Stag Engine Repair Pt3: Timing chains and cams reset from scratch. Head and valve cleanup starts.

[@artpam]

Hi Mart, You have certainly brought worse back to life! Dean is lucky to live close to the UK's premier rusty, crusty, engine repair man.

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Art. Yes, I have had my hands in some very sorry engines. This one was a challenge to me, and I was outside my comfort zone. It has been a great learning experience though. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@garywalker3818]

good one mart keep them coming Gary from Crewe 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@johnpeterson7245]

I am really enjoying this video, showing real world problems on a limited budget. I hope you have success giving it your best shot without expensive head skimming etc.Thanks.

[@struanrobertson3417]

It'll run for sure.. Good progress. Now if it hold waters and the head gaskets cope with those heads only time will tell... Good luck 🤞👍

[@MartsGarage]

Yes I think luck will play a part in this one. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@paulkemp4559]

I very much enjoy your Stag videos, proper Garagiste work. A “we can fix it” approach. I still don’t quite have your confidence but am working towards it.

[@MartsGarage]

Thanks very much Paul. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@adcengineer3090]

It'll run for sure but..... many would use it as a boat anchor 😊 Well done Martin with your patience and perseverance 👍

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers adc. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@Steve-xx9ut]

Never worked on a stag myself. Heard a lot about those V8’s. Great video really enjoying this. Look forward to the start up. 👍🏻

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Steve. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

Amazing clean up job. Ive got to say, that whole block would have gone in the skip the moment I saw the corrosion and pitting on the cylinder block. It needs a deep skim in my opinion and might not be savable if you can't find the appropriate oversized head gasket. Will be watching and cheering you on 💪👍

[@MartsGarage]

Thanks for the encouragement. Yes, things are sub prime for sure. Lets keep our fingers crossed it turns out ok.

[@BrianPaterson-f3i]

You got the first verse of a poem/song in the caption at the beginning there mart,the valves to me looked a bit pitted but that’s small stuff compared to to the pltting on the head/block surface ,i got confidence in you, great TV .

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Brian. Glad you like the content. We're crossing our fingers on the head pitting. Thanks for watching.

[@jeremyaustin9103]

Really enjoying this series. Lovely looking cars

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Jeremy. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@RobertHayes-tu5fp]

You have lots of patience!! Fiddly work!

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Robert. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@molsky13]

Good luck with out getting those heads skimmed mart if one of those heads isn`t warped i would do the lottery😁

[@MartsGarage]

Ha ha yeah. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@rustyachers2459]

You have much more patience than I do

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Rusty. You're probably right. I do like to take my time to do what needs doing. Time spent in the garage is quality time. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@KerbsideClassics]

nice one Mart another great video mate

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Kerbside. Hope all is well with you. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@kevinisaac9139]

Very interesting Mart as I’ve had two stags rather you than me looking forward to seeing it fire up 👍

[@paulmuff9883]

I think you’re fined that the slipping of the chain is a blessing in disguise because ( I’ve rebuilt theses engines) the chain tensioner have a rubber type face that wears a lot and then pops out causing the valves to hit the pistons , the chain tensioner are cheap so please replace them for new ones while you’re at it 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Paul. The tensioners looked in ok nick so went back in after resetting. The motor does not have a lot of miles on it since a previous rebuild. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@stevesalvage1089]

Really enjoyed this film, and well filmed to , always interesting though iv built many stag engines, there good no problems, if maintained with the proper coolant, look forward to next episode,

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Steve. Lets hope this one comes out ok without having to be torn down again.

[@fredjones1238]

that rusted bore looks border line mate you did clean it up nice

[@MartsGarage]

The engine doesn't have a lot of miles on a previous rebuild. So fingers crossed all the bottom end will be ok. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@fredjones1238]

@@MartsGarage hope so

[@gvet47]

It got so far taken down I think I would have pulled the engine. You have done a great job in cleaning things up. I remember going through a lot of brass and stainless wire brushes and all kinds of other abrasives on another old engine I did. That water pump spigot could have used a metal filler snd brought back to a smooth hose mounting. Wonder what the crank and rod bearings look like? Amazing the amount of time you can put into an old engine and in the end it will run well. Some people think you are crazy if you say it was fun.👍

[@MartsGarage]

The engine doesn't have a lot of miles on a previous rebuild (but a long time ago). So I expect the crank and bearings to be good. We elected to get all new water necks.

[@petermckee1061]

Pretty new to your channel but enjoying it and subscribed. I admire your patience/tenacity with this idiosyncratic engine. Not British engineering at it's best. I had a work mate many years ago with a Stag. I recall us trying to change a battery during a lunch hour and us having one hell of a time. it couldn't simply be lifted out. Some other part had to be removed. It was a long time ago, however. Cheers from Sydney, Australia. Peter.

[@martinfield1484]

Great video mart takes me back a lot of early tensioners are the same I like your basic approach to the learning side of it which you actually never loose well done

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Martin. Yes, this whole job was a voyage of discovery for me. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@nigelpowton9509]

Another interesting video.Thank you for uploading, looking forward to the next instalment.

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Nigel. Glad you found it interesting. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@patfrancis496]

Hi Mart, interesting stuff as always, watching your learning curve makes me wonder how we managed before KZbin. The Flathead knowledge that you pass on adds to that resource. I now know why when every hotrod and custom seemed to feature a Rover engine I didn’t ever see a Stag engine used, although I think modern radiators (like the one you are repairing) and coolant have fixed the problem issues.

[@MartsGarage]

Hi Pat. Yes, Rover engines were everywhere at one time. I suppose Stag engines tended not to be used because they were troublesome. Only people wanting to preserve their Stags were invested enough to work through the problems and develop the improvements like water pumps and radiators we now have. Plus the Rover lumps were in many models and were further developed by Rover while the Stag was used in one model and dropped. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@boxingday11]

Great work, coming on great guns.👍

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers! Thanks for watching.

[@aprildangelo7457]

The waterway is badly corroded to wide (very common) we used to get them built up by ali welding around, before skimming, another interesting thing while at a car show a chap had a stag with an external Ford 3.0lt V6 (Essex engine) water pump bolted to the block via support bracket driven by belt of crank pulley, this pump was plumbed inline with the vehicles water hoses (looked like it was standard fitment) he said and i tend to agreed with him the stag water pump is very poor and the Ford V6 pump worked brilliant, nice videos as always.

[@mikego18753]

Thanks mate.

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Mike. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@MrBrendog67rat]

Mart, that looks like a nightmare , to adjust the valve lash

[@MartsGarage]

Yeah. It would be easy if you had multiple sizes of shims to hand. I'll show an overview of the shimming process in a future video. It took a long time.

[@paulmuff9883]

I’ve done plenty of the Dolly sprints and they 4valves per pot as well as the stag engines ! 😂

[@openreachnz4908]

Hi Mart.. it all looks too complicated. I'd want to copper coat or shellac the head gaskets down but it appears you gotta slide those sucker's in cause of the cam gears and timing chains and housings. Hope it works out ok. Regards Kevin

[@MartsGarage]

Hi Kevin. No the gaskets just drop down like normal. I didn't put any copper spray on them, just a smear of hylomar by the water passages. Who knows if that is a good or bad thing.

[@oldschool1993]

Looks like a copy of the Jaguar sustem- you should have measured the clearance on each valve before disassembly, then when re-assembling you have a baseline to know what thickness pad you need for the proper clearance. Do your valve adjustments on the bench before to put the heads on the block.

[@mattm6720]

Could you zip tie the chain to the sprocket to stop it moving again?

[@MartsGarage]

Yes, but only if you didn't need to turn the engine over. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@andrewlowe6111]

Those cylinder heads need hours of work. A lot of the waterways have previously been welded up in a previous poor attempt at repair. They need hours of welding and machining. Please don’t refit them as they are, it will overheat again and you will be back to square one.

[@ingmarrichartz9429]

Yes, I would never work like that! Correct machining, cleaning everything, checking all clearances before even refitting everything. I bet this engine does not last long.

[@MartsGarage]

You might be right. Who knows? We will never know unless we try. Always willing to revisit if it fails. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@paulmuff9883]

You sir are correct 👍

[@narrowgaugegreg]

a magnet works great for pulling lifters.

[@MartsGarage]

Yeah, I found something else that works well. The sucker on a stick you use when grinding valves. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@Hazzy238]

Just a bit unclear about the head studs. They have to be removed before the head comes off?

[@MartsGarage]

Yeah. There are a row of bolts along the bottom that are 90 degrees to the head face. The studs are not at 90 degrees. The heads need to come off at 90 degrees or you bend the cam gear retaining brackets. I imagine there might be a scenario where the studs could remain in place but the problem is always corrosion between the studs and head so removing them individually is the best way to go. Thanks for watching.

[@Hazzy238]

@@MartsGarage Thanks mate for the info. To be honest, I'm still in the dark. Could you put a couple of minutes in your next video to show what the problems were/are?

[@MartsGarage]

Hazzy, I'm not an expert so don't want to try and make statements about it because I might be wrong. I just followed the works repair manual that said to take the studs out.

[@maxakarudy]

Good progress Mart, but those c/heads need skimming, they'll never hold water or compression mate, wasting your time putting it back together

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

I was thinking the same.

[@MartsGarage]

You might be right. The heads have been skimmed once so we decided to reuse as is. We're crossing our fingers it will run ok. A further teardown might be necessary, who knows? At least it will come apart a bit easier than last time. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@stevesalvage1089]

Really enjoyed the filming very good , even though iv done plenty of stag engines,, only skim heads if it is not flat , check on flat surface often looks naff because of metal staining scratching etc , seen many good heads skimmed and skimmed to a mirror Finnish then told no good , not necessary , look forward to next film !

[@jagvette1]

too late now never use a wire brush on an aluminium head. OK maybe not a restoration but you really should have the head skimmed and use a composite gasket or you are asking for trouble. The timing chain tensioner looks the same as a Jaguar XK engine one, check in the block to see if there is a brass cone filter where the oil feed hole is, if there is get it out and clean it or the tensioner will seize due to lack of oil.

[@paulreynolds1510]

Knowing water has got into the cylinders I definitely would’ve got them heads skinned

[@MartsGarage]

Cheers Paul. I elected not to skim as they have already been skimmed once. Who knows if that will come back to bite me. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@paulreynolds1510]

@@MartsGarage hopefully not I know how temperamental them stag V8 can be. Whenever I’ve done head gaskets, I always pressure test and skim regardless. And with the stack heads, they could’ve been skimmed more than once before.

[@brianbaker-xm1fk]

That needs a rebore,and the heads look a bit naf at least a skim.

[@MartsGarage]

Well it isn't going to get a rebore or a skim so let's see how it turns out. We decided to cross our fingers on this one. It hasn't been driven in a long time and that is our first objective. It might need and get further attention down the line but we don't know yet.

[@davidlyon2690]

I bet the rad is plugged.

[@MartsGarage]

D'ya think? It's not very old so should be ok. It'll get a good flush and backflush. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@MrBrendog67rat]

How about a cheep valve job, just lapp in

[@MartsGarage]

Hi Brendan. The valves looked in good condition so I left them as is. I probably should have lapped them but didn't. Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite me. This engine was previously rebuilt not many miles ago. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@davidpatterson9107]

Be great if those heads could be skimmed& oversized Gaskets fitted to give clearance.Assuming you have milling machine Mart kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6Lbm6t7a8qqj7M .Bet that you have considered this already.Love the Stag video good luck .Worked on Triumphs but not much on stags thankfully lol.Could try just resurfacing 👍

[@johnpeterson7245]

K

[@paulmuff9883]

Sorry but you’ll be wasting your time putting the head back on with out having that corrosion/ head skimmed 😱

[@MartsGarage]

Concern noted and fingers crossed.