Tech Tips
Technical Tips for Tigers. If you would like to share a tip with the Tiger Community please submit your contribution to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For the adventurous, don't forget the Tiger Tracks archive. There is a wealth of tech tips published there that have not yet been pulled together into a collection, but there in there! Hint: Use the Tiger Tracks Archive Search available in the pull-down menu at the top of the page!
This Tech Tip is guaranteed to reduce anxiety while increasing your sense of security when driving your Tiger. It is about checking the torque of your Tiger's critical fasteners - suspension, axle, steering and brakes. Print out the STOA Creeper Crawl Torque sheet, get under your car and get to work! Be sure to observe all the usual safety concerns when working under a vehicle, especially if using jack stands.
Click here for the STOA Creeper Crawl Torque Sheet which, while not suitable for framing, can be laminated for handy use in a grimy environment/
Last month we showed you a teaser picture of a typical cracked rear spring mount in a Tiger about to undergo structural repairs. That picture and others are shown on this page in their original “as found” condition. The structural faults depicted here include complete cracking and failure of the inner tie plates, substantial cracking of the triangular tie plate to the perimeter of the floor pan, and failure of the welds inside the spring hanger that tie the rear sub frame to the X member.
When we were restoring Rob’s Tiger, he wanted to keep the reservoir and the OEM appearance but wanted to get the advantage of the relocated radiator cap for cooling performance. If we could connect the reservoir to the right tank, instead of the left, this would accomplish our goal.
We contacted a radiator core manufacturer and he provides us with a custom design, hi efficiency dimpletube core assembly that meets our requirements. For practicality, we installed a vent valve at the top of the right radiator tank to allow the purging of the air trapped at the top of this tank. This radiator design has proven quite successful and we have supplied many Tiger owners copies of this improved design for almost 10 years.
We’ve written several Tech Tips describing fatigue failures associated with the Tiger front cross members including spreading to original specifications and strengthening and re-enforcing operations, but it recently occurred to me that we’ve never made a comprehensive list and explanation of the expected problem areas in the rest of the Tiger chassis. Even without accident damage, many Tiger chassis have experienced some fatigue or environmental degradation at this age. The more severe the history (accidents, rust, high performance engines, aggressive driving) the higher the probability that some level of degradation is present. The positive side of this is the fact that we have a fairly large experience base and most of the problems occur in a similar pattern on all chassis. It is also my experience that most owners rarely, if ever, give their Tigers the detailed inspections they really need to avoid having small problems turn into major failures
My personal feeling is that this is one Tech Tip that has been put off for way too long. As a Senior TAC Inspector, I have observed many, many Tigers in all levels of current condition. This experience and observation combined with my engineering background, has provided me with an understanding of the common modes of structural failure that Tigers are destined to develop. At this point, I can state with certainty that the failure(s) depicted in the attached photos are eventually going to occur in all Tigers. Those that are “used” under more highly stressed conditions or that have suffered significant frontal accident damage will develop them sooner than those that spend most of their life in the garage.
Here’s a short tip on what to look for when doing your undercarriage inspection while you change the oil. The Tiger crossmembers are all at least 40 years old and many of them have begun to show signs of the wear and tear of life on the road. These shots were taken of a Tiger recently purchased by a local member.
I haven’t designed a Tiger remote oil filter installation in many years. In that time, many of the hardware items I used in past installations have become obsolete or otherwise unobtainable. This new installation was a chance to update the hardware that is available and see how to make it work successfully on a Tiger.