Comments re various questions.

["A.D. St,John-Hart" <stags@domain.elided>]

Whilst people are throwing their tuppence's in, here's mine!

PROBLEM PARTS

I think I must be living on a different planet as I was not aware of any
problems with rubber strut gaitors or fuel pump/auto box oil cooler
mounts.  Certainly the ones that I sell and fit in our workshop, have
caused no problems.  I can only summise that as with many parts, there
are various different manufactureres and the parts that you have been
having problems with are of an inferior quality.

The problem is that many parts suppliers do not actually fit the parts
they sell, they rely on the poor customer coming back to them and
complaining that the part does not fit or has not lasted a reasonable
length of time.  A good example of this is the hard top seal.  There are
various manufacturers of this, one of which is made from a material
which is too hard, but the correct ones are available.  

There are a countless number of parts on the Stag which fall into this
catergory.  The trick is finding a parts supplier that you can trust to
supply the correct parts.  Remember cheap is not always cheap.  The
correct quality part sometimes costs a little more.  A good example of
this is cylinder head gaskets.  I have seen many head gasket failures
caused by cheap after market gaskets.  The original Payen gasket is
still available but does cost more than a pattern gasket.

FITTING WINDSCREEN CHROME

Over the years I have heard all sorts of weird and wonderful methods for
fitting the windscreen chrome.  The simplest way is to pull it in with
string,  in the same way that you would fit the windscreen to the body.

Firstly, once the windscreen and rubber are in position on the car,
lift the rubber flap that retains the chrome and push the string
underneath it all the way round.  Next lip the chrome seal under the
runner (which is now raised up by the string) and whilst pushing the
chrome trim into the rubber, pull out the string.  Now wasn't that easy!
Well, it's not quite that easy, it is useful to have an assistant
holding the chrome while you pull the string, and you may have to have a
couple of attempts at the first one, but once you've done one or two you
will find that it's quite simple.

STAGS AND UNLEAED FUEL

Whilst it's true to say that the Stag was designed to run on unleaded
fuel, you will find that UK and European specification cars from the
factory were fitted with soft exhaust valves.  The valve seats and
guides were already to unleaded spec.  When I spoke to BL Technical
department in the late 1980's when we carried out our research work for
this, I was informed that as the cars did not have to run on unleaded
fuel, soft exhaust valves were fitted because they were cheaper.
Although there was only a saving of probably 20pence per valve unit cost
on manufacturing, this represents a large saving on total production of
the vehicles.  

With soft valves the life expectancy of the valve would be in the region
of 6-10,000 miles of average driving.  If the car was used for short
journeys and relatively low speeds then you could quite happily run with
soft valves for longer.  The majority of the wear happens at high speed
motorway driving conditions when the valves are working harder and
running hotter.

SILICONE BRAKE FLUID

Everybody's got their own preferences to oils, brake fluids etc.
Personally I have found silicone brake fluid to give a rather spongy
feel to the braking system and for that reason I personally don't like
it.

Tony Hart.




 
A.D. St,John-Hart

Tel: 0181 963 1080
Fax: 0181 963 0946
Web: www.hartrace.demon.co.uk