Tiger Club Forum

Hello,

I purchased a 67 Mk 1A in September that has not been running since the 70s'. Have been restoring it back to original since then.

The original 260 needs to be machined, heads are shot, pistons ate something. We had a hell of a time finding a machinist in or around NJ but it is there now. It has been there awhile and I am losing faith it will be done on any kind of reasonable time frame.

Looking to purchase a running 5 bolt 289? Can anyone advise where to look? There some old forum posts and ebay listings but I have not had much luck.

My understanding is that if I purchase a 6 bolt I will need to get a new bellhousing (C5DA - 6394 - A, D20A - 6394 - AA), drill new holes in bellhousing, retainer for the trans or fabricate one, slave cylinder bracket for 6 bolt. Is that accurate? 6 bolts are a lot more plentiful but I would prefer to keep things as simple and stock a possible. is it dumb to go this route?

Also unrelated but currently installing the interior kit and carpet which was gutted from the car. Does anyone have photos from their own installation showing where all the pieces go?

Regards,
Brian

Brian I had to go the same way with a new engine, My engine blew up on as Road Rally years ago, even back then a 289 5 bolt engine or block was hard to track down, I use a 289 6 bolt block and as you say a cast iron Bell Housing, I found that second hand Housing was designed to suit a Narrow ear and Wide ear transmission, the Tiger Close ratio gearbox is a Narrow ear bolt fixing , so that would be ok, to use, but you will need the larger engine metal back plate, cant remember if I fitted a larger Flywheel? possibly did, then of course a bigger Clutch kit , what ever you do, replace, the throw out being with a really good one, the ones that Rick was selling a few years back were in a Timken box .but were not Timken, be aware ,to try for a Timken, the clutch slave cylinder bracket, is different on a 6 bolt block, there maybe some of them out there ,or fabricate same. just remembered the Centre hole in the 6 bolt Bell housing maybe bigger dimension, meaning the front housing of your gearbox is smaller. which has to be addressed , I think I had the bell housing welded in 4 places in the hole then machined the welds to the exact dimension of the front gearbox housing ,you must do this to centralize the gearbox to bell housing , Critical? Saying all the above it worked for me, but so much easier to get a 5 bolt 289 Block, then none of the above, has to be done , Now Carpets if you can put up a photo of the kit, I can help , I have just in the last 2 weeks produced 3 Tiger carpet kits, 2 RHD and 1 LHD, My Son has a Classic car carpet business, and has all the pattens for most cars, with the Tiger the Gearbox Tunnel carpet are molded in two pieces, there are approx. 30 pieces in a Tiger kit including 8 Vinyl piece's there originally when around the seat runners then there separate carpets, for the 4 floors and two over mats, 4 piece sill carpets ,rear tunnel ,rear seat upriser and the rear floor carpet, two rear side inner wheel arches, front firewall pieces, the front floor mats are either with the passenger kick plate or no kickplate, front carpets come with heel pads, there are 12 hidden push down carpet clips in the carpets and the 12 screw in, floor studs and the LHD cars have the bigger pad on the tunnel carpet where the accelerator is ,that a bit over the top, and spoils the look of the beautiful carpet, but is original ,these 3 Kits I made including all the sewing took 30 hours, so this has to be paid for and each, kit in first Quality Plush pile carpet, is about $1500 so only a photo of your kit ,will tell me what you have. and where it goes? Cheers Mal

Hi Mal,

Thanks for your response. Machinist came back with a price of 9K so I am looking at buying a 6 bolt and modifying a 6 bolt bellhousing for use or having him do the machine work and assembling the motor myself. Not sure which yet.

This is the only photo i have right now. I will take more photos of the interior kit and carpet pieces tomorrow when I am with the car. The interior was disassembled and chewed up by something so I am working a little bit blind. I cleaned it up and laid down insulation mat.

What does the cardboard side pieces that go under the carpet look like? Are they really necessary? I can mold my own if I understand what it should cover on the sill but need a photo or something?
Do the side carpet pieces get glued down? I am not seeing how they would retain
Where does the piece (I believe there is 2) sitting on the driver side seat mount in my photo go?
I have the screws and the clips. Does everything still get glued down or just the smaller pieces?
I think there were remnants of some fabric glued direct to the floor. by the trans tunnel and the seat mounts? Is there just material down to cover the metal? anyone have a photo of what needs covering?

Thanks for any help
Brian

These are the pieces I am unclear on where they go. They cover the trans tunnel and the shelf behind the driver I believe I just do not know how. Anyone do this before or have any photos?

Also any tips on the 3 pronged clips? I just turn them with plyers? do the prongs go in the circular holes or the oval ones?

Hi Brian,
Although this is a great site for British cars, there are several Facebook sites more devoted to Tiger only talk that might serve you better. Some are SUNBEAM TIGER, TEAE (tigers east/alpines east), CAT (California association of tiger owners) Some of the mustang sites may help in engine location also.
Tom H
TAH-TIGER (also NJ)