Kens Tiger - B9471532

[DD (CA)]

Anyone have an old drivers side carpet they want to sell? I wouldn't mind getting something old to match the other side, at least for now.
The original 1964 seatbelts are from the Roberk Co. in Norwalk Connecticut, I should have them redone for safety's sake. I'm sure there are other better options out there now too.
I'm debating on the seats whether to recover them with a new kit, or try to salvage the covers. They aren't bad, looks like a cat put a few claw marks on the upper shoulder area of the seats, I guess appropriate for a Tiger. Regardless, the foam is falling apart and a few of the straps are broke, they need work.

Ken, really enjoying watching you progress. My own BTDT... 4-5 upholsterers refused to consider repair of original seats. They had some busted seams and the response (without prodding) from each was that technically yes, they COULD re-stitch, but would expect the vinyl to tear during or shortly after any repair. DIY, is maybe a good idea. In my case, was sentimental about sitting in pops actual chair, so left it alone. Not the best choice, as W says "ashes>dust". Of a number of the other interior finishes, the new seat materials look pretty dead on (i'm super super picky) relative to (most) carpets, door cards, console and dash options. I'll repair soon, because my ass hurts at this point.

Seatbelts: Known to be the stock dealer supplied at least here in US. I have the same set.

Carpet: I also used a dye mixture over faded rear shelf; lightly. I've been OK with this method to retain patina and will probably go harder / deeper on the black dye at some point later.

Underlayers: One of those items I now wish I'd left as is. Good of you to leave em. I was caught up in minor rust (surface) and tar matting for temp/sound. I'm sure the new stuff may be "better performing," but would rather have kept the stock padding. dumb move.

Motor: Looks so great. Well done.

Keep it up! Cant wait to hear / see it on road soon!

Derek

 

[KenF]

Original Owner

It turns out one of those receipts I found in the console was from the original owner! I Googled his name, Stockton area, left message, and he returned the call a few minutes later. He bought the car in 1965 from Crown Motors in Stockton for $3,000. It had 200-300 miles on it already when picked up. The black EJY 543 plates are original. He drove it to the Bay Area one day and bought and mounted those AR mags, said he had some serious wheel balance issues on the way home. He sold it to his neighbor across the street, who had a son in high school, or just graduated, and they moved years later to the street I live on. He was happy his old car was still around. I told him I'd bring it down to his place for a ride, or drive it if he wants, once I get it sorted out. Pretty awesome.

 

[michael-king]

Ken,

We resurrected a long stored code 86 tiger. We saved the original sewt covers and installed new foams. We had a shop fix 1 split seat sidr panel by using an orginal door panel to donate the material. We also used the same to recover the original piping around the seat edges that had disintegrated over the years.

Thats now 2012...and no new splits etc.. So it can be done... Just patience and time and a sypathetic trimmer.

 

[KenF]

Water Pump

I finally got the water pump back from Dead Nuts On after sending it out Dec 28.
You may be looking at the most expen$ive SBF water pump ever, well at least for me. Bought off ePay, supposedly rebuilt and ready to go. It had a slow drip so sent it off the Dead Nuts, opting for their Boss 302 impeller. Put a Mustang radiator hose spring in the lower hose just in case this thing sucks so much. At least I have a hipo C3OE-8512 impeller out of this misadventure.

 

[KenF]

Seat Repair

I took both seats apart to replace the foam and support structure, which was shot. Did refer to this excellent article from Tigers/Alpines East on seat repair. Pretty sure the bottoms had been repaired in the past, weird looking straps, foam with holes, and odd cotton tufts on the bottom. So instead of gluing the covers to the center of the foam, they ran pieces of cord from the seam through the foam and canvas, then tied around these cotton balls to pull the seat insert down. At least I didn't have to mess with glue when removing seat covers. The drivers frame needed a couple welds on the front, which I guess is typical. Redid the support canvas and straps, which really is over complicated for what it does, and hopefully the old school Weldwood glue will hold up.

Still looking for an old MK1 drivers side carpet that someone wants to part with.

Thanks, Ken

 

[TAH_Tiger]

Seat Height Adjustment

Not to get off topic, but after looking at pic #1 of the bottom of the seat, it reminds me of how many newer Tiger/Alpine owners are not aware of the seat height adjustment bar shown.

 

[KenF]

Back On The Ground

Got the brakes bleed, wheels on, and back on the ground.
Thanks Larry for the carpet.

 

[KenF]

First Drive

Took it for its first ride around the block! It's been five months since we pushed it down the street into my garage, a bit longer than I thought it would take.

Video here.

Now I've got another fix-it list of stuff to do. It ran good, needs a little clutch adjustment and gauge/wiring work.

 

[Forrest39]

That's an amazing accomplishment Ken! 5 months is a very quick turn around in my opinion. Glad to see your car on the road, and for sharing the process with all of us.
Cheers, -Kevin

 

[spmdr]

Clutch adjustment?

 

[michael-king]

Given the time the car sat and the usual rootes electrics issues id guess your gauge issue is grounding.

Find all the earths and clean them up, especially gauges as rhey are a daisy chain ( you can add extra earth wires)
Where they go into body use little spire washers to allow them to get good ground. Add earting wires for tail lights etc.

 

[Warren]

Magic spray

I had good luck with the contact cleaner for electrical parts. We used to call it TV tuner spray. " Insert geezer voice," why I remember when we had to git up to change the channel."

Great job Ken with the tear down of the motor and transmission work.
I hope Rick and you are still BFF's. Seems I talked to him more than the Mrs for a month or so

Wait till you get some new tires on that's the next wow that is better feeling.

 

[KenF]

Wait till you get some new tires on that's the next wow that is better feeling.

Yeah, I just put a cheap set on there for now, should have gotten those Vredesteins instead.

Used some contact cleaner today to get a few things working. After cleaning just the fuse block connections good, got all the lights, turn signals, and gauges working. Only things not working now are the wipers, heater fan (not that I'll use it), panel lights, indicator lights, and horn.

Took it for a second drive today to get gas. Some observations:

• Clutch is fine, need to get use to. A bit stiffer than I was hoping.
• Putting gas in the tank without dribbling is going to take some practice.
• Those fender mirrors work surprisingly well actually.
• Rides good on the freeway, took it up to about 75.
• Springs and shocks still working fine after all these years.
• Brakes without the servo aren't too bad, I've had worse.
• Water temp right at 175 in traffic. Hopefully in July it's the same.
• Oil pressure is 60 at speed, 25 at idle.
• The 2.90 first gear is nice. Glad I went with the wide ratio trans.
• Need a louder flasher since I'm older and tend to leave my blinker on.
• Need a place for my iPhone.

Car is a blast to drive!

Going to the DMV tomorrow for some fun.

 

[KenF]

DMV Adventure Day

Well, took the car to the DMV today, barely, and got it registered, kinda. Took a couple hours. First, the car quit running on the way there, more electrical gremlins.

Nursed car into the inspection line. Guy gave the tag a look over and he wrote B9471532LRXFE on his sheet. I explained the suffix really isn't part of the chassis number, but I think once he's written it down, it ain't changing. At least he got the B in there and the first part right, and I didn't want to push it. I also showed him an old Tiger Tales VIN Tag article he could refer to if needed. He glanced at a picture or two, but didn't pay much attention to it. For the model year he took the year off the old title, 1966. I explained the car was built December 1964, date codes, blah, blah, 1965, blah, but no budging there either. He looked at the old black license plates and noted them on the form too.

Get inside to finish transfer with a nice young gal who seems to be doing fine until she pulls out this envelope with a new pair of white plates to put on the car. I say whoa, I want to retain the plates that are on the car, on the old title, since plates are perfectly usable. She gets an older lady who has seen black plates before and seems to know the ropes better. She jumps on the keyboard and changes, cancels, changes, looks for a job-aid for that type transaction, etc. While that is going on I notice a printout where the first gal typed CRXFE in the VIN instead of LRXFE, so I pointed that out. Older lady gets the VIN inspector guy to question him about his writing abilities and asks me to take him out to the parking lot to have another look at the VIN tag. Got the L confirmed and straightened out, and I pay the fees. The guy also wrote CP for coupe on his form. I showed the lady pictures on my phone, explaining it's a convertible, kinda like the old T-Birds, removable hardtop, which she agreed was a convert and changed. Lady then explains the original plates are in suspend mode until they go through someone higher up and approve that they are not already being used, vulgar, etc., which may take a few weeks. Hopefully no one will find the old ELJ 543 plates as objectionable and approve them for use. Anyway, high five for them for spending an hour getting it straightened out.

Now to get the critter back home. It runs for 1-3 minutes, then quits. Gauges sometimes stop working too, but it's not consistent. Give it a little break, and it will start again enough to get further down the street. Decided to call AAA and have it towed home. I'm thinking the ballast resistor on the generator may be suspect, since a few weeks ago it would start, but quit when key released to on position. And I'll be cleaning and grounding more connections. Maybe I'll throw the points back in there and swap coils to eliminate the Pertronix.

Anyway, always an adventure to go to the DMV. But I have to say, I think they've improved a bit over the last few years. With the Real-ID swarms coming in they knew they had to make some efficiency improvements.

 

[Warren]

Hurry up

And wait. It took they close to 90 days on my last out of system suspended to Sacramento request.
They tried the same, "Well here's you're white reflective plates," on me.

As a CHP inspector told me do not use the LRXFE as part of the VIN.
His reason was quite a stretch but was still his reason. Here it is, when you get pulled over and they're looking for a stolen car they use the last few numbers of your VIN number to determine if it is a stolen car.
Obviously if you got a bunch of people running around with LRXFE included as part of the VIN you'll get towed and have some splaining to do....
Howard the former CHP guy told me he was also responsible for training. Having Howard and other DMV service do the paperwork was the best hundred bucks I've ever spent on a car. Counting small motorcycles I've done a little more than 10 if you add the hours on those it's like a week in _____, add your
least favorite place.

 

[J D Johnson]

You gotta love stories like this. Several years ago, an Oakland cop working auto thief told me they walked away from a stolen Tiger sitting in an impound yard because the ViN listed on the paperwork they had didn't match what was on the plate mounted to the car. I asked him what the mismatch entailed. He said, no "LRXFE".

J.D.

 

[KenF]

It turned out what I thought were electrical issues with the engine dying turned out to be a fuel line problem. I even swapped the points back in to eliminate the Pertronix possibility. Took the fuel lines off again and shoved 3/32 stranded cable through them to clean them out. I frayed the end of the cable a bit and mounted in a drill for a roto-rooter effect. Running good now, so far. All the gauges are working, just need to fix the horn, wipers, panel lights, and heater motor. The wiper motor was dead on the bench so I took it apart and cleaned all the old grease out, checked the brushes and cleaned the armature. Found this MGA article which helped. It's working now, I think it just needed a good cleaning.

What tool do people use to remove/tighten the dash switches and ignition nuts? I fabbed one out of some old bicycle wrenches, and they work, kinda. There must be some better spanner wrench out there.

 

[michael-king]

Moss motors sell a little 2 endes socket for the flick.switches and ignition. Cheap and effective.

Give the car sat so long you probably need to do a real PITA job... Pull the fuel tanks out and balance tube behind the bumper and get all the paint off them.. They will start to flake paint and blocm the lines, pump and carb... Comon issue with sunbeams especially if they have been sitting.

 

[KenF]

Inside Door Handles

I noticed I have 2 different inside door handles. pretty sure the one on the right is not correct, and not sure what it is from.
If any anyone has a door handle for sale, please let me know.

Thanks, Ken

 

[Bryan]

I think rick at SS sells them?