Start of another Tiger rescue.......

[Two Dogs]

Hello All,
I have just started on a complete restoration of a 1965 Tiger for my Wife. The car was purchased by her father just before shipping off to Vietnam. He drove the car until 1978 when he parked it in the garage. He passed away inn 2011 on our anniversary so after a year in my garage I decided to restore it for her as a 10 year anniversary present. I see lots of people with excellent knowledge of the Tiger so I am thankful for the opportunity to share and receive (probably more take than give) insight during the restoration.



http://twodogsbuild.com

 

[cobrakidz]

Congratulations on your undertaking. Great website, looks like you are very well organized. I look forward to seeing new pics as you get along with the restoration.

 

[michael-king]

That is a well organised website, i was flickingthrough the pages, looks liek you ahve an aftermarket parish hardtop.

Also, i note you are looking into a 500+ hp motor? The implications of that for a tiger are somewhat severe... is your wife planning on driving it?

 

[Two Dogs]

Thank you for the compliments on the website. The top is by dyna plastics. I have been considering one of the curvier hard tops as the one I have is rather blocky and square. Yes my wife will drive the car and the plan is to have a dual tune setup or other means of limiting the scare factor out of the engine. Most of my experience is box Chevys, trucks, and rotary powered sand toys so I plan to make strength adjustments for the power but will make final call after it is chemically stripped and the extent of frame damage is exposed.

 

[michael-king]

Thank you for the compliments on the website. The top is by dyna plastics. I have been considering one of the curvier hard tops as the one I have is rather blocky and square. Yes my wife will drive the car and the plan is to have a dual tune setup or other means of limiting the scare factor out of the engine. Most of my experience is box Chevys, trucks, and rotary powered sand toys so I plan to make strength adjustments for the power but will make final call after it is chemically stripped and the extent of frame damage is exposed.

I think you would find anything over 300HP in a tiger makes them a fast enough mover for most.. and certainly for street use.

I was trying to remember the Dyanplastics name, does it have a little coach plate on the sides at the back of the B post aperture near the vertical face of the side window? They also offered one with a port hole window Thunderbird style.

The 5 speed makes a great difference to the usability of the cars on a long trip.

The brake and suspension upgrades talked about on the site will be of use to you. It might be worth going to a CAT meeting and seeing some of the members cars and maybe going for a ride, it will give you as idea of how the cars ride and handle with various modifications and upgrades.

 

[Two Dogs]

View attachment 3327

Yes it has a coach see pic.

I hear a lot of people say they should have gone bigger when they finish a project. I like the idea of takin some test rides. I will look for the next show.

 

[Warren]

OC

Coming up auto cross at Long Beach City College and Woodley park.
Those are your best bets to hang and meet the locals.

 

[Moondoggie]

A T-5 will just explode behind 500 hp !!! The T-5 is good for about 350 ft/lbs
of torque. Very very soon there will be a TKO 600 available with a side shifter
that can take the load and install without hacking up your trans tunnel..
500 hp might be a bit much but close to 400 hp is a wild ride.....

Moondoggie

 

[varodder]

Looks like a great project. Love your web site and the pictures. They will help me on my 65 Tiger project as well. I'm going through the whole drive train, brakes etc. to get it back on the road before I tackle the cosmetics etc. Hope you take more pics of the dash wiring as it well help me when I get around to that part. Look forward to seeing your progress.

I do a lot more reading than posting on this forum and have found it a great place to pick up info, tips etc. lots of knowledgeable people and no drama (except I enjoy the debate over MSD between Moondoggie and Duke). Just wish the CAT notes were back in print....I really could use them soon.....

You can't take too many pictures. I find the factory shop manual severely lacking in details about many things (remote oil filter set up, generator mount, various wiring details) that good pictures will become valuable when you get around to putting things back together. I joined CAT but being on the east coast I have only found two other Tiger owner's within an hours drive; so it's not too easy to find another car for reference.

 

[Two Dogs]

There are over 600 pics of the tear down so far so don't be afraid to ask for more of a certain part removal- I may have it. I took the entire dash out wires intact so it is on the shelf fully wired I will make sure to snap lots of pics.
G

 

[Twin Turbo Tiger]

Wow I don't think ive taken 600 pics of my car and have owned it for 42 yrs.
Nice web site and I'm sure you will do a really great job.
500 HP is alot of power for a tiger that your wife is going to drive not saying she can't
Over the years my car has gone from the stock 260 at about 162 HP to almost 800hp to the rear wheel.
Have rewired it with a wiring kit from just a snap and it works great, I'm not really a purist
As far as some of the other guys because I like to go outside the box and do my thing.
So just do your own thing and looking forward to seeing it completed

 

[Two Dogs]

Got a little crazy at the start and was taking pics of assembled, as each screw came out, as the part came off, and on the bench. One thing for sure is just like work where I take hundreds of picture as the building gets constructed I will no doubt in the end be saying" if this picture showed 4" to the right I would be able see what I need". I considered twin turbo but since she will be the primary of the car I spoke to the engine guy with two thoughts, one being it must be fuel injected so I don't have to give the "pump twice hold half throttle and crank" lessons and that it be faster than my old mans 55 Chevy.

 

[Twin Turbo Tiger]

What kind of fuel injection are planning on running?
What rear end setup?
Did you say the front frame rail was damaged?
On my setup I got tired of the headers being so tight so i cut about 3/4 inch out
and reboxed it in now plenty of room for headers and they stay on now when I remove the motor.

 

[Two Dogs]

Injection system is looking like Edelbrock.

Haven't picked a rear end yet I do have access to an IRS from a Taurus. Will probably stick with Dana to avoid all the fab for IRS though.

 

[Duke Mk1a]

Injection system is looking like Edelbrock.

Why FI? As much or more power can be developed with a high quality carb system.

 

[michael-king]

Why FI? As much or more power can be developed with a high quality carb system.

The car wont smell like a open fuel cap with FI, and he could have the programmable maps to switch between wife mode and all out HP mode.

Actually, if he does get 500bhp.. there will be a lady driving around in a tiger with more HP than you Duke!

 

[Duke Mk1a]

The car wont smell like a open fuel cap with FI, and he could have the programmable maps to switch between wife mode and all out HP mode.

Actually, if he does get 500bhp.. there will be a lady driving around in a tiger with more HP than you Duke!

It will no longer smell like a 60's car, no biggie.....switching maps would be nice. 500 HP will not be easy to attain (go with AFR 225cc, Race Heads, 58cc chambers and a 347 stroker). If I installed a Ultra HP 750, I might get another 20-30 HP but 450 is PLENTY I assure you.

 

[Bryan]

red lights in mirror

how much HP does it take to do 62 in a 45??

 

[Duke Mk1a]

how much HP does it take to do 62 in a 45??

~50 HP. MyE28 lurker.

 

[Twin Turbo Tiger]

Just my opinion but I would go with a crate motor everything new no miss matching nice hydraulic rollor cam 5 speed and your FI setup this way you know everything is right.
I know from experience some of the nightmares guyshave gotten into because they thought 500hp was easy to get .I've got a 380 CI motor 10.5 compressio,AFR 225 that have really been worked over used to have a 700 inch lift solid roller cam, ported out Victor Jr with a HP 950 and like Michael said garage always smelled of gas now I do have a auto trans and with that setup it just barely made 500 rwhp.
Just my opinion because I really don't know what goals you are trying to get to but if its just a little driver and something you and wife just want to enjoy you know the old saying
Keep it simple.
Now I know people are going to say look whose talking about wanting more power but since I put the turbos on the car we lowered the compression to 9.0 put a small 575 hydraulic roller cam went with FI with some 90 lb injectors and just going to change from FAST to BS 3 and will probably go to about 850 rwhp But My WIFE DOESN'T DRIVE THE CAR
The problem now is I'm working in ND and sitting on a Crane and have to much time on my hands think of ways to go faster