Tom Fremont

Gold is about as good as it gets for a store of wealth, historically without peer and universally appreciated. Those with money to spare can use it to hedge against the worst fiscal calamities and know they won't lose absolutely everything, giving some peace of mind if nothing else. As for the smoke and mirrors of money otherwise, the " loss " in market value of equities in the last few weeks is 3-4X the amount of the referenced " stimulus " package. In that realm, things are relative. Tom

Affirmative; more anti-freeze than required lowers the cooling efficiency without benefit. Can't comment on Water Wetter; I have had no reason to enhance the cooling performance on my Webered '250s but I don't race them. Regular coolant replacement and flushing is important of course. Tom

In my line of work, large industrial water cooled brakes, we consider ethylene glycol ( anti-freeze without additives to inhibit corrosion for which it is notorious ) to require 4X the flow to carry away the same amount of heat as H2O. So we specify a corrosion inhibitor in < 1% solution in water for cooling our stuff. Tom

0.040" = 1mm TIR is the maximum runout according to Uncle Bentley if I recall correctly ( the source, not the value - I'm sure about that ). The best of my original TR250 wheels was at the limit; the worst was about 2X. When they were in production, at least here in the 'States it was unusual to find a TR whose front end didn't shimmy at 60-70 mph ( some said they were trying to attract mates ). I've been using Panasports for the last 30 years. Michelin tires are what I've been using for the last 20 ( apart from a dalliance with Dunlop here and Avon there; don't bother ) and while they don't require much in weights they aren't perfect that way. The bigger problem is keeping the weights stuck to the compound curves of the wheels. Because I've become accustomed to perfectly smooth operation at any speed I get upset when they don't behave, which has been due to weights falling off, usually in the garage. It is possible to get smooth operation with a bent hub if balanced by the best shops; I got a vibration after rotating tires much later. Watching over the specialist slaving away in vain I thought I spotted a bent flange, mentioned it and got a replacement - end of. Tom

I ran 195/65 Michelin Pilot Exaltos on my Webered TR250 for 40K+ miles. Unimpressive performance though no issues. They are smaller in diameter than original 165/80s and at 25 psi left 1/2" of tread on each side in the air, not touching the pavement. Steering behavior was much improved, both lighter and crisper with 185/70 Michelin XWX which are a dead ringer for the 165/80 diameter. Grip is very good too. They do sing like their XAS brethren. I have 6" Panasport wheels so cannot run 165s; with the 5-1/2" wheels I think the XAS in 165 has the most going for it: phenomenal grip, period cachet, captivating appearance and original fitment to some early TR6PIs if not TR5. Some of the Vredesteins advise against cold weather use. Here are the Michelin XWX: Tom

I can say " yes " to #2 because I found that in my '250s as far back as 1980, when no one was stripping these cars to repaint. As for #1, we still have some TR6s here in the 'States showing red primer on the underside of the floor pans, so at least for that model " yes " as well. Tom

I fitted the last two cams with the rocker shaft installed and #1 inlet valve adjusted.. The cam was a 41/71/71/41 and I locked the sprocket onto the cam where the #1 inlet valve pushrod just wouldn't spin with my fingers at 44 degrees BTDC as I wanted it 3 degrees advanced to compensate for wear ( which will reach 6 degrees eventually ). That was easier than the " rock " method in the Bentley manual I'd done previously which gives the same result for symmetrical cams like yours appears to be. Cheers, Tom

I have what amounts to a CP engine on Webers vs. the LUCAS P.I.; it has the CP cam and wide port head on a TR250 short block. It's done 130K miles since its last rebuild and shows no sign of giving up; strong oil pressure, very little oil consumption and continued satisfying performance. I always take it to at least 4500 rpm on a run, and sometimes to 5500 though never dwell there. These days I rarely visit 100 MPH ( getting older can have that effect ) which is only about 3850 rpm in O/D. One thing I noticed about 90K miles ago was tar accumulating on the inlet valve stems. I switched to SHELL fuel and have used cleaning additives ever since; first STP Gas Treatment and now SeaFoam. They seem to do the trick. I attribute this phenomenon to the long duration of the CP cam but others can chime in with better ideas. On my other TR250 with much more extreme cam and higher c/r I used 20W-50 oil from the beginning and would estimate the break in period at 3-4000 miles. It doesn't get as hot to the touch after a 10 mile run now and the crankcase pressure seems to have dropped as well. After 1000 miles I did whatever I wanted rpm wise, up to 5500. Cheers, Tom

Not to be missed if you're after the ultimate bling factor

What about the screen frame? The TR5/6 is quite different from that of the 4 and the cappings are not interchangeable; I don't know about the 4A so others can chime in. I've had Surrey / hardtops on my '250s since 1994 and very, very seldom use the soft top. I've switched to the 4 screen frame in order to use the distance tubes in front, not possible with adapted 5/6 frames. Both now have chromed brass cappings which have ample room for the steel slatted lip in the front of the soft top to fit. The first anodized aluminium one I had was so tight it was always a wrestling match, even with lubricant. If you get the chrome type capping be warned the soft top will scratch it. I've never fitted the Surrey soft top to my concourse car for that reason. Back in the 1900s I had the soft top peel out at 80 mph in the rain. It didn't come off completely and I found that slightly opening the side window relieved the pressure differential and it stayed in place after that. At 70 and below there shouldn't be a problem, and even at that speed the roar is impressive and can wear you down. At high speed I've either got a metal lid on or it's topless. Somehow I don't think the soft top was imagined by TRIUMPH to get much play at high speed; after all the cars came with hardtops and the soft one was an insurance policy for rain when the hardtop was taken off. Except for X-country driving mine only gets donned when it rains, weather I avoid if I can. If I had to make the soft top work at high speeds the first thing I'd try is to stuff a full width rubber cord ~ 1/4" diameter under the lip after installing the top. O-ring material comes to mind. Cheers, Tom

In a related matter, I bought CD8315L with a reversed upper A-arm trunnion which lent it much negative camber on the LH side. I took it to a chassis shop who gave it back to me with neutral camber and I drove it another 20 years that way, including X-country to California where it served as my daily driver for a year before driving back to Ohio. At a certain point I realized the chassis shop had simply heated up the link until soft and bent it to get the camber out. Not knowing about the offset on the upper trunnion I eventually decided to fit an un-bent link and try to repair the issue properly. Only then did I discover the offset, informed the shop and they switched it round, much relieved that great force would not be needed. That was ~ 24 years ago. IMO considerable violence would be need to break one of these, and as we've all twigged by now the fracture could be delayed for some time. Tom

I had one fail on my TR4 in circa 1974 but that was a couple of weeks after sliding into a curb at high speed while racing a 356B on the highway ( a box truck lost a load of cardboard and the entire cohort behind it locked up their brakes ). It broke off just above the trunnion as I was tooling along at 30 MPH; the wheel got stuffed into the arch and stopped the car in a 30 ft. skid. Tom

Jury returned a verdict of " Reliable " long ago . Tom

That's been my experience over 24 years and 135,000 miles. Nothing else on the entire vehicle is as reliable. The sole drawback to Weber DCOEs is the challenge of calibrating them for the application. This is evident from the steady stream of used ones for sale. While quite a few LUCAS P.I. systems have been converted to DCOEs, I haven't seen the converse reported, though surely there must be some cases where it has been done at least for the sake of originality . Tom

I wonder if it's really necessary or even helpful where the car is driven regularly. I never grease mine, nor the driveshaft U-joints after fitting copiously greased new ones when the spirit moves me ( never had one go bad, but have pre-emptively changed them whenever replacing hubs or removing them for other reasons ). For a long idle example I can imagine some benefit would accrue to greasing when re-commissioning. Cheers, Tom