[TR] modern skirted 'stats

[Carl Sereda]

Hi Adrian,


Yes, the benefit of older Triumphs having something in common with older
Jaguars - someone with Jags in mind had bright idea of taking the very well
made all brass Robert Shaw pellet thermostats and having tooling developed to
stamp and turn, a heavy brass sleeve and then have sleeve soldered onto the
stock Robert Shaw thermostats. The sleeve action is opposite direction, but
ends up blocking by-pass just like the original bellows sleeved SMITHS
thermostat does inside my TR4 housing. I did a side-by-side stove-top test
with this new fangled one and an original SMITHS bellows/sleaved thermostat -
effectively the same result.


I bought mine from  http://www.xks.com in the US  for $35 about 15 years
ago..


Then Moss picked them up about 5-10  years ago and sold them for about $45 I
recall.. hmm.. now I see they're listing one in recent catalogue (not sure if
same or a bellows type one) for $109.95!



Regards,


Carl
'63 TR4 since '74






I did say it was on a personal note as I have never had much luck with the
bellows variety, almost every car I bought in my younger days had a faulty
one. It does make you think why there was an almost universal change to wax
type thermostats in the sixties. Could be cheaper to manufacture or just new
improved. I do not know the answer.
Randall has pointed out that the bellows type open slower so this may be a
factor to take into account.
As an aside I do not remember seeing a production skirted wax type
thermostat. I am sure someone will tell me if I am mistaken.

Adrian