Rollin' Nov 21, 2007
What makes this wheel a good fit for a Tiger is that it has a very similar black band around the rim, just like the stock Tiger wheel.
The car is now a roller. We have been dying to be able to move it, as it has been trapped on our lift for six months. In our last update, we outlined the front-end installation. With this step completed, it was time to install the steering wheel. Our stock steering wheel was missing when we bought the car.
While a buddy of ours found a stock wheel at a swap meet and gave it to us, once we looked it over we decided that it was too spindly and too big in diameter for a driver to easily slide in and out of the car. If our primary driver was not, let us say, plus-sized, this might not be such a problem.
Nardi makes a beautiful, traditional wood-rimmed steering wheel with three satin-finished, aluminum spokes. It's about an inch smaller in diameter than the stock Tiger steering wheel. What makes this wheel a good fit for a Tiger is that it has a very similar black band around the rim, just like the stock Tiger wheel. Unfortunately, while Nardi still has these wheels available, they have long since run out of hub kits to fit a Tiger.
Fortunately Bill Martin of the Rootes Group Depot has not only cornered the market on Nardi hub kits for Tigers, but he has also machined a new center post to mount the stock steering wheel adjuster nut and steering wheel center to the Nardi hub. The finished product is a near-stock looking assembly that still adjusts and uses the stock Tiger center nut and surround.
The Nardi wheel gives us the luxurious look we want in our car and looks period correct.
Tiger Reassembly Dec 27, 2007
Important note: When we disassembled the car we were careful to take pictures of how the writing harness was positioned, especially under the dashboard. The time spent here was a lifesaver.
Now that the car is a roller we decided to take a break from some of the bull work and have a little fun. To this end, we rebuilt the front side marker lights, installed the SUNBEAM lettering on the front and restored and reinstalled the license plate light.
We also started putting the side trim back on the car. However, we discovered a mistake that made us halt our work: While doing the bodywork on the sides of our car, we didn’t mark the holes required for the side trim. We did leave the holes on the doors and decided not to go any further with side trim until we had the doors back on the car. This would make it easier to align everything correctly.
Before installing the wiring harness, it was time to look under the dash and build the underside of the dash from the firewall out. First to go back in was the wiper assembly. We carefully cleaned, tested and painted this assembly before reinstallation. Next to go in was the heater assembly. Our heater motor was bad, but we sourced another one from a local club member. After again testing, cleaning and painting (where appropriate) the heater was reinstalled. Next up were the cool air cowl vents.
While early Tigers did not have these vents, later Mk 1As and Tigers did. When we write about this project car in the magazine, we'll cover this topic in more detail. One mistake we made here was to not install the dash braces that bolt underneath the cowl vents. We had to pull the cowl vents back out to remedy this mistake.
We next mounted the fuel pump. The original Tiger fuel pump was mounted below the rear package shelf on the passenger’s side. There is an access door over this area.
In its stock location, the Mk II Tiger's fuel pump was subject to exhaust heat and road grime. So, we relocated the fuel pump into the well where the spare tire goes on the four cylinder Alpine that the Tiger is based on. Instead of the stock Lucas pump, we opted for an Edelbrock unit. Made by Essex, a name we've had good luck with before, the Edelbrock pump should supply plenty of fuel for our Edelbrock-equipped (intake manifold, cam and heads) engine.
The next step was to install the wiring harness. We got a new harness from British Wiring that was fairly easy to install. Since we were going to switch to an alternator, we specified an alternator type harness. (British Wiring makes them both ways.) The last of the Tigers came equipped with an alternator. Ford switched from generators to alternators in 1965. Important note: When we disassembled the car we were careful to take pictures of how the writing harness was positioned, especially under the dashboard. The time spent here was a lifesaver; when we went to reinstall the harness we could see where it had been. This is the kind of thing you can never find in a shop manual.
With pretty much all our electrical equipment installed, it was not only possible to hook up our wiring to all the electrical components, but it was also a little easier to see what went where with the corresponding electrical component already installed in the proper location.
Restoring the Tiger's Interior Feb 4, 2008
Although Tiger seats are needlessly complicated, the job was pretty straightforward.
Early Sunbeam Tigers offer something the later ones don't--a variety of interior color choices. Where most Tiger interiors were black, black or black, our early car's original color combination was Midnight Blue with Azure Blue interior and dark blue piping. Since we live in hot, sticky Florida, we are not tremendous fans of black interiors. We were thrilled to discover, after studying our car, that its original Azure Blue interior had been painted black by a previous owner.
We had also decided that we wanted to upgrade the interior materials from what came stock in the car. We looked and looked, but had a hard time finding a similar leather sample that matched the color that was in our car originally. The closest we found was from Spinneybeck. We were very impressed with both the quality and size of the hides we got from them, although at roughly $500 a hide (it took just over one hide) it was a bit more expensive than we planned. Once you cut into the second hide, you cannot return it. Had we been able to find a matching vinyl, we could have gotten away with only one hide.
We matched the Azure Blue carpet with carpet from Bill Hirsch. Again, we wanted to upgrade the carpet. We have always loved the look and feel of Wilton Wool carpet. This beautiful, soft carpet is found in cars like Rolls Royces. It may sound pricey, but $300 (15 yards) bought us enough material to just barely outfit our Tiger.
With materials in hand we made our own interior. We got started with the help of family member Dieter Lange. An upholsterer by trade, Dieter has been helping us with project car interiors since my first car when I was fifteen years old.
Although Tiger seats are needlessly complicated, the job was pretty straightforward. The first step is to carefully disassemble everything. You need to photograph and mark how every aspect of the interior goes back together. When it comes to the seats, you take them apart to their individual pieces of cloth. Again, you need to mark with chalk exactly how and where each section of seat attaches to another. You then cut patterns out of the new material and begin to sew the pieces back together. We picked up new foam and straps from Classic Sunbeam Auto Parts, which made the job a lot easier.
In the past, Dieter and I have had to recreate the foam--piece by piece if contoured foam for a car was not available. This step is very important for proper seat comfort and support. With the seats done we recovered the various interior panels, which was not very complicated.
We then turned our attention to the carpet. The Wilton Wool carpet is thicker than the cheaper stuff that came in the car, which made it a bit more challenging to work with. Before we laid down the carpet, we installed Thermo Tec heat and noise shielding, a very easy-to-use material. While we have not started the car yet, previous experience makes us feel that this is a very essential step in any restoration process.
We cut the carpet following the old carpet as a pattern and then bound the edges with dark blue piping material left over from the seats. Piping, by the way, is nothing but regular narrow strips of vinyl sewn around small-diameter pieces of rope.
We were able to complete our interior for about $1500 in materials and a week’s worth of work. This is about the price of a vinyl interior from any of the Tiger parts suppliers. We do have nearly $500 of leather left over for the next project we want to do in Azure Blue.
Systems of a Tiger Feb 24, 2008
We decided to go to a more modern dual master cylinder that does not require the use of the stock booster.
When restoring a car, it makes it a lot easier to think of the vehicle as a whole, but as a collection of systems. Rather than worry about restoring an entire car, we focused our attention on first the braking system, then the fuel system, then the cooling system and so on.
With Girling discs up front and drum brakes in the rear, the brake system on a Tiger is fairly straightforward. However, there are a few things that make a Tiger’s braking system a bit more complicated than most British cars. First, rotors are pretty much unavailable (or at least quite expensive) at this point. Factory spec for rotor thickness is .460, so we had specific measurement in mind when we searched for used rotors. After we took a micrometer to a few, Andres Automotive put up with our request to keep cutting them until we had some good ones.
The Tiger also uses a Girling brake booster to lessen pedal effort, but we decided to make some changes for a few reasons. For one, these boosters are a bit finicky (the factory actually changed them during production because of problems). Another factor is that the stock brake booster operates off of engine vacuum, something a heavily modified small block Ford does not have too much of. Plus, we didn't have a dual braking system.
All cars sold in America after 1967 were required to have dual braking systems. An important safety feature, a dual braking system allows the front brakes to operate independently of the rear brakes. We decided to go to a more modern dual master cylinder that woudn't require the use of the stock booster.
Still one more factor that affected our decision to modify our brakes was cost. A brake booster rebuild would set us back a few hundred dollars, while a new Tiger master cylinder would set us back the same amount.
After driving Bill Martin of Rootes Group Depot’s Tiger, we opted for a 1980 Subaru Master cylinder. This master cylinder cost us about $160 from Red Line BMW parts and fit very well. It clears everything under the hood and only requires that you slightly machine down the original spacer that goes behind the Tiger master cylinder so it will fit the Subaru master cylinder. Just about any auto parts store can get one, but we like dealing with Rennie at Red Line.
While we may come back and readdress brake performance in the sorting phase of this project, the only other modifications we made to the braking system were the installation of KFP Magnum pads up front and KFP re-lined brake shoes in the rear.
We also used a Classic Tube stainless steel brake line kit for the Tiger. This kit fit wonderfully and included everything we needed. Where the stock brake booster was mounted we had to add a junction to connect the line into the booster to the line that came out of the booster. We ended up making one new line, as we now had a dual braking system. Fortunately, Classic Tube sent us some extra stuff to make this line. We also added braided steel brake lines to the car.
All in all, we were pleased with how easy and inexpensive these modifications were and how pleasant pre-bent brake lines made this stage of the restoration. Available for most cars, or custom-made from your originals if they don’t have patterns, these brake line kits run less than $200 from Classic Tube (from classic tube web site). We can honestly say that we will never restore another car without using their kits.
Cooling a Tiger Mar 23, 2008
The Tiger is known for inadequate cooling. For an idea, combine a big engine with a marginal radiator. Now place them in a car with very little space under the hood for air to flow in and out. Cooling problems are sure to develop.
The factory formulated what they called the LAT (Los Angeles Tiger) fiberglass hood, which featured an air scoop. While the air scoop looked cool and was somewhat helpful, what was of perhaps greater help were the two big air ducts at the back of the LAT hood that let hot air escape the engine compartment.
The downside of the LAT hood was that they were rather flimsy, fit poorly and in some owner’s--including this one--minds, were a detriment to the smooth conservative styling of the Sunbeam Tiger.
So, we sought another remedy to the Tiger’s near legendary overheating problem.
We contacted Ron Davis Racing Radiators in Arizona. The shop builds a beautiful and rather large aluminum radiator for a Tiger. While initially we felt the radiator would fit wonderfully, when we actually got the car together, we were dismayed to find that the nearly one inch of additional thickness present in the Ron Davis radiator was barely going to clear the fan. Plus, it would absolutely not clear the revised MG Midget rack we put into our car to solve another Tiger problem, poor steering geometry.
So, out came the Ron Davis radiator and in went a Griffin radiator. Griffin, a respected radiator builder from Piedmont, South Carolina, has a beautifully made radiator that is only about 2.75” thick and fits a Tiger like a glove. While not as huge as the Ron David radiator, it has the advantage of fitting our car. We hope it improves cooling capacity.
The next cooling system modification we made was to change the mechanical fan. The original Tiger has a wholly inadequate four blade fan that doesn't pull enough air through the radiator to cool much of anything, never mind the over 400 horsepower stroked 289 we built for our car. Back in the early '70s, certain Ford Mavericks with air conditioning were equipped with a very strong five blade fan. While somewhat rare today, we managed to find one of these fans at the Rootes Group Depot. Depending on how high your engine is located in the engine compartment, you may need to trim a quarter of an inch from each blade to clear the steering rack, but one look at this fan will tell you that it will move a lot more air.
To finish things off, we reinstalled the original fan shroud (a very important step in Tiger cooling) and added Redline Oil’s Water Wetter to our cooling system. This amazing product actually adheres itself to the water molecules in your radiator. According to the manufacturer, it doubles the cooling capacity of ordinary water.
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