(spell-check whimsy of the day: suggested changing "Loctite" to "lactate".)
How fast am I going? I'll never know unless I get the darn speedo cable in
right.
I went over to see another Tiger yesterday to see how a "factory" cable
goes in; I had it all wrong.
Coming out of the tranny, I had it curve forward to go between the exhaust
and the trans, and then up alongside the bellhousing. Wrong, wrong, wrong,
and it forced the cable to try to lie against the engine, not against
sheetmetal, as it came up into the engine compartment.
The "original car" I looked at (Wally Swift's in Beltsville, MD, very
original) looked very different. The cable came straight out of the tranny,
through an opening in the 'frame', over the exhaust, through another hole
in the 'frame', and ran parallel but _outboard_ of the exhaust.
Also, instead of the big loop in the engine compartment I had, the
"original" cable came up into the compartment and abruptly thru the
firewall, pretty sharp angle.
I considered myself better informed and went home to move the cable; I got
a big surprise. The opening in the 'frame' opposite where the cable comes
out of the trans was not there. OH, no; this opening must be
Tiger-specific, and I just found out I have an Alger! :-)
OK, looking around, I found the opening, right where it should be. What had
moved was the socket in the side of the tranny where the cable comes out.
You see, I have one of "Dale's" five-speeds; the cable comes out, say,
directly over the rear trans mount, approx 2-3" further forward, towards
the front of the car, than stock.
I tried coming out of that opening and bending the cable _back_ to pass
through the stock hole in the 'frame'. I don't think so. You're talking
better than a 45 degree bend in a three inch space, really likely to bind
the cable.
Well, guys? What do you think? Will, for instance, the structure of the car
tolerate me drilling another hole in the 'frame' to have me route the cable
straight out from the tranny? Do I have to get one of those 90-degree
"gearboxes" on the cable like I hear they use on Triumphs, and, if so, what
good would it do? Anybody else using the T-5, how are you handling this?
BTW, I'm on Digest, and this is Friday. If you have any thought to pass on,
could you copy me directly, as I won't see my next Digest until Monday, and
I'd like to work on this over the weekend.
Lawrence R. Wright
Purchasing Analyst
Andrews Office Products, Divison of USOP
PH 301-386-7923 FX 301-386-5333
lrw@aop.com
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