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New guy here…
I’m guessing this is the best place to post. After 24 years I am back in the Sunbeam world and I am glad to be back! Many moons ago I rescued a SV Alpine from a field in Watsonville, CA that had just started a ‘slumber in the grass’. I towed it home and got it going but couldn’t seem to find the smoke system switch. After a few months of killing the mosquitos in my neighborhood, I finally pulled the engine apart for a rebuild. I really was amazed with how well the Alpine handled and with the new engine I enjoyed numerous auto crosses and local mountain roads. I had dreams of fitting a V8 but just couldn’t bring myself to cutting into a fairly straight car. After college a job relocation forced me to sell the car rather than drag it to MS where it would have probably rusted as quickly as my bread boxer bus did. I lost track of the ‘green bomb’ but hope it wound up with a friendly owner.
Fast forward 24 years and that ‘perfect car’ just piped up on search tempest. With too many projects, no time and marginal funds, my bride offered the simple notion “just get and so I don’t have to hear you whine about the damn sunbeam any more”. Wham-bam and I have another Alpine. This one is a 30-year garage queen with the ‘mostly complete - some assembly required’ theme. It’s pretty straight and is worthy of a V8 fitment.
I hope not to put myself in the heathen-bastard category by fumigating my creativity upon my new hooptie. I wish I could like the V6 conversions, but the thumping deep rumble of a V8 has been my passion for too many years to count. I don’t like the “Alger” idea just because it desecrates the beauty of a true Tiger. I don’t think it’s right to hang a Tiger badge on any Rootes body that didn’t originally roll out of the Jensen door - but that’s just my opinion. On the other hand, there are many areas that the original Tiger could be improved upon with advances in technology. So that being said why blow all the dough on a Tiger that I would wind up modifying the hell out of anyway?
Enter my project idea — the “Alpine V8”. My idea is to update the idea of the Tiger and perhaps borrow some chrome pinstripes and fancy non-peaked headlight rings. I won’t put on a single thing that says “Tiger” or park in the Tiger area at the car show. I just hope the Alpine folks will still let me park with them without tossing rotten turnips.
The short list of my ideas for this project are:
1) Some kind of SBF V8 - right now I am looking seriously at the Ford Racing 306 crate motor.
2) 5-speed - Some type of T5 or Tremec product.
3) Shortened Ford 8.8” rear axle from an exploder with disk brakes.
4) Modified or replacement front suspension - either one of the bolt in options or a home-brew MGB rack based option.
5) 5-lug Wilwood disk brakes up front with some flavor of dual chamber master cylinder.
Thats the plan for now anyway. Inevitably plans will change and better plans will present themselves. I know I will have to manufacture things like motor mounts and fender bracing mounts as well as the firewall. But I hope to do so in such a way that looks right and functions properly. I’m hoping for a stock-ish look that isn’t gaudy.
Sorry for the pontification. But more than anything just want to say hi!
-Kevin Jakey
Hollister, CA
67 SV B395010578
I’m guessing this is the best place to post. After 24 years I am back in the Sunbeam world and I am glad to be back! Many moons ago I rescued a SV Alpine from a field in Watsonville, CA that had just started a ‘slumber in the grass’. I towed it home and got it going but couldn’t seem to find the smoke system switch. After a few months of killing the mosquitos in my neighborhood, I finally pulled the engine apart for a rebuild. I really was amazed with how well the Alpine handled and with the new engine I enjoyed numerous auto crosses and local mountain roads. I had dreams of fitting a V8 but just couldn’t bring myself to cutting into a fairly straight car. After college a job relocation forced me to sell the car rather than drag it to MS where it would have probably rusted as quickly as my bread boxer bus did. I lost track of the ‘green bomb’ but hope it wound up with a friendly owner.
Fast forward 24 years and that ‘perfect car’ just piped up on search tempest. With too many projects, no time and marginal funds, my bride offered the simple notion “just get and so I don’t have to hear you whine about the damn sunbeam any more”. Wham-bam and I have another Alpine. This one is a 30-year garage queen with the ‘mostly complete - some assembly required’ theme. It’s pretty straight and is worthy of a V8 fitment.
I hope not to put myself in the heathen-bastard category by fumigating my creativity upon my new hooptie. I wish I could like the V6 conversions, but the thumping deep rumble of a V8 has been my passion for too many years to count. I don’t like the “Alger” idea just because it desecrates the beauty of a true Tiger. I don’t think it’s right to hang a Tiger badge on any Rootes body that didn’t originally roll out of the Jensen door - but that’s just my opinion. On the other hand, there are many areas that the original Tiger could be improved upon with advances in technology. So that being said why blow all the dough on a Tiger that I would wind up modifying the hell out of anyway?
Enter my project idea — the “Alpine V8”. My idea is to update the idea of the Tiger and perhaps borrow some chrome pinstripes and fancy non-peaked headlight rings. I won’t put on a single thing that says “Tiger” or park in the Tiger area at the car show. I just hope the Alpine folks will still let me park with them without tossing rotten turnips.
The short list of my ideas for this project are:
1) Some kind of SBF V8 - right now I am looking seriously at the Ford Racing 306 crate motor.
2) 5-speed - Some type of T5 or Tremec product.
3) Shortened Ford 8.8” rear axle from an exploder with disk brakes.
4) Modified or replacement front suspension - either one of the bolt in options or a home-brew MGB rack based option.
5) 5-lug Wilwood disk brakes up front with some flavor of dual chamber master cylinder.
Thats the plan for now anyway. Inevitably plans will change and better plans will present themselves. I know I will have to manufacture things like motor mounts and fender bracing mounts as well as the firewall. But I hope to do so in such a way that looks right and functions properly. I’m hoping for a stock-ish look that isn’t gaudy.
Sorry for the pontification. But more than anything just want to say hi!
-Kevin Jakey
Hollister, CA
67 SV B395010578
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