Tiger - Post SVA
The Tiger Made it through the SVA in October. October to December (in between the crap weather) I got in 700 miles. This mileage brought out one or two problems and gave me an idea of what needed to be done in the future and what needed to be done over the winter
(I thought the work was finished once we got through the SVA how wrong I was…it had only just started…).The following items have or will be sorted before the spring:
- Track
- Stone Guards
- Tank Cover
- Throttle Linkage
- Seat Belts
- Stalks
- Tonneau
- Trim
- Seats
- Filler
- Future plans…may be
The theory goes that the broader the front track the less roll there should be when cornering, thereby keeping the tyres flatter on the tarmac and therefore giving better grip, reducing understeer. Hence why Caterham and Westfield both sell wide track kits for their respective vehicles. This sounded like it would be worth doing.
My front hubs were off a typical Sierra with steel wheels and hence had fairly short studs. This meant I only got about 6 threads to hold the alloy wheels on as the alloys are much thicker than the standard steel items. For safety the studs needed replacing so while I was doing that job It made sense to fit a spacer at the same time, increasing the front track. I went for an extra 20mm at each side which pushes the wheels out towards the width of the rears. On the Tiger it has another bonus that it gives more lock, as the extra 20mm gives extra space between the trailing arm of the front suspension.
The job is very easy. Take a large hammer and knock the old studs out, they are only held in with a spline through the hub. The new ones were inserted and pulled into place initially with an old wheel nut and washer. The wheel was then put on and tightened up. Checking the wheel nuts after each outing is advised as I found the odd stud "settled" after a run or two and needed tightening up a bit (I always find checking the nuts regularly helps).
On the road there is a definite difference, feeling more settled through corners but not as sharp at turn in. The changes may not all be due to the track width as I also raised the spring platforms to improve sump clearance at the same time.
The studs on the rear were a better length but were in a ropy condition so I replaced them for new ones as well. They fit exactly the same way, the spline fits into the plate that the drum bolts to.
After a very few miles I knew I needed to add some protection to the rear wings as they get peppered by road debris thrown up by the front wheels. What and how to do it was the question as the CAT doesn't have the simple shaped wings of other Se7en cars.
The rear wings on a CAT are a complex shape as they have to accommodate the ends of the rear suspension subframe. This makes the fabrication of a wing protector tricky. I didn’t want bright ally panels as this didn’t fit the look of the car, I wanted black. I found some Foliatec fake carbon fibre flexible sheet in Halfords and decided to give it a go.
The Foliatec stuff is self adhesive, flexible and stretchy under heat. Fitting it was a pig. Fitting it to a convex shape would not be so bad as you could start at the high centre point and work the sheet and the bubbles out to the sides. On the CAT wings you have a concave profile to cover. The best way I found was to fit it lightly so I got it roughly positioned and then try to peel it back and fit the bit in the valley of the concave bit first, working out from there. The problem was avoiding creases. The finished article looks OK (rather than great) for the time being but I think I will look out for something better.
PICTURE
Eventually, after 3months, my Webber under carb, twin cable throttle linkage showed up to replace the arrangement concocted by Mr Heath and Mr Robinson which was used to get me on the road initially. I found it would have been so much easier had it turned up when I ordered it as fitting it after the build was very fiddley.
Once the carbs are on the engine it is very difficult to get access to the under side of them. I decided the easiest way was to remove the carbs, and anyway, I needed to replace the linkage that links the 2 Webbers together to use them with the new linkage.
Rule No.1 When playing with carbs disconnect the battery first. It’s a good idea to do this when playing with anything on the car anyway but VERY important when playing with the petrol filled bits. When removing them try to keep them level, then, once over a catch tray or bowl etc. turn them over a few times to empty the float chambers… this saves spilling petrol all over the place later.
I fitted the spring linkage part to the carb at the drivers end to start with but on trial fitting the clearance to the chassis rail was poor so I decided that it was best to have the cables at the other end, looping towards the nose first then back to the driver. The instructions said that any manifold web in-between ports 2 and 3 may need to be trimmed or cut out. I thought this sounds a bit crap, why not design the linkage so it doesn’t need to rotate that far back? On trying it I found that I did indeed need to do this. Because it used a new interlink arm between the two carbs and the linkage pushes this arm back towards the engine I needed to remove the web between ports 2 & 3…what a pain! Out with the hack saw, making sure I carefully masked off the ports first… aluminum shards probably wouldn't do the engine much good. I found I needed to remove a lot of the web, almost to the profile of the Webber casing on the lower side as to get a clean movement of the linkage. The fiddley bit was setting the linkage up correctly, making sure that full throttle was achievable and the pedal movement was correct. The rest was plain sailing, cut the cables to a neat length, tie them together and route neatly tighten everything up.
PICTURE
To start with I had a simple hard board cover over the rear end to cover the fuel tank. I could have simply covered it with vinyl as per the cockpit sides, but that didn't sound like it would look great. I got a piece of fake carbon fibre from a fellow Tiger builder Jez Wilson, used the hard board as a template and replaced it with the carbon look…. It now looks the DB’s
PICTURE
The standard issue Tiger static 3 point belts get you though the SVA but don’t really cut the mustard something more "race car" was needed. I ordered a pair of 4 point harnesses, in blue to match the car. The first ones I got proved to be wrong. Because the upper mounting points on a Tiger (or any Se7en) are close to the rear of the seat, the looped adjustment wouldn’t take out enough slack to work properly. Another set were ordered that simply pull through the adjuster (rather than the type that shorten a loop). These work a treat, the excess is just bundled up behind the seat. Specific Se7en belts are available but because the CAT has the mounting points significantly further back in the car than on a Westy or Caterham the belts can be a bit on the short side when fitted to a CAT…probably OK though, but I thought I'd play it safe.
Anyone with a CAT will be aware that the stalk hits the dash when flicking between dip and full beam. My solution was to reshape it so it was angled out more towards the steering wheel. I cut a "V" into the stalk close to the column. This allowed it to be bent outwards and away from the dash. I then bridged either side of the "V" with a small strip of aluminum, drilled and riveted it into place giving a rigid stalk again. I then used carbon effect sheet to cover it with. Looks a bit "Max Power-ish" but now the stalk doesn’t hit the dash and now on Main Beam sits in about the same position it used to do in the Dip position.
There is also the danger of catching the main light switch when flicking between dip and main beam. I became acutely aware of this when driving through the countryside with one of Ruths friends one dark night. (Yes I did know they were out together) A car came the other way so I went to dip my lights…whoops …no lights. I quickly realised that I had caught the switch so was able to correct the problem. It was a bit of a heart stopping moment though. (I'm not sure Bec trusts him any more)
PICTURE
Before the spring I plan to get a Tonneau cover made. This will mean I can dispense with the emergency weather cover, a plastic sheet and masking tape when I take the tiger to work. Tiger do sell a Tonneau, but it looks very basic.
Trim
The cockpit trim isn't great, I plan to have a second attempt on all the vinyl covering. I may check out the price to get it done professionally when I get a quote for the Tonneau
There's a number of things I want to do with the seats:
Firstly I find that my backside slips forward on the seat and my thighs aren't supported at all. My solution is to raise the front edge of the seats, I found some brackets that should make it easy to adjust the rake of the seat base to find a comfy position…watch this space.
Secondly Ruth is a, well, lets be polite… vertically challenged :-) (makes a change… you usually call me stumpy) as well as Ruth, my dad is a bit short in the leg department as well (He has two… they are just not very long). So either build the drivers seat onto some runners or make a removable extra cushion to seat them further forward. I've got an idea brewing on the sliding seat…so, again, watch this space.
Thirdly, the standard cat seats are adequate to get you on the road but not the best. Off the peg seats are available for Se7ens but the CAT has the rear suspension mounts coming into the cockpit which makes things tricky. The best answer is to have some specially made. This is probably the route I will take, but not for a while.
The fuel filler that comes with the kit is a bit ugly and mine doesn't seal too well. A nice areo filler cap is on the cards for the Tiger sometime soon.
Head Lamps
Anyone who has driven their Tiger at night will know that you need to be Luke Skywalker because you will need to use "The Force" and sense your way up the road, as sealed beam headlamps are only just better than candles. A pair of halogens will be fitted soon. I am planning to switch to a pair of 5inch black units. Black because they will look the part with the rest of the car and 5inch because this will give better clearance to the nose make nose removal easier.
Future plans…may be
