Greetings Tiger Owners,
As an introduction, I want to first thank all of you for a great list and all
the information I have gleaned. It was this group plus Norm and Curt who
convinced me I could survive the care and feeding of a Tiger.
Here's a little about the car. It's a '65 Mark 1A, and was in the Los Angeles
area most of its life, so blissfully there is no rust or rot. I have applied
all of Norm's criteria to the car and it appears to be authentic. The previous
owner was a non-mechanic and seemed stumped by every little glitch, so he was
happy to part with it. I, being of un-sound mind and owner of many a Brit bike
as well as Big Healeys and such, considered it
merely a challenge to de-bug this fine example. It has been a rewarding
experience, and the car is finally coming together. Biggest mystery solved was
fuel starvation, finally discovered to be the result of the protective plastic
coating pealing off inside the tank and tubes and plugging up the system
randomly, a victim of poor tank preparation, as I pulled the coating out in
large sheets! The previous owner claimed he thought the car was not a good
handler, even with Minilites and A-008R's. I thought it was a bit squirrelly
myself but upon inspection I noticed someone had failed to include the Panhard
rod in the rear end assembly! I cobbled one up out old Healey parts, but will
impose on some of the listers if there is an original one available.
This car has the original 260 and appears to have all the LAT1 options, along
with a Hurst shifter and a posi rear end. I am over 6 foot, so the stubby
Hurst shifter, second gear and my right knee do not always co-exist,
but I cope. It has a 0-1850-4 Holley, which I think is too big at 600 CFM, but
I'll live with the bog for now. It's been over twenty years since I last
messed with a dual point distributor, but thank goodness for the internet,
huh?
This is the third Tiger in our family, the previous two owned by The Old Man
and even though I was restricted to driving Mom's Olds Vista Cruiser back
then, I did manage to sneak the Mark II out more than once. Great memories
have been relived these past few weeks. I put a seatbelt in the back shelf,
and now my two daughters squabble over who gets to sit sideways in the jump
seat, even if their butts get a little warm sitting over the muffler! I
remember the same argument 35 years ago with my brother!
The electrics are a mess, the tach goes dead when the lights are switched on,
the blower and wiper switches cross-function and the tach needle bounces with
the turn signal actuation, but these are things to be ferreted out during our
long winter.
I do have a question. The brake booster is no longer in the car and it appears
beyond hope. I have wondered if an Alpine master cylinder (.70" dia) would
work well enough to negate the booster? I almost need both feet to stop it
now, so I'm assuming (hoping) it has the one inch bore master. Can you tell
which master cylinder is which by any casting marks, or do I need to take it
apart and measure the bore? Also, which Alpine M/C is best if applicable?
Once again, thanks to all for making this a great list. This car will be an
active driver, no trailer queens in this family, so I will be asking (begging,
pleading) for advice upon occasion.
Best Regards!
Mark Rense
Cleveland, Ohio
'65 Mk IA
B382000991
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