"I'll be back!".
After a few weeks of rest, and the cold season behind us, it’s time to get some work done. The engine project is still not up and running, but that needs more time and attention. But no worries, there is enough to do. But first the battery. After six years it’s dead. Time for an upgrade. A Optima Yellowtop. Damn, this is a battery!
The plan is to put the battery for better weight distribution behind the passenger chair. I recently weight the car and with 1009kg including a full tank of gas I have exactly 60% on the front axle and 40% on the back. But re-routing the battery cables will be a lot easier to do once the engine is out..
When I inspected the bottom of the car during MOT, I noticed that the suspension and torsion bars were rusting quite a bit. And you know what we do with that! So the parts into the shot peen machine, and off to the powder coating where just as the rear axle everything became nice APEX yellow. And when you are this far you might as well put in some Powerflex polyurethane bushings. That is, if you don’t faint when hearing the price! Many rally and racing teams use them for better steering and handling, so there…
While waiting for the Powerflex stuff, I cleaned out the section where the blower and wipers are. Under the wiper fluid reservoir and battery were some dead leaves and stuff. Nice place for the rust to do some damage. Also a new filter is in order. The parts come straight from England, but there is a little delay....
'Cause the set contains all bushings, I decide to take the complete suspension apart and give them a makeover. Meanwhile the new interior filter is in place. A reusable one that is. And done some de-rusting on the front chassis beam.
The parts are yellow and ready. Also a set of new ball joints. And an extra strut bar from Wiechers. This is the third one, the other one is on top of the spring seat, and one on top of the dampers at the back..
At last, the parts have arrived! Every is so easy to assemble, and the middle strut fits like a glove. Take your time and enjoy…...
Today it was time to align the wheels and see how I have done with all my tinkering. And that’s not at all bad. Only the left rear wheel is a bit outside the factory tolerance, but nothing some flat washers will fix..
For our MOT you need a horn. Sounds simple. But when you remove the original steeringwheel, you also remove the control of the horn. In the orange connector is the brown/white wire for the horn, so don't loose that connector! Connect the wite to the horn slip ring and voilá! Honk honk!
So, on with the steeringcolom. Made the recess bigger to fit the new wheel and done the wiring.
In preparation for the electrical mirrors I put in the new cabletrees in the doors. The led is now lighted when the rear window heating is turned on so we are on the right track.
Then I put the new damp resisting plastic over the doorframe and put the new door card on. Very nice if I say so myself...
MOT allways feels like a little bit of an examn. And after months of work it is a little bit exciting to find out if you done it right. So, to be extra shure I took the car to a Vauxhall dealer to see if the car would match their standard. And the result: the numberplate light bulb was broke, one screenjet was foul and a smal leak at one of the brake lines. After that was fixed it passed the MOT! Pfffew! What a relieve!
O, by the way, the tiger has got his new war paint! Check out the pictures... The hood will be done later. Have something special in mind there.
And with the left over piece of the top grille I made the missing piece!
Just popped over to the guys from Speed Equipment for the new clutch. It's a sport clutch from National.
So, now it's time for the new hood. Angry look, and all the holes cleaned out. My mate Ap done a fantastic job, as usual...
And the bullit vents arrived from England. Now where shall I put them...
I had them laying around for some time now, but with the summer at hand I decided to install the new thermostat that kicks in the fan a bit sooner, and put the Samco hoses in at once. Clean out the raditor and fill her up with new coolant. And I must say, it looks rather nice...
It seems to be a bit quiet, but a lot is happening! Bullitvents are mounted, the hood has it's first layer of primer and the finishing touch is nearby!
Meanwhile, some home tinkering. I like the big GT's. You know, Porsche's, Viper's, Lister Storm's, Lambo's etc. etc. And I like the big diffusors. So, a saturday afternoon, some aluminium sheet and this is the result.
As everyone knows, backing up a car can be a pain with all the low obstacles, and when you are sitting as low as I am, and a massive rear wing, then some park distance sensors are not a luxury. The display is in the rear vieuw mirror, it counts backward from 1.5m along with green, yellow and red indicators and a buzzer. Thermometer is included.
The boy(z) and the hood.
Finally the hood is ready. Black? Yes, black. As a tribute to the old school muscle cars. I like old school. And the bumper is also fitted with a black wind splitter from Lumma design.
Ready!
Well ready. Is a car ever ready. I think not. I've come a long way, but there is still a lot to do. But I'm happy with the result up to now. I try to combine the past with the present. Well, present, the Tigra is 10 years old, but still looking very modern, timeless, a real classic. The car goes into it's winter shelter, and so another year is over. Just enjoy the pictures.
