sunbeamtiger.co.uk

Restoration of my Tiger is now well underway so thought it about time to start a few threads and post a few images. Car is now stripped, blasted and undergoing panel "recovery" though I am pleased to say that rust has pretty much passed the car by - a blessing.

The panhard mount was an exercise in some agricultural engineering at some stage in the past - images show "as acquired"...



Once I had rubbed the undertray back and removed all deadener...



Post sand blasting (just to highlight the quality of welding!)



And finally "re-engineered"...



Fortunately with a fairly rust free body, metal has been good to weld to. And although cleaning up, I am unlikely to be using the panhard rod anyway.

Cheers

Tom

The old girl hasn't seen much road time over the past few years, so it's a little sad when the fastest she's been recently is about 50mph backwards...







Shrink wrapped ready after sandblasting undertray...



I have loads of detail photos of the car so if anyone needs any reference shots whilst in said state of undress, let me know and I will try to oblige.

Cheers

Tom

Hi Tom, daunting but exciting project, good luck.

I do have one shot I'd like, Ive got flares on the front like yours and I'm thinking of putting her back to original. If anything the back could do with a small flare, what are your plans? Could you post up what I might expect to see in a shot blast state. It will give me an understanding of whats involved.

Cheers
Simon

Ah, brings back fond memories - shell on flatbed

I had mine dumped on tyres, having a purpose built rotisserie holding the shell in place on truck is very cool

meadowhog wrote:Hi Tom, daunting but exciting project, good luck.
I do have one shot I'd like, Ive got flares on the front like yours and I'm thinking of putting her back to original. If anything the back could do with a small flare, what are your plans? Could you post up what I might expect to see in a shot blast state. It will give me an understanding of whats involved.

Hi Simon,
I think the most daunting aspect will be remembering where everything goes when I finally get to screw it all back together! I'm already looking at bags and boxes of stuff and scratching my head - I thought I was diligent in labelling but it will still be a challenge.

Fortunately the shell is very sound so, apart from getting those flares back to normal, it shouldn't be too bad. We've only rolled the inside of the rear guard lip very slightly but still should be able to get some reasonable rims and rubber in.

I was really particular with the sandblasting - no exterior panels; those I did by hand (much to my panel guys delight!). I just had undertray, engine bay, cockpit and boot done (doesn't leave much really...) and used a very fine grade media at about 200psi. The guy who blasted did a fantastic job - being on the turkey roller helped.

Here's a couple of shots of the guards stripped back and sandblast area:

Cheers, Tom

Tomaselli wrote:Ah, brings back fond memories - shell on flatbed :mrgreen:

I had mine dumped on tyres, having a purpose built rotisserie holding the shell in place on truck is very cool :D

Hiya Tomaselli,

The rotisserie is about the best investment I've made thus far - the rig works a treat and all I had to do was fabricate a couple of adaptors to pick up off the bumper irons and jack points.

Cheers, Tom

Those flares are enormous. Your garage will feel a lot more roomy when they have gone.
It looks like someone went to a lot of trouble creating them.

Is that an Interceptor/FF in the background?

What colour is it going to be? Red again?

martin172 wrote:Those flares are enormous. Your garage will feel a lot more roomy when they have gone.
It looks like someone went to a lot of trouble creating them.

Is that an Interceptor/FF in the background?

What colour is it going to be? Red again?

That's a helluva pick up Martin - it is an Interceptor but not FF, although the owner does have one (FF) currently on the road. It's a fantastic piece of kit. I love the way the chassis rails form the brake vacuum! The owner told me that you knew when you had a rust problem when the brakes started to fade!

Workshop looks like a little piece of West Brom I guess! All I need is to wield a mighty hammer...

And for colour - back to Med Blue. There's enough left around the car to get a swatch and match.

Cheers, Tom

Car is now stripped, blasted and undergoing panel "recovery" though I am pleased to say that rust has pretty much passed the car by - a blessing.

Well, you're missing out on a lot of fun then, aren't you

Well, you're missing out on a lot of fun then, aren't you :wink:

Isn't a Kiwi's idea of fun standing on a bloody great bridge, looping a bit of rubber around your ankles and jumping?

Anyway - here's a bit of rust! Took the front exhaust pass through covers off for enlarging and it's a nice little spot for moisture to gather. Plates welded in strengthen area and should stop any nasties getting into X frame.





These give you an idea of the resize...



...and with modded cover next to yet to be done cover. Added small section to base to allow retention of lip



With section welded in



Rough idea of sizing



Have also been adding a few strengthening plates around the rear spring front mounts, and removed the weld on traction master brackets (not going to use them)





Cheers

Tom

Wondering about shipping the body on the Rotisserie did you have any problems with it shifting ? I am about to send my body to the shop and its on a Rotisserie.

alpine5gt wrote:Wondering about shipping the body on the Rotisserie did you have any problems with it shifting?

Hi,
We travelled about 60 miles with no problems with it shifting but I would pay attention to a couple of things.
Measure your rotisserie end to end and add a metre as some of the tilt trays run a short bed - no good hanging over the edge!
The longer trays will also have a better angle of approach - you want to avoid flexing through the shell if the doors are off.
And on that note, I was more concerned with body flex through the middle so I blocked the car under the X frame and tied down across the door sills. If you've welded support braces in the door jams it's probably not an issue.

Cheers,
Tom

Tom

A question for you a bit off topic with the body work, but.

Did you need to index, dial in your quick time bell housing to your crank ?

I never did. Everything seemed to line up fine, but did it

Had the same rust trap problem when i lifted the chassis exhaust plates, looking at the chassis there was a drain hole which the plates covered up, so i'll probably drill that into the new plates once the chassis crash damage has been sorted.

Tx Tom, just what I want to see. Love to see what and how you do those arches.

Pass throughs always a prob, thats why I used to make and sell through trade.