Details.....
Just found this thread. The car is looking better and better! A lot of good work already done, and just a bit more to go. Congrats!
You may have already heard some or all of this, but here are some of the details about the previous rebuild of that car.
The Boss 302 Block also has the Boss 302 Forged Steel Crank & OEM Rods [shot-peened]. Those items alone should be worth something to someone, should you decide to sell it separately. The Head Bolt holes in the block have been heli-coiled & ARP head studs used, in case the heads have not been removed yet.
The engine was built with 12.5:1 Compression. Perhaps not the best plan for a street build then [& not my idea, nor that of Mike, the engine builder], but sometimes the wild hair takes root. So the pistons would need to be changed if someone wanted to build something milder for the street.
The engine was built by Mike Partlow of “Mike Partlow Racing Engines”. Mike had a side business building engines in his garage at night. Some of these were short blocks to order for Speedway Motors a Speed Shop in Santa Fe Springs [moved to Azusa, last I heard], others were to order for a variety of cusotmers. the business was mostly to earn extra $$ to support his racing habit.
His last major personal project car was a 56 Chevy 2 door street car that was Concours quality.
Prior to that, he had found a cheap salvage 1972 Mitsubishi Colt project car & turned it into a tube frame drag car with a 427 sbc that ran in the 8s. Guys that saw it run still talk about it. Mike was a machinist for COLA Cranks for years, then went to JE pistons to help launch the SRP brand on the sales side when they were still in Huntington Beach. He passed prematurely and is still missed by most everyone who knew him.
Back to the Tiger. The engine & 5 speed install [and the trans tunnel work] was done by “Doc’s Hot Rod Welding” of Long Beach. Some of his work had been featured in magazines. When the engine was first fired up for the initial run-in, we discovered that the original Tach had been changed sometime in the past [prior PO] to one from an MGB or similar, as many did in order to have the face with 6K RPM red line rather than the puny looking 5K original. That owner was not aware apparently, or did not perform for whatever reason, the necessary tach conversion from a 4 cyl application to that for a V8. Therefore the tach was always registering 2x the actual rpm of the engine.
The brake system was completely rebuilt with new master & wheel cylinders, rather than rebuilding the originals. All of the suspension bushings & tie rod ends were replaced. A new exhaust system was fabricated when all was done.
When completed, the car needed to be smogged prior to registration. The smog shop struggled to get it to pass, and no doubt leaned it out a lot.
After the smog session, it was finally taken back home. Before it could get re-tuned for street use, the accident with the radiator occurred. That became the final straw in the rebuilding process. The owner at the time had other interests, job stress, etc. and decided not to indulge any more time & resources to it.
Best wishes for the rest of the project!
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