TR6 - short commute

[bluestag]

Hi all,

 

1st post from a Stag owner so be gentle

 

I've managed to convince my wife to change her diesel Clio (14 months old & 7k miles from new), for a 6. She only works less than a mile from home (3 days a week) but needs the car to pick up our daughter from school and nip to Tesco's.

Is a 6 likely to be problematic with such a short commute and is the mpg going to be in single figures!

 

I want to keep the Stag (spent too many years getting it on the road) as it's so handy for a family outing but I also want a 6 because I've always wanted one.

 

 

Steve

[CONCRETE24]

I reckon it will be fine as long as you take it for the occasional longer journey to blow the cobwebs away. Mine doesn't need the choke for more than the length of my street normally so fuel consumption should not be any worse than 'normal' - probably better as your wife might drive it a bit more sensibly with your daughter in the car than I do! My wife drives mine to work occasionally (about 3 miles) and loves it, (in fact I struggle to get the keys back sometimes)! If you have always wanted one then go for it!

Michael.

[foster461]

Hi all,

 

1st post from a Stag owner so be gentle

 

I've managed to convince my wife to change her diesel Clio (14 months old & 7k miles from new), for a 6. She only works less than a mile from home (3 days a week) but needs the car to pick up our daughter from school and nip to Tesco's.

Is a 6 likely to be problematic with such a short commute and is the mpg going to be in single figures!

 

I want to keep the Stag (spent too many years getting it on the road) as it's so handy for a family outing but I also want a 6 because I've always wanted one.

 

 

Steve

 

 

Steve, from a reliability and economy perspective you should be fine although a blast down the motorway once in a while will be beneficial. I think the bigger question will be how will the Mrs feel when it is a cold wet day in November and the windows are fogged up, water is dripping on her right foot and the first pull on the heater valve ruptures the diaphragm and that sickening smell of antifreeze fills the cockpit :-)

 

My advice is get the TR6, it is a great car for summer days and she will have a blast, keep the Clio (whatever that is) and put the TR6 in the garage for the winter.

 

 

Stan

[badshead]

Steve

 

I'm also a TR6 and Stag owner. You'll find the TR6 a very different drive to the Stag. By comparison the Stag is quite refined and therefore probably the better of the two for commuting. However, it's not half as much fun in almost every other respect as the TR6. One of the peverse benefits of the Stag's marginal cooling system is it reaches operating temperature very quickly - useful for short commutes. I've known a number of Stag owners who have lusted after a TR6 only to be disappointed as reality is a bit too 'raw' for them.

[Pogo]

Hi Steve

 

Go for it - although as others have said - a longer run every so often will be good for it.

 

Your daughter will be very popular at school!

 

The Tesco shop may be a bit of a struggle if you shop for the month, but I used to go for our weekly shop for our family of 5 in my '6 when I first had it.

 

Like Stan said - Winter may not be so much fun, but I'd worry about that when it happened!

 

Roger

[bluestag]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Stan, there will still be a standard euro box on the driveway - so that takes care of winter.

 

Bill, I know what you mean about the Stag, it's a very comfortable & civilised car but it still puts a massive grin on my face. In my youth I had a variety of MGA's, & B's and that rawness is what I'm after. I suppose I'm after 2 complimentary cars that will be driven in equal measures. I'd hate to have one just left in the garage.

 

My next step is to join the TR Register and keep asking questions on here. Are there goups that meet in the M/cr area?

 

Steve

[Richard Crawley]

Hi Steve, welcome to the Forum.

I had my 6 for an awful long time & used it as a daily driver to commute from Essex to the outer London tube line in the 70’s & early 80’s when you could more or less park where you liked! I had no reliability problems at all then but I’ve had a few with the PI pump since it’s restoration in 2004 to the point where I’m going to have to convert to a Bosch pump. I’m not exactly keen as I know what makes the old Lucas tick; it could always be problematic but I never had any problems until now & it just doesn’t seem to be able to cope with modern U/L fuel.

 

Sorry if I’m getting a bit technical; I assuming you’re looking for a PI so I think the success, or otherwise, of using a 6 as a daily will hinge around the reliability of the PI & for this, it seems, you can no longer rely on the old Lucas pump. My advice would be to go for the best car you can afford (but avoiding ones with silly prices!) that has a U/L head fitted & a Bosch pump conversion. Fuel consumption for an early 150 BHP CP series in good condition will be 18 -22 MPG, maybe 25 on a run; CR models or US carb imports will give lower consumption but less power; some considerably less!

[88V8]

Yes, welcome.

If it's literally a mile this will not be good for the engine as the oil will never get hot, you may need to change it very frequently due to sludging, keep an eye on the rocker box. If possible, I'd find a way of blanking off part of the rad, and certainly I wouldn't want the mechanical fan, quite apart from the fact that they knacker the crank thrust bearings.

 

Fuel consumption, errrm yes, and it must be Super Unleaded. But in a few years it will be £10 a gallon, so enjoy it while you can.

 

And three cheers for your other half if she's game for a 6, one hears of some other-halfers who won't even passenger.

 

Ivor

[Tom Fremont]

I wouldn't want the mechanical fan, quite apart from the fact that they knacker the crank thrust bearings. ?

 

That's big news. I've not had these go bad in 32 years of uninterrupted ownership, with the mechanical fan. I've always attributed this success to minimal dwell on the clutch pedal, never having it in gear when stopped, etc. A cursory look at the thrust produced by the fan ( assuming 10 HP @ 5000 rpm ) suggests maybe 20# maximum ( nil at idle ), a number far lower than the clutch release thrust

[88V8]

That's big news. I've not had these go bad in 32 years of uninterrupted ownership, with the mechanical fan. I've always attributed this success to minimal dwell on the clutch pedal, never having it in gear when stopped, etc. A cursory look at the thrust produced by the fan ( assuming 10 HP @ 5000 rpm ) suggests maybe 20# maximum ( nil at idle ), a number far lower than the clutch release thrust

 

Yes, but it's going all the time. And if it's doing anything useful in the way of air movement, there has to be opposite thrust, which is absorbed by the thrust bearings.

Even 20#, whatever a # is - I slept through algebra I'm afraid - can't be doing nothing.

OK the clutch applies peak loads, but all the time can't be doing any good at all at all.

 

Anyway, you must be pretty light on the clutch, we know now, the carpet slippers.

 

Ivor

[Ledgers]

Anyway, you must be pretty light on the clutch, we know now, the carpet slippers.

 

Ivor

 

Err, that was Stan. Or maybe driving slippers are de rigeur in North America ?!

 

Ross

[88V8]

Err, that was Stan. Or maybe driving slippers are de rigeur in North America ?!

 

Oops

[Richard Crawley]

and certainly I wouldn't want the mechanical fan, quite apart from the fact that they knacker the crank thrust bearings.

Like Tom I can't see it either; his calcs presumably equate to an estimation of power absorbed by the fan & not the thrust it develops (although I’m not sure what 20# are either!). I just can’t see how the thrust generated by the mechanical fan will have any real effect on a thrust bearing of that size. The thrusts are marginal & a known weak point but most failures can be attributed to bad clutch technique, neglect, **** replacement bearings & even fitting replacements the wrong way around; which is far more common than you would think!

 

I ran the mechanical fan for many years, then fitted a Kenlow electric unit donated from a Rover V8 & ran that for many years & I’ve now been back on the mechanical fan for the last 4 years. An electric fan obviously has advantages but, in reality, I can’t say I’ve noticed it much.

[foster461]

(although I'm not sure what 20# are either!).

 

I wondered how long that fan comment would be allowed to slide by :-)

 

I believe the 20# would be 20 lbs.

 

Cant see how the mechanical fan could contribute significantly to thrust washer wear. As Richard points out many get installed the wrong way round due to the ambiguous instructions (text vs illustration) in the Bentley manual.

 

Stan (still wearing slippers)

[Ragtag]

Cant see how the mechanical fan could contribute significantly to thrust washer wear.

 

Thanks for the comments Stan and Richard. For a while I thought this fan issue might be some new "achiles heel" that I would have to worry about

[Richard Crawley]

Stan (still wearing slippers)

[Tom Fremont]

Like Tom I can't see it either; his calcs presumably equate to an estimation of power absorbed by the fan & not the thrust it develops (although I’m not sure what 20# are either!).

 

I got 20 lbs by equating the thrust to tangential force on the fan blades assuming a 45 degree angle on these. Tangential force = torque/radius of fan ( 6.5") and torque = ( 63025 x HP )/RPM. For 10 HP @ 5000 rpm this gives 126 lb-in, etc.....resulting in ~ 20 lbs. This approach can be shot full of minor holes but I would expect the real result will be even less