Lucky, lucky, lucky dog am I!!!!!!

Forrest39

Forrest39

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CAT Member
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I’m sure all Tiger owners have vivid memories of their ‘first happy day’ with their Tigers… And after 27 years of hoping and about 6 months of serious looking, my special day came yesterday.
To say that I’m a lucky dog is a vast understatement. The previous owner (Craig) spent considerable time, effort, and funds in building up this Tiger. It’s a bare metal restoration with only 739 miles on it. A number of quality features and upgrades have been added. Gary (Malibureview) did much of the work and guided Craig through the project. While there a few minor challenges left to be finished up, the car is about as close to brand new as I think one can get.
All this wouldn’t have been possible without guidance and support. My wife has backed and encouraged me through the ‘Alpine V8’ phase and agreed that a real Tiger would be the best way to go. I can’t thank Bruce (cobrakidz) enough for provide advice and guidance, not to mention numerous annoying questions and texts! He helped me find this very special Tiger with the help and advice of Warren (umm.. Warren) and Gary. I still can’t believe my fortune that my dream has finally come true.
Many and sincere thanks to all who have helped!
I’ll get some pix up soon. Today I am shuffling cars and trailers and getting the Tiger nested in the garage. Th frog eye moves out to the hangar where it will have some running room!

Cheers, -Kevin

Deep breath — the hunt is over!!!!!!!!!!!:D
 
Congratulations Kevin. Sounds like a great car. I'm just a couple of towns over in Morgan Hill.
 
Congrats Kevin...I'm also close by in Carmel I'm also working on next years Concours on the Avenue here in Carmel so I would like to see the Tiger !!!
Best to pm me at Billdoo@msn.com

Moondoggie
 
Ummmm

What did I do? Tell Bruce then picture him like the kid unable to remove his hand from the cookie jar because he's grabbing too many cookies . I think I mentioned it to you and I did see the car myself and could offer the no cat in the fight description.

My reason for going to see the car way up in Malibu , was the check on Gary's work .:)
Sadly Craig was late for work and I didn't get a chance to drive it. I had it on good report from Rick aka Tootech our member pal with the 240 Z , 350 Chevy that it performs very well.

Must have been a nice ride home from Malibu ,

Now all you need is a AC filter housing, I think I know where a few are.:)
 
Congrats on your acquisition- looking forward to some pictures!
 
Very glad to hear it all came together as planned--congrats and hopefully we can get some nor cal guys together for a Tiger outing....you got yourself a beautiful car...:)
 
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ProCar seats.
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Purr Box... 302 bored .030 over. Yup -> needs an AC filter!
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Light white overspray and slight petina but otherwise good metal. Rubber parts are mostly shot. Windows have a little crazing, but workable for now.
 
This a wonderful "feel good" story. May you have many years of happy Tigering.

Beautiful car.
 
Nice car, are the PS wheels on it? Also early vin ... Nice to get a car from the start of the story... Enjoy
 
Like the wheels

Congrats, like the wheels, nice looking car all around. That Tiger's very close in number to the first one I had, 0715, and Lou Anderson's, 0713, in which he won the SCCA National championship in the '70's. Must have been a good week at the Jensen factory!
Bob K.
B9471705
 
The wheels are two piece I think. In any case the offset has a large range of adjustment. I haven't seen a set of these on anything else yet. I think I read somewhere that they are no longer made but dunno...

Spent the evening with polishing compound bringing the black hardtop back from the dead. Got bored with that and spent an hour chasing down some electrical gremlins. Poor connections and such. Almost done with that venue..

I have a small coolant leak around the thermostat housing so I hope to pull it, lap it, and reinstall with a new gasket in the next few days.

Sure is fun spending the evening in the garage rather than surfing the internet reading about it!:p

Cheers, -Kevin
 
Forrest39 said:
I have a small coolant leak around the thermostat housing so I hope to pull it, lap it, and reinstall with a new gasket in the next few days.
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A word of advice if you are new to SBF's (or even if you're not!). There are many different iterations of how the manifold/thermostat/water outlet is designed, and the thermostat sits in a recess that can be on either side of he gasket. The version that is common from that time period has the thermostat on the water outlet side, and the recess is very shallow. It is very easy for it to slip out of the recess while tightening down which will cause the water outlet to crack while you are tightening it. Typically aftermarket replacements have a deeper recess and aren't as finicky, plus they are thicker at the flange so they are more likely to just leak but not crack. If you want the factory-correct part, Scott Drake makes a very nice repro, which is just as prone to breaking as the original. Be careful!
 
Thanks Jeff,
You are absolutely correct. The thermostat housing I have is pitted pretty badly. the first time I offered it up, the thermostat slipped out of battery. the gasket didn't seat and I once again have a green fountain on the top of the motor...
The gasket that I bought was pretty poorly fitted so I whipped out some gasket stock and made my own. On the second install, I was able to keep the thermostat in the recess by pulling it from the outlet port. Presto!
I may still replace the housing because of the pitting, but works for now.

While I was getting that mess sorted out, I discovered some melted wires near the distributor. The wiring has a few challenges yet to sort out, but one at a time!

Cheers, -Kevin
 
I'm sure you will Kyle,
I waited 27 years before pulling the trigger. Had I known about this forum, I probably woulda had one years ago! In the mean time, enjoy your project. I sold my Alpine, but I learned so much and made so many new acquaintances that it was well worth it. Keep us updated on your progress!
Cheers, -Kevin
 
Poor man's Porsche

1fineAlpine said:
Congrats on the Tiger! Some day I'll have a genuine one too...
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For many years I had a Karmann Ghia convertibles I used to laugh and say if I close my eyes it felt just like a 912 or early 911 of course I built the crap out of it, ran the snot out of it and never thought 2X when I left it un attended. Get Craigsnotify app it's killer! and enjoy the hunt it's like a box of chocolates....mostly rusty ones but you never know what you are going to get..
 
Warren said:
For many years I had a Karmann Ghia convertibles I used to laugh and say if I close my eyes it felt just like a 912 or early 911 of course I built the crap out of it, ran the snot out of it and never thought 2X when I left it un attended. Get Craigsnotify app it's killer! and enjoy the hunt it's like a box of chocolates....mostly rusty ones but you never know what you are going to get..
Click to expand...

Yep. I still have my 914 that I have owned since 1992. It doesn't go fast in the straights, but it doesn't slow down in the corners!
-Kevin
 
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