> Are there are specific issues I should look for (beyond the usual
> rust, etc)? Are there any tell-tale signs of a 'lemon'? And so
> forth...
After having owned my TR6PI for around three years now, I would say that I'd
look out for any homemade rear tube shock conversions. They can be well
done, or they can be like the one on my car (which I hope to replace soon).
The specifics are: if there's a tube shock conversion in place, make sure
the top bracket is not attached solely to the bodywork, i.e. it is anchored
in some way to the chassis/frame. If not, you'll (at best) get a lot of body
movement when you go over bumps, or at worst you'll tear holes in your rear
wheel wells... That hasn't happened to me yet, but I can see it happening...
Also, I notice you're a fellow Australian, so unless you want to spend some
time standing on the soft shoulder wondering why your TR6 has just
spluttered and died, I would strongly recommend a Bosch fuel pump conversion
(as Graham Stretch has already mentioned). The Lucas pumps get extremely
hot, start boiling the petrol, and consequently stop pumping it to the
metering unit when you drive around for a while on hot days (I think the
shortest drive I had with the Lucas unit was 15 minutes on a 40 deg Celcius
day). You can usually get away with wrapping a damp rag round the pump
temporarily to get you going again in those circumstances - at least that
was my experience anyway. If it doesn't have a Bosch fuel pump, try to
ensure that the Lucas pump is at least fitted with a cooling coil (as sold
by Moss I believe, or you could fabricate one yourself) - these cool the
pump using the excess fuel pumped into the pressure regulator via the
cooling coil on the pump, and then back to the petrol tank.
What else? I seem to recall that some people have mentioned the front
suspension cracking where it's welded to the chassis, so reinforcement
plates in that area may be required. I haven't noticed any cracking in that
area, so I can't really help with that any more, except to say that the
reinforcement plates are available somewhere (maybe Moss again). Another
weakness is around the differential mount, which will (apparently) give you
a distinctive clunking sound from the diff area (mine unfortunately has
this, so I'll have to check them out when I get some time), and again
reinforcement plates are available.
That's pretty much all I can think of at the moment (apart from rust of
course)...
Hope this helps,
Frank Biedermann
69 TR6 PI
Adelaide
AUSTRALIA
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