Lagonda Rapiers

4 minute(s) of a 484 minute read

Just as a matter of Interest I did a search through the Rapier Register's detailed list of cars and came up with 19 other 1500cc Rapiers all presumed to be using the same replacement cylinder block, about half of those are racing cars. It is just that no one else talks about their cars. I am led to believe that there are even more but I am told that their owners like to keep the size of their engines a very closely guarded secret.

3-11-2017

Hello Matthew

I know the of car(s) you refer to there are actually two. One is more or less totally dismantled the other has been "Under Restoration" for as long as I can remember and probably longer. There are three more Lagonda Rapiers in Queensland, one in Maleny and the other two in Northern Queensland. One of the cars at Nudgee has an earlier attempt at boring the original block out to 1500 cc. That the car has not been driven since 1964 or earlier must say something.  The owner is, I am led to believe, an "expert" in everything, why else would he be converting the gearbox to roller bearings; when it already had them from new? The same person published in the Register "News" detailed instructions on how to turn a CD Disk into at timing diagram. 

There are twenty Rapiers said to be fitted with 1500cc blocks from the same batch as the one in my car. The only thing is that the owners of many of these would sooner keep this a carefully guarded secret.

They are afraid that should this information "get out", that it may in some way effect the value of their "investment".........

Bj.

The photo below is of the car Matthew mentions.. It is taken from my Book "EVER KEEN" from the section on this car, 

You may note the caption beneath the photo states that it was stored in this manner from 1963 to 1993. It has since changed location and is/was undergoing a restoration which commenced some years ago. In his contribution to the book the owner states "At one point in 1963 ( the same year as the photograph) I pulled an indicated 5,500 rpm...........

3-12-2017

Back to more pleasant subjects, as pointed out to me recently,  by using Jaguar XJ6 con-rods in the Rapier's engine, the third set of big-end bearings are free.  No prizes for working that one out.

3-13-2017

And some more photographs. The first one is a handy little tool I am in the process of making this afternoon.

Then for people with even more inquiring minds,

 A photo of the cylinder head being lifted off the bench ready to go on the engine after my new head studs arrive from the Rapier Register "Spares" in England.  I think that it is worth spending a moment of two looking carefully at the "head". But then I may be biased. The "other" lifting device is strong enough for me to lift the engine and gearbox as a unit. I USED to be strong enough to lift and carry the head by myself. I am told it is something to do with "anno domini"

For the benefit of anyone wondering about the two modern replacement cam bearing caps, the original oil pump drive was a gear mounted on the camshaft between these two bearings. When I first bought the car all those years ago, the original caps had been broken and welded, quite possibly at the bottom of a chicken house, using the available materials.