the 5 speed craze?
I really don't understand the current craze of putting 5 speeds in Tigers? Why? Is anyone really making multiple long freeway commutes in a Tiger? Even if you are, I drove my original Tiger cross country at least 5 times in the 1980's... and it had 3.54 rear end gears. I didn't have any problems and it got about 20 miles per gallon on the highway. If someone's justifying it because of the slightly better gas mileage, well, if you calculate what it costs to do the swap, and then divide that by the mileage saving... well, you'd really have to drive your Tiger a lot to break even. And if you own a Tiger, a couple dollars of gas probably isn't going to ruin your budget. If the consideration is engine RPM/wear, well, like I said, mine made at least 5 cross country trips, and after that I drove it daily round trip San Diego to LA (90 miles each way). 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, for 3 years, and that didn't wear the engine out. When I decided that the engine probably had WAY over 100,000 miles on it (speedometer was broken for several years but you can do the math) and I took it apart for an overhaul, it was so clean you could still see the hatch marks on the cylinders!
If the consideration is top speed, well, my Tiger with 3.54 rear end gears went as fast as you'd probably ever want to go in a Tiger! I had it up to about 110 mph once (according to my friend in the Porsche 914-6 racing me, speedometer didn't work) the engine felt like it still had a little more to go, but it really felt like the wind was about to rip the top off (there's really not that much holding those things down) and I backed off.
Anyway, all that blathering aside, I really did consider putting a 5 speed in B9471705 when I restored it, just because I wanted the best and latest of everything, I decided not to after looking at the insides of one... the face width is really skinny on those gears! Seemed a little marginal for something with 400+ hp and with modern tires that might actually hook up. So, I decided to stay with the tried and true big ol' fat gears of the Toploader and had it rebuilt by David Kee.
Bob Knight
B9471705
B9471929