BlueStag

My stock pipe does have the pipes passing thru the flange. It just has a very short 2 to 1 compared to this one. As short as imaginable.

Spoke to MSA, and no, they don't sell the downpipes separately, as a condition of their manufacturer. Bummer. Cannonball has a nice looking pipe, 3000 miles distant......

If it is a tight two in the two to one, it is original. I really don't want to spend money on a header. The engine is by no means built, and would not benefit from a tubular header. And I would experience more noise, not less. I am looking for a quiet exhaust. Yes, please, a photo.

OK, I am going to lose it. Is there no stock downpipe with flange to be had new? For a 240/260. I despair of ever getting a tight joint at my flange.

In LA Guys, I am losing my mind. Can't I buy a new down pipe? Or has someone got a good downpipe with a GOOD flange that they are ready to sell me cheap?

I can tell you very little except to say that SU's never need to see more than 5lbs. At least that has been my long understanding. I have always understood that they want 3lbs at the most, really. Do remember that there is a difference between pressure and rate of flow, but I am sure that you know that, based on the detail in your question. The engine was performing fine with the FI at higher rpm under load? Have you tried running the carbs on the rich side? Just to see how they perform? It is by no means impossible that the needles that you have are wrong for the engine you have. They could be lean at full throttle but correct thru the first 3/4 of the throttle. Unhappily, I don't think anything but a dyno is going to clear up that question for you.

Ah. I thought you were talking about actual automotive gaskets specifically for the application....

If by "face off" the face of the exhaust manifold you mean pull the studs out and machine the blasted thing flat, grr. One stud sheared two weeks ago, and another will never come out without shearing. (Plus I just pulled all this apart and put it all back together. I REALLY am not wild about going at it again.) I did run my large mill file across the flange face to knock down the worst of the high points. Thicker flange for the exhaust pipe. OK. Grrr. I am pretty sure I used the correct studs. The nuts might be a different thing. Care to be a bit more specific? I have no clue what sort of gasket you are talking about. Got a link to one on somebody's site? I did install a flex joint, just behind where the pipe turns horizontal and before its hanger at the transmission. What kills me is that the whole mess hangs so low that I could not leave the clamps on, I caught one within minutes of taking the car out. So I had it welded up...kill me now.

Anybody want to buy a Triumph Stag with a L6 in it? I have about 12k and 17 years into it. A decent six-pack might just get it from me. I have just about got the new throttle bodies tuned up, including getting the chokes to operate in sync. It was running like a dream. Smooth and real power. New acceleration. The automatic transmission was suddenly responding correctly. I had tried three different ways to get the flange to tighten up. Finally some Permatex high temp RTV seemed to have it licked. Two days of a civilized exhaust note. Three runs of wide open throttle and the flange gasket (or the RTV) failed. I am ready to firebomb the dratted thing. Do I need to get a new flange and two to one made up, a MUCH THICKER flange that will not distort when tightened?

I cannot claim to be expert enough on this to comment. Which won't stop me...... My understanding is that a starter has two major electrical components. One is a motor that will spin its gear and by extension, the engine to get it started. The other is a solenoid that will push the gear out toward the flywheel/flexplate to cause the gear to mesh with the flywheel/flexplate. Look to see that you are supplying power to the solenoid as well as the motor. There is a large bolt that your battery lead connects to. There is a smaller spade terminal that is energized briefly as you turn your key. If you knew all that and your test resulted in no joy, I'd day your solenoid is whipped and you need to buy a new starter.

You don't specify which head you are running. That might be the place to make it right.

Ye-ha! After what I hope is the last current effort with the unisyn and the colourtune, the damned engine is running much better! Starts with the twist of the key, idles pretty smoothly (although I dream of it being even smoother) makes real power, and for some reason, the automatic trans is responding to throttle position and down shifting correctly. Real power! Yippie!

Yes. Nine years. Don't ever buy a house.

It takes a bold man to drive an original V8 Stag. Actually, that car was pretty damned ratty, and they really did not do much to improve it. I was astonished to see them chuck the entire soft top frame. Thar's gold in thems hills! A Z engine is not far away from the original V8 for power. Someday I'd like to source a ZXturbo and get some real gitty up.

Alright, it took a painfully long time, and there were more than a few distractions, like not being able to seal up the wretched exhaust flange. Grrr. Now the exhaust exits at the end of the exhaust pipe, and audibly, that is a very good thing. But what started this torture was the fact that, once I got the Stag down off stands after nine years of storage, it turns out that the front carb was sucking air past its throttle shaft. I finally broke down and ordered a pair of rebuilt throttle bodies from Ztherapy. Much struggling, and suddenly the engine runs a whole lot more like I expect it would. Just now it is a bit rich and the idle is set a bit low. One more round should see it done. Yippie! And if anyone has a good site to recommend that describes how to tune SU's, I'd be glad to read it. There is no such thing as too much info. Well, yes, there is. But I want as much as I can get.

Tony, You need to clear out your PM folder.

My kid wants to see SF again. Possibly I'll bamboozle the wife and kid on a road trip. Although with gas at $4/gal and a L6 doing well to get 20mpg, at least mine is, I don't know about that.

Your PM box is topped up. You will need to clear it out a bit.

And the prize goes to..................... Split by Leon and Tony! Leon: yes, the exhaust pipe flange was grossly distorted. Much effort to flatten them out, and a large flat file eventually got the dratted thing pretty straight. Tony: A whole lot of Permatex red RTV was applied as the sun went down yesterday, to a fresh gasket. The whole mess was torqued up, and left to cure overnight. It was a bit cool here yesterday, so in the morning I gave it just 60 seconds of running, to tell me that it was tight (YEAH!) and shut it down, to work on all the other work that the engine currently needs. That zot of heat was hopefully enough finish the cure of the RTV without blasting it out of the voids it is filling. I took the dratted thing out for a ride, about four miles, and it seems to still be tight. I live in hope. Being the good sport that I am, I will be doubling the prize: a trip around the block in my car, with the top down. One for each of you. Offer good for a month. C-ya!

Not a chance of getting the third stud out. It is rusted in there fast and would certainly snap off if I attempted to get it out. I did clean up the surface pretty thoroughly, gave it a good scrape and filed down with my largest mill file. I am frustrated if the whole point of this is that the two surfaces must be perfectly smooth and flat to achieve a seal.....I just cannot accept that. I have managed over the years to close up a few flanges without nearly this much effort. I am going to buy a fresh gasket today and ask for some sort of glop to add in there. I live in hope.

I'm dubious....I certainly don't want to GLUE the mess together, but I doubt very much that anything outside of NASA would. I like the idea of some soft copper, perhaps a sheet on either side of a fresh gasket.....with some spray copper adhesive.....

If you were still in Burbank I'd ask you to crawl your skinny young butt up under the car and work the ratchet on the flange nuts...... I'm buying two of the nasty things when next I buy any of them.....

Tell me more about this stuff.....

Yer really working for that blasted prize. No, I am fighting with the same damned gasket for days now. I'm in Burbank CA, and what do you know? None of the local shops bother to keep this sort of gasket on hand. Give them three days, and they will have a new one for you.....I may need to drive a few miles tomorrow for a fresh one. Some copper gasket spray, you say? I will need to look into that. And no, I did not put a straight edge against the cast iron manifold. I did, the other day, run a file over the surface to knock down any obvious high points. I am getting distinctly annoyed......

Leon WAS going to get the award, and might yet. I took down the exhaust pipe and inspected the flange, duh, why did I not look at that earlier? The "ears" were distinctly distorted. A bit of heat, a large hardened steel rod and a mallet straightened them out. And a large flat file smoothed off the small high points. Put the blasted thing back together, and it still freaking leaks at the back of the flange, toward the block. It may be time to start drinking.