At 08:16 am 2/26/97 -0700, you wrote:
>Jim:
>I often have wondered if boxing in the dog-leg on the front frame of
>the TIGER would stiffen up the front end. An engineer-type looked
>over my car and said that this area is the weakest part of design of
>the car. In fact he said that concidering how the metal is formed in
>this area it is a wonder that any of them stay together! How much do
>you attribute this mod to tightening up the front end of your car?
>
>
John,
The original Tiger frames are just spot welded here and there,
but the inner fender wells are also spot welded so the Tiger is a
combination of a frame car and a unibody. The sheet metal is very
thick (and heavy) compared to a modern car; however a brace
welded below the dog leg can't hurt. I assume that most of my
front end rigidity comes from the triangulated 1" square tubes
that are welded to the upper outside of the replacement firewall
and pass down to the front cross member mounting location
and the fact that the frames are 2x3x1/8 steel. I made a mistake
in my frame description previously. The frames start butted to the
center cross member and adjacent (outside) to the original frames.
The frames extend to about where the motor mounts are located
than they rise up to the cross member in front. They are not
a streight shot as I previously stated; but there is no dogleg or
hump. The new frames are welded to the center cross member
as well as to the old frame. The old frame ends at the new firewall
which is moved back 6" from original.
The weakest point on a Tiger is in front of , behind and
below the doors. I have seen many that had MAJOR rust that
not only eats through to the outside, but there are many interior
panels that just go away due to the rust. Bondo on the outside
does not help this problem at all. Replacement of all inner and
outer sheet metal is the only solution.
Jim Barrett TigerII 351C and others
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