Tyres and other stuff

[biffobear]

Hi, I am a returning Lotus owner formally being silly enough to have owned two Europe's back in the seventies while working for MG at Abingdon, now Oxfordshire. I had been on the look out for something to play with but in a good drivable condition which ranged from a 1953 MG TD and a Type 35 Bugatti (replica) being all aluminium build one off, powered by a British Leyland O series 4 cyl. 1,700cc. An engine I know well as the 2 litre version was under development at MG for the MGB & GT. It had just passed Federal and California emissions tests for the fuel injection version (by Bosch) and a few days later the closure of MG was announced. Development and design where I was employed was put onto another project with Honda and eventually moved to Morris's at Cowley, Oxford. Oddly enough the project car became a Triumph. Anyway I digress. As some of you know I have just bought M100 S2 number 270 which has been discussed on the forum before. Advertised on Cars and Classics recently as a Cat C write off. I have found out now it is a Cat D. I have spoken to the specialist repair shop owner who carried out the work and he stated that only one body panel was replaced, (NS/F lower wing panel with indicator repeater light) and the the small amount of damage to the top part of the NS/F wing was repaired. I now have photographs of the damage taken by the previous owner and supplied by Fredrik, who you may know. The insurance company would not source the panel (which as you know makes up most of the front of the car body) so hence the Cat D writ off. Can any advise on Tyres for dry weather and no track use, Engine oil and the dreaded gearbox/transaxle oil. If anyone has a Wind buffeting screen for sale I'm interested as well.

[dapinky]

Hello and welcome,

Glad you made the decision on the Medina one 0 and more importantly, I'm glad that you did the research into its history to satisfy yourself that all is good.

However, I am a tad disappointed to hear about your work history - actually, just the bit where you make some spurious claim about the rebadged Honda Accord then becoming a Triumph (I will never accept them as being a Triumph.... in fact, the jury is still out on whether the TR7 was actually a Triumph).

There are many, many opinions on tyres and oil... all of them are probably extremely relevant to the author of the post, and their car, with their use..... and may or may not suit you.

There was a recent thread which referenced an article from Opie oils, which may be worth a quick read.... viewtopic.php?f=33&t=28634&p=366637&hilit=opie#p366618

After reading that, you'll probably decide that a good synthetic 0W40 will suit your use and engine mileage.

As for tyres, it will depend on your driving style, intended distances of travel (annually), budget and preference.

Toyo T1-r suit lots of people for a reasonable price (for road use)..... some like 'top-brand' tyres Avon/Goodyear/Michelin - with most people agreeing that you won't beat a 'good' Michelin for everyday driving, over longer distances...... personally I would rather sacrifice a bit of tread wear life and some fuel economy for the extra grip that you get from a softer tyre (because I don't do huge mileages in the car anyway), so prefer a track-based compound in a road tyre pattern (sold as 'fast road' tyres). There are a fair few of these tyres about in a suitable size with manufacturers like Toyo & Kumho having an offering in the sector......... but as anyone here will tell you, I (personally!) don't think you'll find a better tyre than a Yokohama AD008RS, and they are what I always buy.

[biffobear]

Thanks for the Tyre info. I asked because the last MOT had and advisory on the rears so I need to change them soon. I'm tempted to take the car down to Almeria Via Bilbao but want to check everything out first. It seems to pull and handle as it should, so I'm pleased with it so far. Did anyone design a short shift? There's no trouble changing gear it just a long way between shifts. Now I have seen the colour eye to eye in day light its a lot better and quite like it. It has a Nardi wheel (PNM) rear brake and new standard fronts. A PNM Stainless exhaust fitted recently and waste gate retro dump valve which is a bit embarrassing for a guy of nearly 70. but it stops me using any boost in a built up area. On the subject of Honda The car I did a great deal of development work on was the civic of its day. Then the hatchback was removed and a boot added which became the Honda Ballard The Triumph Acclaim version was all sourced from the UK and made here including steering and suspension The engine and drive train was shipped from Japan. As for the TR7 I saw it at Canley and on the track at MIRA and the original concept was a good looking car. As usual, management and engineers did there usual best to take a perfectly good car and do their normal in fighting between departments and the 7 (Broadside) ended up as a dogs breakfast but eventually given some credence by MG's special Tuning at Abingdon, giving it the TR8 title and driven by MG's biggest poser, the late Tony Pond (I'm sure he won't mind) winning many rallies with it.

[dapinky]

.....eventually given some credence by MG's special Tuning at Abingdon, giving it the TR8 title and driven by MG's biggest poser, the late Tony Pond (I'm sure he won't mind) winning many rallies with it.

Tony was definitely a poser - and I'm sure he'd forgive the use of the title

One of my cars was built at Abingdon ST - an ex-works Dolly Sprint rally car - which I was still using competitively when I first got it, but has been in storage for many years now....

.... when I was living down in Somerset, Brian Culcheth was 'local' to me, and we often used to meet up either at events, club nights or just when I popped into his shop in Porlock for a chat. He used to enjoy the reminiscing and often told of his 'relationship' with Tony (when Tony was the 'new boy'). It was nice to get Brian to drive my car to see how he remembered it, but his better stories were when he drove my friends' Dolomite which was last driven by Brian, ending upside down on the Scottish Rally, then thrown into a barn until my mate found it and restored it (and it took us 3 years to get the shell straight again).

[Simon_P]

5W 30 or 10W 30 engine oil. And the reccomended grade of gearbox oil. Both fully synthetic.

I have used Avon and Toyo.

(and it took us 3 years

thats a hell of a lot of tea drinking.

[dapinky]

(and it took us 3 years

thats a hell of a lot of tea drinking.

There was an awful lot of tea being drunk between heavy 'teeth sucking', lots of body jacking and panel beating...... a decision was made to preserve the original shell, even though we had a new one available (which is now in my garage as the base for the one I'm rebuilding - and have been for the last 25 years..... can't rush these things, you know )

Brian Kitley (who owned SOE8M) had to do 'paying work' most of the time in the workshop, otherwise it would have taken a little bit less time (but with less tea).