Rover V8 engined Triumph Stag firing up

[magna59]

Having seen a few of these V8 units, what I was supprised by was the open to the air casing detail over the cam shaft. It's a shame that Triumph did not get it...but the BL period just seem to end with almost everything being built badly, be it Stag or SD1. It was yet another period of time wasted & jobs & markets lost. The great this about the Stag is the shame....it's great advantage, it beautiful without the engine running !

[magna59]

I do have a pet hate for the sound of the V8, it's that lumpy sound, like it's lost a cylinder & the large american stuff sound dire. The only place I have seen it sounds really good in is the Citroen GT, 'cos the shape is just sooo Dan Dare & the blue collar V8 brings it back down to earth. The v12 has it.......but a good straught six might have saved the company.

[Dav123xyz]

@magna59 wot?

[mrspivvy]

It was also common in the '70s to fit ford 3.0 V6 engines and straight 6 triumph engines into stags, rather then fork out for another stag V8 that would only self destruct again. missing the point somewhat I feel but at least it made them reliable. worth buttons if so fitted today, though.

[mrspivvy]

when I buy one its going to have this engine. it doesn't sound quite as nice as the stag V8, but much more reliable. I ran sd1s for years, change the oil regularly and keep the anti freeze level up and no worries.

Standard stag engine can be made reliable these days but still labour intensive- you have to change timing chains every 25k for example

[spartacusvikinga]

Sex on wheels.

[iveco889]

a rover v8 powered stag is no where near as exciting as a well sorted triumph v8.how ever the engine that should have been fitted is the triumph 2.5s unit no where near as xciting as the v8 but totally reliable

[DAVEYD92]

@iveco889 Untill 70 or 75,000 miles .Then they throw the "Thrusts Out". Crankshaft U.S. Block U.S. Need I say more.

[Dav123xyz]

@iveco889 not really the syraight 6 wouldn't have the guts to push it properly. Its such a shame the engine used wasn't sorted in time and got such a bad press.

[Pnoerre]

I have got a very good hint for you to keeping the nice old Engine in good shape with todays ultra dry eco fuels: Use 1:100 API TC two stroke oil / fuel mix as regular driving fuel, that keeps the old fuel-system gaskets, rubber parts, alloy parts etc... and cast iron metal surfaces of those vintage engines in excellent shape...and it also lubricates the valves and upper piston regions. Most Porsche vintage owners in Germany do so :) Also keeps carbs + injection and tank clean and rustfree

[jspector86]

I love that sound. If it had Rover's legendary Buick V8 engine, it would have given the muscle cars a run for their money.

[JohnnyBoi93xD]

thats the engine they should have put in it in the first place, am i right?

[LashoutUK]

@JohnnyBoi93xD Potentially, yes - but the Triumph V8 was a much more lively, engaging and tuneful engine - just crippled by poor (and often incorrect) maintainence and some poor manufacturing ideas and defects, which are all pretty easy to resolve.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other really - Rover V8's are also liable to take out headgaskets, suffer oil supply issues, knock out their camshafts and more - so they aren't perfect either....

[David192467]

@LashoutUK Yes nice to see a stag being looked after . A stag needs a stag motor tho'. The maintenance doesn't need to be an issue now.

[ratty383]

Nice vid, Never mind the purists you did what Rover should have done in the first place!

[Dav123xyz]

@ratty383 Always mind the purists. The origional unit can be made reliable now.

[017matt]

I thought triumph did thier own engine for the Stag??

[mackat4ck]

@017matt Yes, but apparently it wasn't very good!

[peterfarrow]

The Stag 3.0 V8 engine although it sounded very nice was a bit of dog, prone to overheating and severe reliability problems were order of the day, the Rover v8 although not such an elegant design as the Stag 3.0 v8 is a much more sensible choice, sadly though a Rover v8 makes it not original, even though its better.

[petbedding01]

Did you have any difficulty sourcing an engine?

[acorntechnique]

Your car sounds very sweet.

was it difficult to drop the Rover V8 into the stag? and what about gearbox connections?

[LashoutUK]

Hi there,

The gearbox is the same as those used with the Rover V8 - so it is not difficult to bolt up the 3.5 to the Stag autobox.

The rest of the engine fits quite easily, as the Stag engine bay is quite big - although the Rover does require (usually) an extra electric fan to keep its temperature in check. Exhausts require adapting but not by a large amount.

Engine mounts (or kits) are usually avaliable second hand to do the conversion, as it's been done by lots of people.

[TheKamikazeMAR]

Somebody knows how many v8 ROVER engine been made?

[LashoutUK]

I have no idea, but with all those 3.5 to 5.0 litre engines made, it's got to be in the millions with ease.

[newforestroadwarrior]

@LashoutUK I don't know about GM production figures (i.e. before they sold the engine design to BMC in 1967), but I gather Rover V8 production had just passed the 5 millon mark when they stopped making them.

[EXTREME4YEARSTOCOME]

@TheKamikazeMAR 5 million ish

[EXTREME4YEARSTOCOME]

triumph staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag

[37Abdou]

Joli son belle machine.

V8 triumph ? ou V8 rover?

[LashoutUK]

V8 Rover :)

[aellacyning]

Only twin turbochargers are in order. A little updating of this car and there would be nothing like it on the road. I loved to hear that sound when I fired it up.

[LashoutUK]

There was a guy who built a twin turbo Stag, using the original engine - madness, but worked pretty well. There's a quite rapid supercharged one on Youtube as well - sounds great!

High compression turbo and supercharged engines always sound evil.....

[helmuthoorn]

If only they would have equipped this beautiful British sportscar with this engine .

It would have saved Triumph.

[VillejeanRyder35]

made in uk

[rob2859]

thats triumph they should have done from the start, the stag v8 was shit

[mattouli]

My dad tells me they were arranging a deal with Rover to do exactly that, but... well... it feel through for some reason. Stag V8 was fine until it got a little too hot...

[mondyboy81]

It was because Triumph didn't want to hand over engine production to their long established rivals (Rover) and because even though both were part of BL, the management were too weak to force Truimph to use the Rover lump. The rest is history, Truimph's V engine was flawed and it dragged the Stag down with it. The Rover V8 was a solid engine and had a long production life powering several sports cars well into the mid 1990's including TVR & Marcos

[noodiethetiger]

Lush sound!...Always loved the stags

[Flightyfish]

Ive got one of these,makes me smile everytime I fire it up.

[paulhunter123]

if you put a rover v8 in the stag, what about the back axle?

[LashoutUK]

Provided it's in good health, it should last. The autobox softens the blow to the diff and driveshafts so usually not too much trouble. There are quite a few running around with 3.9s/4.0s that don't suffer any issues either.

Of course, if you started abusing it then it could be a whole different story.

There are a few specialists (Brighton and Monarch) that offer BMW rear end conversions, however, for higher power applications :)

[tpvalley]

Wasnt the origional engine 2 dolomite sprint engines cast into a V?

although that would make 4 litres and I know theure not 4 litres!

Was it definately only 3 litres?

I worked on a Rover V8 stag and had trouble changing oil filter due to its position; did u get a special mounting to aid changing filter?

[LashoutUK]

Yea, the Stag V8 was 3 litres (2997cc/183 cubic inches). Good engine when properly sorted.

The bottom end was a unique casting but loosely based on the architecture of the 1850/Sprint blocks and using the 1850 cylinder heads (single OHC 8 valve).

Mine had a 'standard' spinon oil filter, was no issue to get at - but there many combinations of ancilleries/oil filter housings so I can see that there are probably some that give grief! You can get remote filter kits too. Much easier.

[nukebutcher]

wasnt a good engine, over-heated all times! i dont know why the stag just didnt throw in the 3.5

[Brockie777]

I reckon with you putting the Buick V8 in your Stag made the car Triumph was ultimately trying to make

[LashoutUK]

Yea - it is a shame that they never got it the first time around.

Saying that - blown headgaskets, warped heads, oiling problems and cooling issues aren't exclusive to the Stag V8....not uncommon for the 215ci to suffer similar fates.

Definitely a case of getting a good Stag V8 and you'll enjoy it - get a bad one and well, you'll just end up rebuilding it! :D

The Stag V8 is certaintly the more potent feeling motor standard, though - knows how to rev whereas the Rover does not :)

[aellacyning]

I bought a '85 chrysler lebaron convertible. that sucker blew out 3 headgaskets. One guys solution was to weld the car shut where the car fitted at the head. Never had anymore problems

[potterxt600ttr250c90]

this is the engine the stag should have had in the first place well done

[Brockie777]

I think Triumph were interested in the Buick V8, but there was always a bit of unpleasantness between Triumph & Rover (also MG, but don't forget MG is the sports car maker for Rover), like the Spitfire went into battle with the MG, the Triumph 2000 had competition from the Rover 2000 etc. But I think Rover couldn't supply enough V8's for the Stag production & General Motors were happy giving their V8 to Rover, but not Triumph.

[joh2]

I'm just surprised Triumph did their own V8 when they could have used the more common Rover one...

[joness105639]

the rover one is a better engine overall anyway. Keep in mind that leyland struggled to make everyone work together.

[TheSaintST1]

It was down to capacity.. ie.. they had enough space to build the engines, but didn't have enough of either one, so they had to use both.. IMO, the Triumph engines were a little further ahead since they had OHC and not OHV in the RV8. Lack of decent testing and very, very poor quality control of the TV8's led to their downfall. I remember talking to an engine builder once who said he stripped one down and found mucky casting sand in the block!!!..

[TheSaintST1]

If I'd had my way the RV8 would have been used in both to help rationalise their engine line up. O-series for 2.0 (got loads of torque this one!!), E-series for 1.4, 1.6, and an OHC version of the A-series OR Truimph's small engine for 1.0, 1.3. Would have use Triumphs six for 2.5-ish..

[joness105639]

yeah, and dump the a-series and replace it with that lovely little mill that was slated to go into the never produced issigonis 9X. It was a SOHC 1000 cc engine with a timing belt, an aluminum head, developed 60hp, and weighed 140lbs less than the a series engine in production. With figues like that from 1000cc, imagine what we'd get from a 1.3 liter version! The engine was designated the DX btw.

[TheSaintST1]

One thing I'm adamant about is that BMW's straight six, must have been 'inspired' by the Triumph six. They even sound exactly the same. In my mind's eye BMW took the flame off Triumph and ran with it, look at their cars today now..

[joness105639]

I look under the hood of a modern toyota or honda and the engine looks very much like a spiritual decendent of the DX engine. It even has the distributor sticking out right next to the cam way up top with its shaft running paralel to the cam just like in the modern honda engines. The biggest difference I notice is that the spark plugs are on the side  and not up top and at least part of the hed casting looks derived from typical bmc practice. It's facinating how engines evolve.

[LashoutUK]

Yea, agreed. It's funny how so much stuff carries over and somehow you can always spot when another manufacturer's gone "Yea, that's a good idea......", hehe :D

[duncan36]

Theres nothing inherently bad about OHV. The Corvette Z06 engine has huge displacement, yes, but the weight/horsepower is comparable to the worlds best OHC engines. Also the OHV engines tend to be more fuel efficent in real world driving because of their torque characteristics. But as far as the Triumph versus Rover engines. Reliability trumps 'technology' everydat. So the Rover V8 wins overall.

[CONCOQUEEN]

My dad now owns this car,ive got a pimento stag with original engine,and boy does it sound different to my dads!!

[ToonandBBfan]

I assume this was the car to have in its day?

It does sound great.

[LashoutUK]

One of many, yea - but it did have it's issues upon release and that killed it off pretty quickly.

Compared to it's ilk, the equivalent Mercedes and so on, it was in the same league and in some respects much better, but confounded by mechanical issues and budget cuts, never able to make the grade. A great shame!

See my other vids (well, probably comes up to the right) for what one with the standard engine should sound like - much more rorty! :)

[robotmad]

the stag was a beautiful car, from memory, the original stag engine had overheat problems

[mrspivvy]

Stag engine does sound sweeter, but the Rover is definately the lump that Triumph should have gone with from day one. they are pretty much bombproof. standard SD1 spec is around 155 bhp

[chimaera1855]

want to see what a tr 7 can become check it up

[iceburn06]

I love that sound.

[petchyboi936]

same same what a freat car

[volvomantom]

Your description is spot on - the second it starts up the difference in sound to the Triumph engine is immediately evident.

So this is the engine that most Stag owners replaced with the Triumph engine seen in the other vid, then?

[LashoutUK]

Yea - it's quite a common conversion and one that they started doing pretty much the moment the car was released!

Not quite as powerful either, usually averaging ~130BHP revving out at 5000RPM, as opposed to the Stag with 145BHP up to 6500RPM.

The other common one is the Triumph straight six, either 2 or 2.5 litre.

[volvomantom]

I reckon the Rover engine doesn't sound anything like as nice as the Triumph unit.

It could just be me with that other video, hah.

[poodumrover1]

With 9.35.1 comp. ratio she was the least powerfull V8 in BHP, de-tuned for Range Rover application and the same engine goes into MG-BGT V8 after the MG 2.9 litre straight 6 version proved not good on power to weight ratio. 10:5:1 ratio Rover V8 gave 160bhp although Rover quoted 180 at the time. with any small amount of mods it is easy to get the sd. Rover 3.5 up 230BHP, up there and Beyond you need 3.9 litre.

[Wolfmamma]

I was once told that the Rover V8 was basically a Buick engine.Not sure how true this is?

[volvomantom]

It is. Buick had no use for the units anymore so they sold the manufacturing rights to Rover.

[TheSaintST1]

Although over 50% of the engine had to be redesigned to cope with the British driving style and life expectancy of the engine. From that it was continuously developed by Rover and pushed even further by the likes of TVR. 5.0 litre V8 in the Griffith I recall.

[JAGXJ401]

the 5.0 V8 the TVR is a Ford 5.0

[TheSaintST1]

Griffith 500 was a Rover V8 at 5.0 litres.

[TheSaintST1]

4988 cc to be exact.

[JAGXJ401]

ohhh because once ford supplied tvr with thier engines

[LashoutUK]

They did indeed, the ol' V6s :)

[g0fvt]

Griffith 500 is a Rover block, a friends TVR died on a trackday, oil pickup pipe bolt undid itself and got ingested into the oil pump, swarf pumped everywhere, engine sounded fine but no oil pressure due to bearing damage etc, wrote the crank and block off.

Poor quality control afflicted a lot of RR V8s that also had things like main bearing caps loosen. A great shame. Triumph Stag V8 was known for problems but some say they can be made to work right.

[paulb4uk]

Sounds nice you can tell a rover engine a mile away a mate of mine has just had a stainless exhaust fitted to his sd1 and that sounds a bit louder than this stag .I agree the stag engine does sound good and sounds different its just a shame some of the design faults of the triumph engine were never sorted out when the car was in production ,its one of my favorite triumphs and never achieved the sales figures it deserved a fine looking car .