR in fact. avoid.
buy an elise instead - probably not much more reliable if it has a K series but at least when its going its something else!
the bottom end is weak and wear on the big end bearings will cause a loss of oil pressure that will first of all cause damage to the camshaft bearings - the last place the oil reaches (front left hand side from memory). So carefully check that the oil pressure warning light is working and that it doesnt flicker on and off when a hot engine is idling. If it does, walk away.
the mechanical distributor isnt good but will probably have been replaced with a lumenition or similar by now.
fancy bits of chrome trim are becoming hard to get.
I'm glad I got shut of mine. I never could rely on it, and when it was going it wasnt so much fun to drive anyway. TBH it was an illustration of why the Brit industry went down the pan like the TVR in fact. avoid.
buy an elise instead - probably not much more reliable if it has a K series but at least when its going its something else!
Thanks for all your replies, sadly I didn't buy the one I have been to look at over the Christmas, it was to be fair to the vender, a good buy but to get it to a standard that I would wish, I know I would have started to do this and that and ended up with a full restoration cos I,m a fuss pot. That is something I haven't time for at present. the car was reasonably solid with good floors etc., newish front wings, no blisters on the rear arches, solid doors, nice sounding engine, clutch ok, hood in one piece with no tears, boot floor solid, interior & trim a little tired in places,.....
If you are looking for a good basis for a Stag, drop me a line and I'll point you in the right direction.
Thanks again
If you are looking for a good basis for a Stag, drop me a line and I'll point you in the right direction.
Thanks again
The Stag engine was originally designed to go into a saloon creating a Triumph 3000 to top the 2000, 2500 and Spi range. Rover threw its toys out of the pram because they feared it would detract sales from the P5, so Triumph rushed the Stag using bits from the 2.5 Pi and TR6. The MkI is the better car in my opinion I know were there's an immaculate one for sale for £8,500. The only reason I haven't bought it for myself is she's an automatic and I like manuals. Any reliability issues should have been ironed out by now unless the car is completely original in that case you can pay up to £15,000 for one. Oh there are two Triumph 3000s out there, the factory prototypes a dark green saloon and a white over yellow estate.
Robert060379 said:
Oh there are two Triumph 3000s out there, the factory prototypes a dark green saloon and a white over yellow estate.
There are a lot more than two V8 saloons out there!Triumph built a handful for use by company execs (e.g. http://www.canleyclassics.com/triumphmuseum.asp?ar...) and a load more were converted by Del Lines in the '70s.
On top of that you have all those that have been converted by their owners - a process that continues to this day (and the coming days when I do mine
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