Talk with previous owner!

Today, I made contact with Steve, one of the past owners of the estate, from New Paltz, NY. I appreciate the time he took to fill me in on some of the earlier history of the car. Apparently, Steve found the car outside a service station where it had apparently sat for some time, victim of neglect and a mild collision. After Steve bought the car, he replaced the "nose cone" and acquired another front bumper. He also swapped out the front seats with those from another car. He added wheels from an MGB (the ones that appear in the pictures). Once he got it back to the house, he couldn’t get it started…"drove him insane". He removed head, decoked engine, etc…and it still wouldn’t start. Finally, he found that the engine had very little compression. He then put a TR6 engine in, had to change oil pan to make it fit. Steve drove it for a while, he commented that it drove nicely. After about a year, he sold the car to Vern, whom I bought it from.

So...as the parts roll in from eBay, the saga continues. Now if only I could find some more time!

Anyone want to join in the madness???

There's a nice looking 2000 SEm sedan (one of the ones with all the additional features) for sale on eBay right now.... <http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4614114125>

Green...and red???

Now that I know that the conifer green and red interior are original...as in it left the factory that way....

It STILL isn't growing on me.

However, I did find a period advertisement that shows that someone at Standard-Triumph liked the color (colour, I suppose) scheme....

Stag tranny coming

Two big items of progress:
1. Thanks to Andy down under, a conversion kit to help the 2000 become a 2500 is being assembled for shipmnent.
2. A rebuilt BW35 has been purchased off of eBay and will soon be heading to NC from Buffalo, NY.
Now, on to find a torque converter.... :-)

Ok...Now I know more, but it just raises more questions...

OK...more information:
I received the BMIHT package on the estate, and it's only raised more questions... -- The car was built 24-Oct-1967, despatched 17-Nov-1967. -- Destination was "Personal Export Delivery for Mr J. W. Hanes, c/o Standard Triumph Eire Limited (does this mean that Mr. Hanes was just an individual in Ireland, or did he work for Triumph in Ireland?) -- under "Other Information", it states that "This vehicle was originally issued with the Coventry registration mark NHP455P"...so I guess this means that Mr. Hanes drove the car in England prior to ????

Can anyone shed any light on the above?

Finally, I've made the decision to pursue the TR6 engine option. Consequently, I need to ask Chris Witor about obtaining the following from a 2500:
1. Oil pan
2. Intake manifold, carbs, linkage, air filter housing, skinny air chamber, mounting for housing, etc.
3. I'm still thinking that the front plate, rear plate, and flex plate for the automatic will transfer.

If any of you think I need something else, please let me know.

NOW, I'm asking yet another question. Is the BW 35 from a Stag the same as the one from a 2500? I'm thinking the input shaft would be different if it were a manual tranny, but wouldn't an automatic be the same (just the two tangs on the torque converter?) If the bolt-on bell housing is different, I could use the one from the 2000. The reason I'm asking is that there's a rebuilt Stag BW35 on eBay for far less than I can get one rebuilt for...anyone's input is welcome!

Engine Stripdown

No pictures (yet) but some interesting items found during engine stripdown:

• Rocker shaft, rockers, camshaft, lifters were absolutely pristine...must have been replaced
• Timing chain has more slack than I've ever seen on a Triumph engine, tensioner worn out
• 1 main bearing through to copper (why just one?)
• Rod ends and rods were engraved but miss-matched (1 on 2, 2 on 1)
• Rod bearings looked OK
• Thrust washer in rear was HAMMERED...leads me to believe it was in a manual tranny car at some point
• Pistons had terrible galling, but on a 45-degree angle from either axis (weird...)

So...now I'm looking eagerly at the TR6 engine, already rebult, sitting there...and going hmmm...

I've asked for help on two UK Triumph sedan sites, hopefully I will get some help before going further...