To Larry Velk:
Yours is definitely a case of ‘less is more’…beautiful car.
The Clayton systems with the evaporator in the heater box don’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell in the American Southwest…even with a fresh air intake.
As I often say, it’s not like they broke into someone’s garage, and stole their family heirloom to build this car. I’d bet dollars to donuts this started as some rusty hulk. What’s the guess on replacement parts?..new floors, new door skins, new trunk floor, new engine frames, new (aluminum) hood.
It’s strange, but I never see Porsche or Alfa guys grumbling about the cars Singer or Alfaholics are building, and yet those cars have a stronger across-generational following than they’ve had in 30-40 years…there MUST be a connection there 
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Mine is a 1974 s3 so has footwell ventilation coming from the air dams in the bonnet sides. Normally that doesn’t work, but if you look at the photo albums, you’ll see that there are scoops inside the air dams that force air into the footwell. This works just fine as being a roadster, the incoming air finds its way out at the uprights behind the seats which connect to the boot. There is no need for aircon in the UK. Summer comes on a different day every year.
The other factor is that I run lpg (propane). This is supplied as liquid and the act of evaporating the liquid to produce vapour takes about 5-6’c out of the coolant. This makes the engine bay generally cooler and so steady highway cruising generally means the radiator is not engaged at all. Essentially, the air is already cooler for these two reasons so I don’t miss not having aircon.
There is a bit of irony in having to burn petrol to make the air colder for yourself.
kind regards
Marek
THAT gets my driver’s juices flowing!!
He makes a good point: with talent, one drives past inherent understeer, not adjust it out of existence.
Anyone here running the Falken Sincera tires?
For 205 they seem the best overall , Uniroyal or Bridgestone, looks like michelins are not making that size defender tire?
Especially “old” people develop items that become eccentric. I am nuts about unsprung weight. I though our E-Type rode like super good, even compared to our 330 Ci with good Continental tires and noticeably better than our '65 Corvette. The “E” had regular (new) Boge shocks and all new - and I mean ALL new regular rubber suspension bushings (stamped Metalastic, but likely reproduced who knows what ). Aligned with as much negative camber as possible in front and rear. No offense to 90% of us, but I just don’t care for wires as a concept - looks, of course, are a different story. When you drive past a new mini van with Aluminum wheels they run perfect. I just think round wheels are the way to go.
None taken: other than looks, they are a lousy method of suspending a streeter, in light of lighter, more modern alternatives.
Modern, being wheels available since the 60s…
Unsprung weight, as a practical matter, is almost meaningless in all but 0.03% of possible dynamic handling situations: reducing that weight would have ranked dead last in my reasoning for @Erica_Moss’s wheels, which looks and practicality I’d have preferred on Tweety.
Can you expand on that? Are you saying you didn’t struggle with 205 tire clearance the way people with wires tend to?
Probably true, but my concern is over bumps, as the inertia of a heavy assembly is that much more, well,…inertia… for the shock to control. “Handling”, well I don’t drive fast enough due to the goldfish I carry on the seat.
The off set on wires seems hard to calculate, but our E-Types need enough (or not enough) offset to pull the splined hub off in the rear. I think the narrow track you see when you look behind an “E” is maybe to some degree from the need to get the dog gone wheels off. My mini-lite fakes hold the wheel and tire assembly in a different position compared to most wires. There is much talk about center laced, etc. on our site, but it always seems the concept of offset can’t be reviewed, as it is just harder to evaluate. You almost can’t use backspace either because the center tube could be a different length. My “normal” wheels measure just like a normal wheel (doh!), so wheel to wheel comparisons can be made. Then you just need to worry about individual cars being different.
That’s good feedback, and also matches my experience.
I’m not a fan of the deep backspacing you often see on the 15x6 Realm alloy wheels (first pic), so I once asked them if you could fit a 15x6 wheel with less backspacing (second pic) to a standard car, and the response was “you’d never get the wheels off the rear of the car with splined hubs…you’d need to run peg drive hubs”
When I asked them how the backspacing of the wheels in the second pic would compare to centerlaced wire wheels, I got crickets.
I’m not following this…offset/backspacing data are available from all of the wire wheel (probably all) manufacturers for each of their offerings. There was once a project on the UK site to put all the info in one place. Can’t recall if it was completed. But it’s not rocket science. I’ve often explained/illustrated what tire combination works with the Dayton hub laced 6" wheel. (Note: A 215/65 will not quite fit, but it would with a bead laced wheel). Bump stops are just a distraction…either modify them to fit, or delete. Again, I put bump cushions on the shock absorber shafts.
Can you share which bump cushions you found that fit the e type rear shocks?
I think where it gets murky is around removal and installation with spline drive, peg drive, and bolt-on wheels. There seem be significant variations.
From what I’ve heard, there are tire sizes and wheel offset combos that would “fit”, but couldn’t be removed when you’re having to get it over the end of the splined hub.
This page shows some combos that you don’t often see, but they appear to have rolled lips and/or slight flares. That 245 on a 7 inch wheel must have required some sheet metal work!
I purchased them here, and then modified to fit in the “pocket” at the top of the rod. Can’t recall exactly which part number…maybe the 16/47…I think I posted a how to somewhere in the distant past. They’re just a short snubber at the end of the shock stroke to avoid metal to metal contact…
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As Eric said, a given manufacturer can give the most critical info - will it fit? Also there is no argument about 3 of the 4 measurements involved in offset and backspace. For offset, which is the more consistent, hence now used more, the center of the wheel is the center - no issue. For backspace the inner rim face is used. This can vary due to flange thickness. On steel, conventional wheels the hub mounting face is also consistent for both measuring methods. Where I think some issues may arise is where the wheel mounting surface “is” on a wire hub. The maker of the wheel should know this and calculate both offset and back space. It will be relative and useful, but I don’t think the number will correlate to bolt on Jaguar hubs and conventional wheels. A wire wheel from a given supplier with more positive offset will give a more narrow track and have the wheel closer to the bump stop. So it’s true that it isn’t an issue if someone proved out the fit using the given criteria.
The wheels in the film look just like the ones on my silver car to me from MWS.
XW5721s, 6.5 inches wide stainless steel, center laced. They push the wheels into the corner a bit
I run 205 Michelin XWXs on this one . I dont have any issue with heavy steering. Here I am twiddling the wheel. 2.88 axle with standard 4 sp synchro by the way. That has taken me all over Europe.
I have another car with Phil Halliwells Silver centerlaced version which is 6.5 inches wide. I thought I would try 215s. They really are not that bad either for clearance, although at extreme angles I do get a little interference with a front mudgaurd. 205 is best I think.
I guess wmw is the way to go ? all weather?
Do you mean me? XWX? yes , they are very high quality tyres in MHO. The wire wheels are great too, both sets.
I have heard too many horror stories about rusty spokes, going out of round balance issues etc.
Both of these sets been perfect.
I dont think I have had to put a drop of air in them since Dougal at Longstone sold then to me 4 years ago.
Heat, the track, everything, bring it on. That the wheels are as smooth and balanced now as they were 15,000 miles ago.
I think the only cooler way to go would be to add Dunlop Racing Tyres. They look really good on an E type, but might be illegal. You could go down the alloy rim route, buy then again £10k goes along way in my world.
Big fan of Mr JWWs film. Nice one. Bringing in the youth is the way to go for E types.