Dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and enjoyment of all Rootes Group Vehicles
by Tom Ehrhart Most Alpine engines die and are carried to their graves as a result of the internationally dreaded LOP disease. LOP has been the Achilles heel of the Alpine since the car’s infancy. In fact, LOP can be considered as an influential factor when Ian Garrad thought up the concept of the Tiger. (more…)
Editors note: This warning, from a Rootes Service Bulletin, is important to Tiger owners who still have the original oil filter location. Subject: High Pressure Line Failure Isolated cases of failure, of the high pressure oil line, top of oil filter to cylinder block, have been brought to our notice due to chafing of this (more…)
By Ed Esslinger in the March 1997 RootesReview The article in the Sunbeam Survivor on this topic (C1) is great on why this should be done, but is vague on how to do it. It also requires expensive machine shop work on the cover, alignment tool, seal ring, and the harmonic balancer. As I live (more…)
by Curt Hoffman November, 1987 Many people talked to me about my headers and I thought I would pass along what I did to protect them. The headers on my car when I bought it were rusty with pinholes and would not pass Pennsylvania inspection. I looked at headers in other cars and noticed the (more…)
By Stu Brennan in the June 1997 RootesReview There is an alternative to the oil filter hoses, and to those short filters that you can’t find at Wal-Mart. Ford Motorsports is manufacturing a copy of the old Econoline right angle oil filter adapter, described in an old CAT tech tip. This will mount directly onto (more…)
by Tom Ehrhardt in the July 1997 RootesReview Sunbeams with matured 1725 engines, CD 150 carbs and PCV valves, tend to have unstable and rough idle, requiring idle speeds in the 1,200 rpm or higher range. I offer this suggestion to improve idle characteristics and overall driveability. Remove PCV valve from intake manifold and plug (more…)
by Bill Holden in the October 1997 RootesReview I was experiencing oil seepage from between the engine feed pipe and the feed pipe union nut atop the oil filter adapter assembly. The problem was caused by the worn and irregular surfaces between the flare on the bottom of the feed pipe and where it fits (more…)
(previously published as Sucking Wind in the April 1994 RootesReview) by Curt Hoffman Tech tips are all about learning from mistakes. Since I am a novice restorer I have had plenty of opportunity to make mistakes. The tech tips I wrote in the past shared my foibles; this one is no exception. For those of (more…)
by George Matthis, Jr. in the December 2003 RootesReview A cheap alternative to buying a “warmer” camshaft for the 1592 cc engine is to use the cam from a 1725 cc engine, but be forewarned. You might do quite a bit of hair pulling trying to understand why your engine doesn’t run. It seems that (more…)
Aging Alpines tend to sound like the submarine in James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty:” ta-pocked ta-pocked ta-pockedta. What may be attractive in a daydream becomes embarrassing in real-life when you clatter into a sports car meet and everybody says, without looking around, “Here comes an Alpine”. The problem is not in your (more…)