Sorry I haven't kept in touch much. I find I have time to either work on the
Tiger or write emails but not both. I have made a lot of progress since the
SEMA show in early November and am almost ready for paint. As soon as the car
gets back from paint I'll start the stories in the magazine.
I ended up replacing the entire right frame rail all the way back to the
firewall. It was the only right way to fix the car. I am making sure that I
make
every hole, dimple, etc., to make it exactly like a Tiger. I did use a frame
rail from an Alpine. And yes, this car is clearly a real Tiger and I am just
repairing accident damage.
Question... It appears the frame rail is opened up (where it is widened for
the engine) and a section cut out and then pushed in. What is the official
procedure here? I had heard that the rail is just pushed in, but looking at the
left side of my car it looks like it was cut open and rewelded. I have the
Tiger
shock tower support and it looks like the frame is trimmed to match the
bottom of it pretty evenly.
Question... The factory used a tool to put the dimple in the inner fender
panel. They drilled two holes to use this tool, which I have duplicated in my
inner fender well. I have the specs for the dimple modification in the original
shop manual, but does anyone know how to make one of these tools to make the
dimple or have one?
Question... I have heard a lot about brake boosters and how the original
brake booster on my early Mark 1 is junk and how I should use the later
replacement brake booster that mounts differently. I need to figure this out
before I
paint my car, as I need to decide whether or not to cut the original Tiger
brake
booster bracket off. What is today's wisdom on this?
All in all this has been an exciting project, certainly the toughest body
work job I have done in a long time. It is coming out real well. The rest of
the
bodywork is pretty much done. Had a hell of time fixing rear wheel wells that
had been opened up for drag slicks. I also did decide to put later air vents
into the cowl as I live in Florida. The whole project with the accident damage
has certainly been a bigger job than I anticipated, but it sure is giving me
some cool stuff to write about. Thanks for all your help and thanks especially
to Mod Tiger, as his chassis repair kit really rocked! Man did that stuff fit
well and saved me a lot of time cutting and fabricating. Also thanks to Bill
Martin who has found me a few parts that I was missing and put up with my
endless questions. I also did get a hold of Martha that does the interior work
and
I think I will have her build me an interior that I can install myself.
I am starting to update our site a bit better if anyone wants to check
progress. www.classicmotorsports.net (under project cars/tiger) Again, thanks
to all
who have helped or sent words of encouragement. My goal is to have the car
totally done for the 2007 fall meet in Daytona.
Tim Suddard
Publisher/Classic Motorsports
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