| | | | | | | | | | Wounded Stag? Hurley Engineering offer a Ford V6 engine transplant that could solve your problems. Owners and would be owners of Triumphs rather fine looking V8 sports tourer need no longer divide their time between looking at the road ahead and the water temperature and oil pressure gauges. That is, if they have their Stag converted to Ford V6 power by Hurley Engineering.
Eamon Hurley, an independent down to earth soul on the one hand and constructor of a blown Wankel engined drag bike on the other - "Got to use the engines we take out of NSU Ro80s somehow" - runs his business from a tidy workshop in a satanic suburb of Coventry. A toolmaker by trade, Hurley got involved in re-engining problem cars quite by chance when he found out how much it was going to cost to repair the rotary Wankel unit in an Ro80 he happened to be running at the time. So far, he has converted or supplied kits to convert around 600 Ro80s to 2 litre Ford V4 power, including over 100 conversions that have been sent to Germany where the rotary engine has apparently been just as troublesome as over here. The beauty of this and the Stag engine transplant is simplicity. The work can be done at Hurley's establishment, or by a competent mechanic elsewhere. Kits can even be supplied without the engine, leaving the customer to supply his own.
Hurley started to convert Stags just over six months ago when a couple of owners who heard of his success with Ro80 approached him, seeking a cheaper and better alternative to rebuilding the existing V8. Rather than consider the Rover V8 (such a conversion is offered by May Engineering of Epsom) he reasoned that the Ford Essex V6 would give just about the same performance, be as rugged, give better access, be simple to service, and most important - cost much less.
Triumph's 3 litre overhead camshaft V8 is quoted as giving 145 bhp at 5,500 rpm, an output that equates nicely with the similar capacity Essex V6's 138 bhp at 5,000 rpm and punchy torque figure of 174 lb ft at 3,000 rpm. The weight of the two units also compares, so no handling problems result - well, none that are not already inherent in the Stag.
"It's worth going to the trouble to use as many of the original part as possible " explained Hurley " and the last thing we wanted to have to do was hack the bonnet around to get the engine in " Certainly the Ford unit sits nearly in the engine bay almost looking as if it should have been there in the first place. It mates with either the manual or automatic Stag transmission via a cast adaptor plate bolted to the engine block. A very accurately - made spacer (Hurley's toolmaking experience is useful here) is used to move the Ford flywheel back enough to both miss the adaptor casing (see picture) and bring the flywheel and therefore clutch - also Ford - into the correct relationship with the Triumph release mechanism. Fabricated engine mounts pick up at the original chassis points, while at the front end, the Triumph fan is now mounted on the crankshaft pulley via a machined hub. Lowering the fan from its normal Ford front cover idler position brings it close to the Triumph radiator.
True to his word, Hurley has arranged the conversion to use most of the important Triumph ancillaries. For example the flywheel is machined to take the Triumph ring gear which means that the Triumph starter can be used once again, and a flat plate bolted to the front cover carries the Stag power steering pump.
Limited bonnet clearance has necessitated using a pancake air filter and swinging the Ford alternator "over-centre" on its mounting. Nicely made fabricated exhaust manifolds connect up to the existing twin tail pipes, and tidily run heater pipes carry warm water through the scuttle.
To date, 50 Stags have been converted. It is such an obvious conversion one wonders why it has not been marketed before. It goes without saying that the Ford unit will be very cheap to look after - in fact almost maintenance free. The purist or collector might abhor such a conversion, yet the original engine is so trouble prone (overheating leading to head gasket and bottom end failure) unless religiously maintained, that the availability of an alternative power unit might actually increase the popularity of the marque. As Hurley went on to point out "I have owners convert Stags that are running perfectly, simply for peace of mind".
It only remained for me to sample one myself. On a bitterly cold morning an effective heater - more so now the Ford water pump was pushing water around the system - Autocar photographer Peter Cramer in the back - a reminder that the Stag is a practical 2 + 2 - we set off for a quick trip round the lanes.
Frankly from driving Hurley's personal transport it would have been difficult to tell that the car had been re-engined. Rorty and uneven in note as standard, Hurley V6 Stag sounded similarly aggresive from outside thanks to a straight through exhaust system, but from within noise levels were no more obtrusive than normal Nor was there any detectable difference in smoothness. Surprisingly, no induction noise sounded from the rudimentary pancake air filter under hard acceleration. The clutch and throttle were pleasantly weighted and progressive. For some reason the "works" car had a misfire or hesitation that limited the engines ability to rev - but it still went well - well enough to pull the legal limit on the shortest stretch. Our mount had been fitted with a set of Monroe shock absorbers (Load Levellers, at the rear),. The nice taut ride suggested they were a very worthwhile addition. |
