New meber looking for stag performance upgrade and soft tops

["Santamaria, Joseph (Joseph)" <jsantamaria@domain.elided>]

Hi Stag Digest,

I have just joined the krusty-motorsports stag digest. I,ve only been on for
a week and check it everynight for the latest goss. and so far it great.

Just as a bit of background on myself. I have two triumphs at the moment 
1.1976 Stag - Red Hard/soft top, auto maroon colour - owner 3 years
2. 1971 2500 PI sedan - owner 11 years

My previous cars have been another 76 stag, another 71 PI MkII and a 69 PI
Mark 1. Obvoiously I'm a bit of a creature of habit.

I'm located in Sydney Australia and it's always good to hear from other
people on the digest from Oz.

I've got a couple -we'll maybe a few questions I've been dying to ask some
enthusiasts for a while.

Here we go 

1. I am interested in gaining some useful power improvements from my
standard engine. The car was a 1976 build Stag in Australia and the engine
was built to the same  USA emission control spec - being 7.8:1 compression.
The engine is running quite well and nice and cool so I'm wary of going to
high compression as it currently seems very reliable and relaxed running
this way. I once had a high compression stag that was "messed-up" with alow
compression distributor and it seemed to run much hotter under the bonnet,
had a tendency to ping easily, and generally emitted heat from everywhere.
Whether that was just that engine or the high compression I don't know -
maybe it was the dizzy all along.

Firstly I want some economical; power improvements, maybe like tubular
manifolds, carb mods or basically anything which doesn't require a major
engine rebuild.

Can anyone suggest anything and if so what sort of power improvements do you
think I could expect. My car is particularly sluggish off the start but
performs quite well beyond 3K revs.I'm especially looking for more power of
the mark. I know so is everone else but is there a fix?.

I have heard different configurations of tubular manifolds may be better
than others. Any comments

By the way the engine, carburettion and exhaust are in standard trim at the
moment with Lumenition ignition added. The standard retard on the
dirtributor, for better or worse, has been disabled by the previous owner.

2. In all my readings about the Stag I've never seen figures for Horsepower
or  Torque vary even though the stag was produced in no less than 3
compression ratios from 7.8 to 9.5 I think. In addition the acceleration
figures seem to be pretty much the same. Does anyone know if there are
different figures for Torque , HP and acceleration across the various
permutations of engine. If so do you know those figures and does anyone have
an opinion on the subjective performance difference or pros and cons of the
different engines.

I'm trying to decide if its worth upping the compression.

3. Can anyone comment on a good replacement soft top  (mohair original spec
type). I've someone in Australia trying to push an Electron Top saying it is
built to exact specs and is excellent quality, Can anyone comment on this
and also the quality of the mohair soft-top by Rimmers UK.Also does anybody
know if Electron does mail order private sales and what their contact
details might be.

4. Last question. Ever since I bought the car its been cranky in the
morning. First it sometimes misses on at least one cylinder then need a
blast to clear the engine which is followed by whitish/grey smoke. Once
that's over it runs quite well. Ugly sounding I know. It doesn't have oil in
the  water or vice-versa and doesn't appear to burn much oil. Hard to tell
'cause it's always dripping it. Both my stags have done this. Any ideas.

5. Does anyone know if there is an elec. injection kit for this car or
easily adaptable and whats been the success if anyone's tried it.

Thanks a lot guys - I hope I haven't broken any digest rules on lengthiness
of messages or anything else. Hope to hear from someone.

Contact details follow.

Joe Santamaria
* Lucent Technologies Australia Pty Ltd
Professional Services
*Tel:   +61 2 93529287
*Fax:  +61 2 93529287
* mailto:jsantamaria@domain.elided

Joe Santamaria
* Lucent Technologies Australia Pty Ltd
Professional Services
*Tel:   +61 2 93529287
*Fax:  +61 2 93529287
* mailto:jsantamaria@domain.elided