Sunbem Tiger

Here are some pictures of my 1966 Mk1A Sunbeam Tiger as I purchased it. This has some of the LAT options including hood, Sway bars and rear axle overrides. Has the CAT/Autopower roll bar and a few other things. The motor was a stock 260, with Ford Toploader and a Dana 44 rear. All powertrain numbers match up.was

The plan originally was some minor modifications, but of course that has gone sideways. The original Dart Aluminum motor that I built for mild street use ended up with dyno numbers north of 530 Hp with a street roller and flat top pistons. I guess I picked a good combination.  The later plan was to add the TWM Stacks and be done. Well that has all changed. The car has a new front suspension from Mike Hoakenson (sp). It has a few issues fitting it in, but overall a very nice part to get rid of the stock Tiger steering and front suspension.

Someone with some background in Tigers mentioned that the VIN may be one that was from Woodbridge Ford that may have been slated as one of their race cars. Which would be very interesting as that is where ‘The Ripper’ was once campaigned in the mid 60’s. It’s odd how it all comes together with the pair of vintage cars.

The plans have evolved a bit with a new engine by QMP Racing Engine, a 625hp Ford Motorsports aluminum block, Edelbrock Victor Sr. Heads, and a bunch of other top secret parts (not really). Some dyno pulls on the youTube somewhere.

Now the Tiger has a FULL cage as it will need it, among new huge Wilwood brakes, Speedway Engineering full floating 9″ with cambered ends and a DPI / Larson Racing Products Platinum Track diff. Toploaders are long gone, now I have picked up Jerico and fitted a Long 400 rail shifter that was taken off of one of my T101A’s. Pedal assembly swapped out with a Wilwood setup as well as a host of other hacks to the car. The project section has a lot of Tiger specific projects from new shackles to the roll cage.

Notable quote about the Tiger (forget where I lifted it from) – 

Shelby’s A.C. Cobra wasn’t the only British sports car to benefit from Ford V-8 power. The Sunbeam Tiger boasted genuine Carroll Shelby involvement, and could be regarded as a sort of “Cobra junior.” Some people think of the Tiger as a “poor Man’s Cobra” but I think it an entirely a different beast (no pun intended).

The Sunbeam Tiger boasted a Ford V-8, which gave it plenty of muscle, but ultimately spelled its doom when Sunbeam was acquired by Chrysler, who did not want a Ford-engined car in its lineup.

At $3499, the Sunbeam Tiger found 6495 buyers before an improved Tiger II went on sale in 1967. It had Ford’s 289-cid V-8 rated at 200-hp and badges that read “Sunbeam V-8” instead of “Powered by Ford 260.” Zero to 60 times fell two seconds and top speed rose five mph. Most Cobra speed equipment could be fitted, including dual four-barrel carbs for up to 300-hp.

Visually similar to the concurrent Sunbeam Alpine, the Sunbeam Tiger shared the Cobra’s 260″ Ford V-8, but in milder tune than that 260-hp bomb. Still, its 164 hp was more than twice what the Alpine had and, at 9.5-seconds 0-60 mph, it was nearly twice as quick. The live axle and four-speed gear box were Ford’s (Well Dana 44 for Rear Axle and Ford Toploader) but the chassis was Sunbeam Alpine’s modified by Shelby with a stiffer suspension and rack and pinion steering. Brakes remained front discs and rear drums. Handling, road holding, and ride comfort earned high marks, though the skinny tires and torquey V-8 added up to axle hop and poor traction off the line.

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Sunbeam Tiger

My 1966 MK 1 (or is MK I) Tiger. I purchased it on eBay a while back. Decided it was time to have another project. I always loved the Tiger, it’s a happy (if not sad) car with a good drive line and wonderful British styling.

These couple of pictures are from the original eBay auction. The car has shed the LAT hood and roll bar and a bunch of the rest of the stuff deemed not needed. The car was one that had good bones but had been in a wreck with some major scars on the front end of the car. Perfect for guiltless modifications. Again, don’t like what I’m doing go to a different site…

Stock Tiger Engine

This was the engine pretty much as I got it (I was running). This was right before I started pulling it apart. Note the expansion tank is hiding the Frankenstein work done to the inner fender. Pretty much a stock 260 with 4 Barrel carb.

Modified Tiger Engine

This is the slightly modified version of a Tiger engine. Starting with a Ford Motorsports aluminum 302 block, it gets the usual treatment. Edelbrock Victor Sr. Heads, Billet Rods, SCAT crank, Comp Cams mechanical roller, and Aviaid custom oil pan. This is the engine on the RIGHT side of the picture. QMP Racing Engines built the engine.

Front Suspension

About the first thing I started looking at was fixing the front suspension. I ran across someone who was making a bolt on replacement for the problematic front end these cars came with. It’s a cool way the front bolts up to the chassis making it an easy swap.

Front Brakes

Having a problem with never having enough brakes on cars, I always go the extra mile to make sure I start with a good foundation. The new front end came with Dynalites, which would be OK for a small light car. But, you know how it goes, replaced them with NICE 6 Piston Wilwood Superlites and GT Rotors as well as nice hubs and long studs. Should stop on a Dime (can we still say that)?

Rear Brakes

With the removal of the stock Dana 44 I was pretty much able to do what I wanted to the rears. I added new Dynapro 6 piston calipers to the rears. These are also what I later decided to use on the Mustang. These are nice calipers, and have a bit larger pad then the older style Dynalite calipers. Look at the axle replacement project for the info on all of that.

Rear Axle

The Dana 44 in the Tiger is a good rear end, however the axles are 2 piece and prone to fail with lots of horsepower. So either replace the axles and the housing ends or get a new axle. Price was about the same so I went with a Speedway Engineering full floating 9″ with cambered snouts. Why? Because I could. Comes in about the same weight too!

Roll Cage

I started making my own cage, got premium Docol R8 tubing and bent a few bars. Decided that I would rather have someone that do it that knows what they are doing. So off to Mayhem Metal Works with the Tiger and a boat load of tubing. The job was nothing short of fantastic as well as the weld quality.

 Dashboard

One of the best looking things on the car (besides the roll cage) is the wood work done for the dashboard. My dash was toast so I got a new dash and updated it bit to suit my liking.

I had some gauges made up by Speed Hut and added custom logos to the speedometer and tachometer. Also added a pair of BLOWN engine lights (red pair of lights) connected to the oil pressure gauge.

All switches are GE industrial, breakers are aircraft style and the dash is basically all the electrics the car needs, relays, breakers, master disconnect as well as an Anderson Powerpole for a jump start are all worked into the dash. Made good use of the useless glove box too. Wiring is mostly Teflon as usual.