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...so you wanna win a trophy, you wanna be a player?... Try this:
THE RETURN OF 1884
Shelby American
Issue 49
Pages 34 to 39
1986 Washington D.C. World of Wheels Winner
1985 Shelby National Convention Concourse Winner
1985 Ford National's East Best Tiger
WORLD OF WHEELS STUFF
>
...so you wanna win a trophy, you wanna be a player?... Try this:
THE RETURN OF 1884
Shelby American
Issue 49
Pages 34 to 39
1986 Washington D.C. World of Wheels Winner
1985 Shelby National Convention Concourse Winner
1985 Ford National's East Best Tiger
The beginning phase of a restoration is always the easiest one. The aspirations of a gleaming new toy in the end seem destined to keep you going forever. Besides, how tough can it be to unscrew and unbolt a few things? Well, for starters, it can get real tough when you rely on the workshop manual, and then find that your trusty workshop manual doesn't tell you everything you need to know. Don't be fooled by those misleading descriptions telling you this or that book will make everything a snap, even for a person with no mechanical skills. Assume that no matter how brilliant you are (or think you are) and no matter how thorough the book appears to be, something will be left out or become confusing. Taking diligent, step-by-step notes is a must - especially when you come to an area where the manual is a little fuzzy. Also, be sure to label everything. My first real encounter with this problem came with the removal of the engine. The workshop manual described in detail how high to raise the car, what steps to take first, etc, etc. What it didn't advise was the removal of the water pump. That seems like a fairly simple instruction, but it isn't in the book. Consequently, we used every conceivable angle and even bent the car's nose a couple of times before realizing that the water pump had to be removed. Guess what - the engine and transmission almost popped out by themselves. In fact, they came out so easily I couldn't believe it.
My second problem with the workshop manual came when I decided to disassemble and clean the shift mechanism. I decided to do this after using a couple of cans of engine cleaner on the engine and transmission. While rinsing it off I got a lot of dirt and grit in the linkage. It was immediately obvious that the only way to clean the entire mechanism was to disassemble it, clean it and re-lubricate it. However, the workshop manual doesn't break down the linkage in any fashion. Neither do the Clymer or Chilton manuals. Therefore, you must be very careful to note where each part and spacer came from. If you don't, putting it back together will be no small problem.
Don't get me wrong. The workshop manual is an invaluable tool and no one should attempt to restore a car without one. On the other hand, don't assume that it will have all of the little details in it that you will need in order to complete the job. That's where your notes and labels will come in. Oh, one other thing: did you ever try to write notes on a piece of paper with a pencil... with greasy hands? The only reason I mention this is that when I started putting the car back together, I couldn't read some of my own writing. Some of those notes told me how to put the engine back in! Try to keep your hands clean and write as legibly as possible. And make sure any drawings are completely and accurately labeled.
As I began to disassemble the car the rust problems became more evident. I had anticipated spending approximately two grand in restoration work, not including cosmetics like carpets, chrome and other incidentals. But when I pulled the rubber plugs inside the trunk area that give access to the rear spring shackles, I found a frame crack that worried me. The deeper I tore into the car, the more problems I found.
My original intent was to strip 1884 to the body/frame and take it to Scott Woerth in Christiana, Pennsylvania for restoration. Scott is highly recommended in Tiger circles for his restoration work. Unfortunately, after he began on the car, Scott found that the frame was so far gone that it would be impossible to repair. This meant that we had to build 1884 on an entirely different frame. Fortunately Scott had one; but this was just a lucky break in an otherwise unlucky situation. This little setback changed the cost picture considerably.
How did we get into this situation anyway? From what I can gather now, it appears as if someone patched the original frame and floorboards with cardboard, tin, flattened-out beer cans and glue. They made everything appear just fine and then liberally applied undercoating to cover up the mess. In some places the rust was covered with duct tape and fiberglass and then repainted. Some of the metal which appeared welded was literally glued together! One clue that I should have picked up on but missed was a slight misalignment of the passenger door. The drop of this door could have indicated a severely weakened frame to the trained eye. From there, some digging and poking might have saved a costly error in judgement. But my eye was not as trained as I had imagined.
So much for crying over spilt milk. The task now was to restore the new frame and utilize all of 1884's original components to come up with a 'new' Tiger. Scott performed his part of the job like an artist and the result was a body/frame that is better than the old one.
While the body/frame restoration was underway, I began the job of cleaning and refurbishing all of the many parts I had removed from 1884. These lay in various piles and boxes throughout the garage. It was at this time that I began to feel that this was going to be an impossible job to complete. There were simply too many parts to be cleaned, reconditioned or replaced for my little brain to digest.
Throughout the entire process, I told myself to take one part, one step at a time. I constantly reminded myself of this, but you would be surprised how powerful the thought of driving your completed car is. So powerful that it continually gets in the way of the one part, one step idea. One can't wait the years it is going to take to wade through all those parts to get to the end result. For me, severe depression set in and only frequent visits to the body shop to pat the body/frame as it progressed along helped me through this difficult period.
Once Scott's part of the restoration was completed and the car was neatly tucked into our garage, the trips to do the patting were shortened considerably. Just a brief stroll across the living room, open the garage, and... 'WHAT? Who put that box on our precious car???' You know the story: Dad yells, the kids disappear and everyone says 'I don't know' a lot.
As the coldness of the winter set in, work on 1884 slowed considerably. I found that even a space heater failed to combat the sub-freezing temperatures and as a result, my enthusiasm diminished considerably while other household projects began to take on more importance. There were always parts to order and little things to clean, and I used the various parts catalogs I accumulated over the years to phone in orders to businesses around the country. In the meantime, small parts were brought into the house to be worked on. I intended to be fully prepared to reassemble the car in early spring.
Reassembly of the car became a slow and tedious task. Since the body was completely repainted, extreme care had to be taken not to scratch it. I found that an abundance of towels liberally draped over fenders and door edges helped prevent any such disaster. At this point, I should thank a major hotel chain for the use of their high quality towels - not necessarily with their knowledge, of course. I have also found that a lot of the kids' t-shirts and underwear worked well. You can never have too many rags and towels when doing a job this large.
The gas tanks on a Sunbeam seem to represent a particularly unique problem in a restoration project. The British painted the inside of the tanks and, as one would expect, the paint begins to flake off with age. This clogs the fuel lines, filters and fuel pump. As a result, you must clean out every bit of paint possible and coat the inside of the tanks with something to prevent the rust from continuing to cause problems. Both five-gallon tanks in 1884 had a bad case of the flakes. First I had them boiled by a local radiator shop. Then I purchased a quart of gas tank sealer from Bill Hirsch (Newark, NJ) and this seemed to work quite well. I simply followed the directions on the can. In addition to doing the tanks, I did the large lines in the rear of the trunk, leading to the 5/16" line. These were also originally painted inside.
Another problem that I found difficult to approach was the walnut dashboard. The Tiger dashboard is burled walnut veneer laminated onto plywood. This is covered with an epoxy-based clear formula coating of some sort. As the burl ages, it begins to crack, causing the epoxy to crack. The result is a mess. However, the epoxy sticks like the dickens to the burl and is impossible to strip off. I used over-thecounter strippers, commercial strippers and tried chipping the finish off with razor blades. I even used a blowtorch to lightly heat the finish and scrape it off. Nothing worked. Then I discovered a simple solution: I sanded the finish and veneer off of the plywood and ordered some new veneer from The Woodworker's Store (Rogers, MN). The cost was approximately ten bucks. Burled walnut veneer is approximately 1/16" thick, so once you glue the veneer to the plywood and let it dry sufficiently, the instrument holes may be cut out with a razor blade or sharp knife. If you are fortunate, someone in your neighborhood is a woodworker and can help you with this process. In any event, this beats the alternative of trying to work with the old dash. After the burl was affixed, we finished the job with tung oil. Reassembled, the instrument panel took on a brand new appearance and it was a pleasure to install it in the car.
Completing the interior was a relatively simple process. The carpet is easily replaced and many businesses offer carpet kits. Even door sill plates are available. As for the seats, I tried a little trick: the panel that acts as a bottom for the convertible top tray is the same material as the seats. I had an upholstery shop make a new panel using the old plastic edge and inner metal strips from black GM material. They had material with a grain that is very similar to the grain used on Sunbeams. This costs about fifteen bucks and since the grain is up-side-down in the tray, it is virtually indistinguishable from the original. This, however, left me with a piece of mint, original material to repair the seat covers with. As only one small panel needed replacing and I disassembled the seat, the cost for the repair was considerably less than the cost of replacement seat covers. This still left quite a bit of original material for other small repairs.
The dash pad was replaced with a new one and the windshield frame was placed down over the leading edge of this pad. Scott used regular household caulking in this seam, and we of course used new rubber everywhere. The rest of the interior assembly required diligent cleaning and careful replacement of used parts. I gave up on the steering wheel before I even started. I decided to cover it with a leather wrap and not even attempt to strip the wood. Someday I may come back to this.
Suspense was the underlying theme in the restoration of our Sunbeam. Would 1884 ever start again? If it started, would the brakes bring it to a stop or would the neighbor's new deck be totally demolished in the heat of my excitement? He probably shouldn't have built the deck on that side of the house, anyway. While suspense was an underlying theme, suspension was a primary concern. Too many times the car builder spends thousands of dollars on the engine to create more horsepower but the suspension doesn't permit it to get to the ground. I had spent over a thousand bucks in engine work (which we will get to later), but also thought it necessary that the suspension was properly beefed. The stock 260 cubic inch V8 delivers 164 horsepower. Big deal, right? Well, that's sufficient enough to create wheel hop and to burn rubber. Without going into detail about the horsepower, torque, stress and so on, it doesn't take a mental giant to realize that some of that horsepower is being lost due to the suspension. In fact, even a mental marginal can figure that more horsepower is only likely to make the situation worse. Taking a lesson from Carroll Shelby's conversion of the basic Mustang into a giant killer by suspension work (among other things), I felt that this could potentially be the most critical area in need of attention on the entire car.
First, let me state that I have read everyone else's theories on what suspension work gives what type of results. Certainly there are those who possess far more expertise in this area than I ever will. My suggestion is that anyone contemplating suspension work follow the same route: Read everything you can! Then decide how much you want to do. For my purposes, I felt that 'stiff' was it.
I have always been a believer in 'heavy duty.' But at the same time the wife and kids all have a hairdresser, designer jeans and a passion for reasonable nutrition. Then there is the dentist, the foot doctor, the ice skating lessons, and.... oh yes -1884's suspension. So even though 'heavy duty' and 'stiff' were my objectives, budget was my constraint. Nevertheless, there were some inexpensive ways of achieving my objectives. I felt that I would like to use the car in a number of different events when it was completed, so everything would have to be more or less a compromise. The first type of event the car would used in would be a little street and drag racing. The obvious solution for suspension needs here were Traction Master traction bars. Second, I felt that some autocrossing might be fun. This would necessitate stabilizer bars. I decided to go with a larger front bar and also add a rear one. In addition, I knew good shocks would help; I decided to go with Konis. I know everyone has their favorite shock, but I've never heard anyone complain about a Koni failing, so that's good enough for me. These parts can all be purchased from some of the current Sunbeam parts providers. The end result is 'stiff' suspension. For the street it's a little rough but the handling is responsive. That's what I was after and that's what I got.
I purposely left out a discussion of tires here. First, the primary concern was assembling a car that would move under its own power. Tires are incidental at the moment to achieving this. Second, tires depend on your endeavor. Therefore, my selection will eventually be based on usage. If we end up solely on the street, street tires will do, with some size adjustment, of course. If other things are tried then my selection will change. Further discussion will follow after we have started and broken in 1884.
While 1884 was up on jack stands for suspension work I discovered that there were no brake or fuel lines. I had earlier decided to convert the clutch and brake system to silicone fluid. After rebuilding the clutch and brake cylinders, I now had to make new lines. The brake lines were easy to shape in the necessary direction by hand, after I found that the fittings were ,standard thread.' This knowledge came following the purchase of a number of lines and metric fittings with nothing matching up. You would think that a British car would have metric fittings, but...
Having learned on the brake lines, I purchased the proper gas line fittings and began shaping those as well. In the end, I ran both the brake and the gas lines along the bottom edge of the transmission tunnel, putting a heat shield above the right exhaust header to prevent the lines from getting too hot. When I filled the brake system with fluid, as was to be expected, it leaked at several points but tightening and bleeding solved the problem. The discs and drums were turned as an added precaution. I wanted to be able to bring the car to a halt in a hurry should the need ever arise.
With the exception of the front stabilizer bar which wasn't installed until the engine was in, the suspension was now finished. The weight of the engine places the front suspension in the proper position for the stabilizer bar, so that project was put aside for later. Everything else was put in its proper place and my attention was now directed toward the drivetrain itself.
The engine work was begun with one thought in mind: do it now while the engine is out - not later, causing double work. The engine was completely disassembled and the block was boiled. Since there was no lip on the cylinders, we simply honed the block. Then everything was replaced with the exception of the old the pistons. The cam was 'Parkerized', the crank was micro-finished and all of the bearings were replaced. The lifters were replaced, as was the oil pump; the crank assembly was balanced and the entire engine was blueprinted. I installed a new clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing. The heads were rebuilt and the timing gears and chain were replaced with a new steel set. The distributor was recurved. In all, everything that might need attention was given it.
After everything was reassembled the engine was made ready for installation and the motor mounts were bolted up. It was at this time that the headers I had purchased through J.C. Whitney were discovered to be impossible to match up while the motor mounts were on. The mounts were removed and the headers were installed. Then the mounts were replaced. With the transmission bolted on, the moment of truth arrived.
The front of the car was elevated as high as possible to accomodate the long assembly. We raised the engine just as outlined in the workshop manual and attempted to slide that baby in. It was here that we began to realize that the headers were too wide for the frame. They had to be removed and reinstalled after the engine was in the engine compartment. The motor mounts, of course, had to be juggled at the same time and the result was a 1-hour engine installation with considerable scratches in the engine compartment and a profuse amount of cussing.
The major problem with this installation is that the headers were simply too wide for the car's frame. Even after everything was finally bolted up, the left header was hitting the left motor mount. It was so tight that there was no flexibility whatsoever for the engine. The hope at this point was that engine torque would bend the header in enough so as to eliminate this problem. After eleven hours, there was no way that the engine was going to be taken back out just to reshape one header tube. Touch-up of the scratches made things a bit better. The next day I went back over all of the bolts to be sure that the mounts were tight. It was here that I discovered that the clutch was not going to clear the edge of the floorboard and transmission tunnel. These pieces had been replaced and were not shaped quite right. A big hammer, used very carefully, solved this problem. Even after space was made for the fork to travel, I noticed that the plunger pressure held the fork tight, resulting in the release bearing's touching the clutch. I am told that the pressure is not enough to cause the release bearing to wear. I guess we'll see about that...
I began now to bolt up the accessories, one by one. The water pump was an interesting one. The hub for the fan and pulley sits back farther on the shaft than a regular smallblock pump. Aside from that, the pump is the same. I purchased a new pump and had the hub pressed into the right position. Most machine shops can accomplish this for a few bucks.
I packed up all of the oil filter paraphernalia and replaced this system with a regular oil filter adapter and used a Wix filter. This filter is so small that it clears the frame and eliminates all of those leaky lines.
Then I replaced the driveshaft I noticed that it was extremely close to the right side of the transmission tunnel. At first I thought this was wrong because the driveshaft should be positioned down the middle of the car. But this is not the case on a Tiger. The transmission and rear end have an offset to the right and the space for the driveshaft is uneven. Therefore, this position is correct.
I assembled the muffler system next. After installation, I found that the right muffler was located within an inch of one section of the steel fuel line. I reshaped the line to prevent a problem there.
The Holley 500 CFM carburetor required a little special work to match up, but nothing too difficult. Re-routing the fuel line and installing a different baseplate were all that was really required. The original baseplate does not have large enough holes to prevent binding and, therefore, must be changed. The linkage itself was easy to hook up.
After replacing the carb and installing a manual choke cable (the Holley comes complete with a manual choke set-up, minus the cable), I decided to eliminate some of the water hoses on top of the engine. The hoses are both 1/2" and 5/8" inside diameter at different places. I switched everything to 1/2" because this was the easiest way to go. I put the water temperature sending unit in the intake manifold, eliminating a lot of extra line. I didn't use the carb baseplate with a preheat system and thereby eliminated even more garbage. The result was a somewhat cleaner engine compartment.
Throughout the reassembly process, other small changes were made in an effort to clean up the car. Some things were relocated; others were simply eliminated. I think you get the idea. Just taking extra time and thought can result in a cleaner, better appearing engine compartment.
While working on everything else, I continued the slow process of cleaning and assembling the trunk and interior. Everything had red overspray from a previous paint job and a lot of solvent and paint was used. Most of the hardboard panels were simply used as patterns for new ones and as much new rubber was used as could be afforded. Periodically I would have to look at an already-assembled car to see how something went back together. During these finishing stages things began to fall into place and each new part that was completed and attached made the feeling of success that much more apparent. I began to look forward, daily, to that moment when the car was ready to drive. Spring was to come and go before that moment was to arrive. It seemed as though for each step forward during this process I had to take two steps backward. For each item completed, two would be discovered to need attention. Finally, early one summer weekend morning, the time was at hand. All that remained was some minor wiring, filling of all fluid levels and some last-minute checks.
As it worked out, all did not go smoothly. I had relocated the coil to the left front of the engine block. This meant that the lead wire to the coil had to be lengthened. I did that, but failed to hook the new wire up. Since we had primed the oil pump and turned the engine over to assure lubrication prior to actual ignition, Top Dead Center had to be found before the distributor could be replaced. When I hit the ignition switch to bump the engine over to find TDC, you can guess what the loose coil wire did when the switch was turned on. Right! It melted all the way back through the wiring harness. There went a couple of hours of rewiring. We finally hooked up the lead coil wire and found TDC (in that order); the distributor was installed and everyone crossed their fingers. I choked the carb and hit the ignition again.
I'm sure that by now, you're betting against the engine's starting. To my surprise, it lit and the engine sprung to life. There were the usual leaks but for the most part, the job was complete. Dinner at the Robertson's was a joyous one that night. While this represented the bulk of the restoration work in 1884, what was to follow, in many ways, became the most tedious and frustrating portion of the job. All of those little nagging problems that come with a shakedown now began to surface. The heater core blew out. The left front brake caliper began leaking fluid profusely. The clutch engaged less than one inch from the floor. I discovered that I knew absolutely nothing about the assembly of headlights from scratch. One fuse kept blowing for no apparent reason. I could go on and on, but the point is that the job continued even after that one fateful morning.
Two other major segments of the car's restoration still remained to be completed while I worked through the shakedown period. The paint had to be buffed and the hardtop reassembled. Buffing of the paint was left up to Scott, since this was his area of expertise. He used 800 grit sandpaper to remove any rough spots and then compounded the paint three times with a high speed buffer. Then the paint was polished. Waxing was left up to me. The hardtop required a step-by-step reassembly, using my own notes. Rubber, plexiglass windows and headliner were all completely replaced with new parts.
As things began to wind down on the restoration of 1884, so did the bank account. Consequently, when a local tire wholesaler advertised Michelins cheaply, I bought five for the street. I rationalized this purchase by telling myself that I couldn't race the car after all of the energy I had expended. This argument might last a few months, at least until I come up with the bucks for a better set of wheels and tires.
As mentioned earlier, the left front brake began leaking. Examination of this area indicated that a total rebuild of the calipers was necessary. The pistons were removed and turned out to be completely pitted. The job of replacing them is a very tricky one and anyone who has never done this should ask a lot of questions before attempting it. Fortunately, a neighbor had a compressor and was a tremendous help. Without his assistance, 1884 might very well have been the only street Tiger with just rear brakes. At any rate, another hurdle was overcome. Except for cosmetics, 1884 was now street worthy. I began evening runs, each one gradually longer in length. Confidence grew with each evening and eventually I ventured all the way up to the gas station.
For all practical purposes, 1884 was finished. All that really remained was paying the bills. And bills there were! Anyone contemplating a job of this nature should think long and hard about all of the costs involved. I have enough receipts to wallpaper a two-car garage. When I stacked them all in the trunk, the car shifts to that side. In the end, the total cost of parts and labor (excluding my own labor, which was literally a 'labor of love') was more than twice the initial cost of purchasing the car. The total amount of my labor, can never be equated in a dollar figure, but at the moment I'm confident that my complete investment has far exceeded the car's worth. Let's just hope the theory about appreciating classic cars holds true.
NOTICE: All articles and photographs appearing in the Pointschaser Picture Show are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the expressed written permission of the owner of this website.
My second problem with the workshop manual came when I decided to disassemble and clean the shift mechanism. I decided to do this after using a couple of cans of engine cleaner on the engine and transmission. While rinsing it off I got a lot of dirt and grit in the linkage. It was immediately obvious that the only way to clean the entire mechanism was to disassemble it, clean it and re-lubricate it. However, the workshop manual doesn't break down the linkage in any fashion. Neither do the Clymer or Chilton manuals. Therefore, you must be very careful to note where each part and spacer came from. If you don't, putting it back together will be no small problem.
Don't get me wrong. The workshop manual is an invaluable tool and no one should attempt to restore a car without one. On the other hand, don't assume that it will have all of the little details in it that you will need in order to complete the job. That's where your notes and labels will come in. Oh, one other thing: did you ever try to write notes on a piece of paper with a pencil... with greasy hands? The only reason I mention this is that when I started putting the car back together, I couldn't read some of my own writing. Some of those notes told me how to put the engine back in! Try to keep your hands clean and write as legibly as possible. And make sure any drawings are completely and accurately labeled.
As I began to disassemble the car the rust problems became more evident. I had anticipated spending approximately two grand in restoration work, not including cosmetics like carpets, chrome and other incidentals. But when I pulled the rubber plugs inside the trunk area that give access to the rear spring shackles, I found a frame crack that worried me. The deeper I tore into the car, the more problems I found.
My original intent was to strip 1884 to the body/frame and take it to Scott Woerth in Christiana, Pennsylvania for restoration. Scott is highly recommended in Tiger circles for his restoration work. Unfortunately, after he began on the car, Scott found that the frame was so far gone that it would be impossible to repair. This meant that we had to build 1884 on an entirely different frame. Fortunately Scott had one; but this was just a lucky break in an otherwise unlucky situation. This little setback changed the cost picture considerably.
How did we get into this situation anyway? From what I can gather now, it appears as if someone patched the original frame and floorboards with cardboard, tin, flattened-out beer cans and glue. They made everything appear just fine and then liberally applied undercoating to cover up the mess. In some places the rust was covered with duct tape and fiberglass and then repainted. Some of the metal which appeared welded was literally glued together! One clue that I should have picked up on but missed was a slight misalignment of the passenger door. The drop of this door could have indicated a severely weakened frame to the trained eye. From there, some digging and poking might have saved a costly error in judgement. But my eye was not as trained as I had imagined.
So much for crying over spilt milk. The task now was to restore the new frame and utilize all of 1884's original components to come up with a 'new' Tiger. Scott performed his part of the job like an artist and the result was a body/frame that is better than the old one.
While the body/frame restoration was underway, I began the job of cleaning and refurbishing all of the many parts I had removed from 1884. These lay in various piles and boxes throughout the garage. It was at this time that I began to feel that this was going to be an impossible job to complete. There were simply too many parts to be cleaned, reconditioned or replaced for my little brain to digest.
Throughout the entire process, I told myself to take one part, one step at a time. I constantly reminded myself of this, but you would be surprised how powerful the thought of driving your completed car is. So powerful that it continually gets in the way of the one part, one step idea. One can't wait the years it is going to take to wade through all those parts to get to the end result. For me, severe depression set in and only frequent visits to the body shop to pat the body/frame as it progressed along helped me through this difficult period.
Once Scott's part of the restoration was completed and the car was neatly tucked into our garage, the trips to do the patting were shortened considerably. Just a brief stroll across the living room, open the garage, and... 'WHAT? Who put that box on our precious car???' You know the story: Dad yells, the kids disappear and everyone says 'I don't know' a lot.
As the coldness of the winter set in, work on 1884 slowed considerably. I found that even a space heater failed to combat the sub-freezing temperatures and as a result, my enthusiasm diminished considerably while other household projects began to take on more importance. There were always parts to order and little things to clean, and I used the various parts catalogs I accumulated over the years to phone in orders to businesses around the country. In the meantime, small parts were brought into the house to be worked on. I intended to be fully prepared to reassemble the car in early spring.
Reassembly of the car became a slow and tedious task. Since the body was completely repainted, extreme care had to be taken not to scratch it. I found that an abundance of towels liberally draped over fenders and door edges helped prevent any such disaster. At this point, I should thank a major hotel chain for the use of their high quality towels - not necessarily with their knowledge, of course. I have also found that a lot of the kids' t-shirts and underwear worked well. You can never have too many rags and towels when doing a job this large.
The gas tanks on a Sunbeam seem to represent a particularly unique problem in a restoration project. The British painted the inside of the tanks and, as one would expect, the paint begins to flake off with age. This clogs the fuel lines, filters and fuel pump. As a result, you must clean out every bit of paint possible and coat the inside of the tanks with something to prevent the rust from continuing to cause problems. Both five-gallon tanks in 1884 had a bad case of the flakes. First I had them boiled by a local radiator shop. Then I purchased a quart of gas tank sealer from Bill Hirsch (Newark, NJ) and this seemed to work quite well. I simply followed the directions on the can. In addition to doing the tanks, I did the large lines in the rear of the trunk, leading to the 5/16" line. These were also originally painted inside.
Another problem that I found difficult to approach was the walnut dashboard. The Tiger dashboard is burled walnut veneer laminated onto plywood. This is covered with an epoxy-based clear formula coating of some sort. As the burl ages, it begins to crack, causing the epoxy to crack. The result is a mess. However, the epoxy sticks like the dickens to the burl and is impossible to strip off. I used over-thecounter strippers, commercial strippers and tried chipping the finish off with razor blades. I even used a blowtorch to lightly heat the finish and scrape it off. Nothing worked. Then I discovered a simple solution: I sanded the finish and veneer off of the plywood and ordered some new veneer from The Woodworker's Store (Rogers, MN). The cost was approximately ten bucks. Burled walnut veneer is approximately 1/16" thick, so once you glue the veneer to the plywood and let it dry sufficiently, the instrument holes may be cut out with a razor blade or sharp knife. If you are fortunate, someone in your neighborhood is a woodworker and can help you with this process. In any event, this beats the alternative of trying to work with the old dash. After the burl was affixed, we finished the job with tung oil. Reassembled, the instrument panel took on a brand new appearance and it was a pleasure to install it in the car.
Completing the interior was a relatively simple process. The carpet is easily replaced and many businesses offer carpet kits. Even door sill plates are available. As for the seats, I tried a little trick: the panel that acts as a bottom for the convertible top tray is the same material as the seats. I had an upholstery shop make a new panel using the old plastic edge and inner metal strips from black GM material. They had material with a grain that is very similar to the grain used on Sunbeams. This costs about fifteen bucks and since the grain is up-side-down in the tray, it is virtually indistinguishable from the original. This, however, left me with a piece of mint, original material to repair the seat covers with. As only one small panel needed replacing and I disassembled the seat, the cost for the repair was considerably less than the cost of replacement seat covers. This still left quite a bit of original material for other small repairs.
The dash pad was replaced with a new one and the windshield frame was placed down over the leading edge of this pad. Scott used regular household caulking in this seam, and we of course used new rubber everywhere. The rest of the interior assembly required diligent cleaning and careful replacement of used parts. I gave up on the steering wheel before I even started. I decided to cover it with a leather wrap and not even attempt to strip the wood. Someday I may come back to this.
Suspense was the underlying theme in the restoration of our Sunbeam. Would 1884 ever start again? If it started, would the brakes bring it to a stop or would the neighbor's new deck be totally demolished in the heat of my excitement? He probably shouldn't have built the deck on that side of the house, anyway. While suspense was an underlying theme, suspension was a primary concern. Too many times the car builder spends thousands of dollars on the engine to create more horsepower but the suspension doesn't permit it to get to the ground. I had spent over a thousand bucks in engine work (which we will get to later), but also thought it necessary that the suspension was properly beefed. The stock 260 cubic inch V8 delivers 164 horsepower. Big deal, right? Well, that's sufficient enough to create wheel hop and to burn rubber. Without going into detail about the horsepower, torque, stress and so on, it doesn't take a mental giant to realize that some of that horsepower is being lost due to the suspension. In fact, even a mental marginal can figure that more horsepower is only likely to make the situation worse. Taking a lesson from Carroll Shelby's conversion of the basic Mustang into a giant killer by suspension work (among other things), I felt that this could potentially be the most critical area in need of attention on the entire car.
First, let me state that I have read everyone else's theories on what suspension work gives what type of results. Certainly there are those who possess far more expertise in this area than I ever will. My suggestion is that anyone contemplating suspension work follow the same route: Read everything you can! Then decide how much you want to do. For my purposes, I felt that 'stiff' was it.
I have always been a believer in 'heavy duty.' But at the same time the wife and kids all have a hairdresser, designer jeans and a passion for reasonable nutrition. Then there is the dentist, the foot doctor, the ice skating lessons, and.... oh yes -1884's suspension. So even though 'heavy duty' and 'stiff' were my objectives, budget was my constraint. Nevertheless, there were some inexpensive ways of achieving my objectives. I felt that I would like to use the car in a number of different events when it was completed, so everything would have to be more or less a compromise. The first type of event the car would used in would be a little street and drag racing. The obvious solution for suspension needs here were Traction Master traction bars. Second, I felt that some autocrossing might be fun. This would necessitate stabilizer bars. I decided to go with a larger front bar and also add a rear one. In addition, I knew good shocks would help; I decided to go with Konis. I know everyone has their favorite shock, but I've never heard anyone complain about a Koni failing, so that's good enough for me. These parts can all be purchased from some of the current Sunbeam parts providers. The end result is 'stiff' suspension. For the street it's a little rough but the handling is responsive. That's what I was after and that's what I got.
I purposely left out a discussion of tires here. First, the primary concern was assembling a car that would move under its own power. Tires are incidental at the moment to achieving this. Second, tires depend on your endeavor. Therefore, my selection will eventually be based on usage. If we end up solely on the street, street tires will do, with some size adjustment, of course. If other things are tried then my selection will change. Further discussion will follow after we have started and broken in 1884.
While 1884 was up on jack stands for suspension work I discovered that there were no brake or fuel lines. I had earlier decided to convert the clutch and brake system to silicone fluid. After rebuilding the clutch and brake cylinders, I now had to make new lines. The brake lines were easy to shape in the necessary direction by hand, after I found that the fittings were ,standard thread.' This knowledge came following the purchase of a number of lines and metric fittings with nothing matching up. You would think that a British car would have metric fittings, but...
Having learned on the brake lines, I purchased the proper gas line fittings and began shaping those as well. In the end, I ran both the brake and the gas lines along the bottom edge of the transmission tunnel, putting a heat shield above the right exhaust header to prevent the lines from getting too hot. When I filled the brake system with fluid, as was to be expected, it leaked at several points but tightening and bleeding solved the problem. The discs and drums were turned as an added precaution. I wanted to be able to bring the car to a halt in a hurry should the need ever arise.
With the exception of the front stabilizer bar which wasn't installed until the engine was in, the suspension was now finished. The weight of the engine places the front suspension in the proper position for the stabilizer bar, so that project was put aside for later. Everything else was put in its proper place and my attention was now directed toward the drivetrain itself.
The engine work was begun with one thought in mind: do it now while the engine is out - not later, causing double work. The engine was completely disassembled and the block was boiled. Since there was no lip on the cylinders, we simply honed the block. Then everything was replaced with the exception of the old the pistons. The cam was 'Parkerized', the crank was micro-finished and all of the bearings were replaced. The lifters were replaced, as was the oil pump; the crank assembly was balanced and the entire engine was blueprinted. I installed a new clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing. The heads were rebuilt and the timing gears and chain were replaced with a new steel set. The distributor was recurved. In all, everything that might need attention was given it.
After everything was reassembled the engine was made ready for installation and the motor mounts were bolted up. It was at this time that the headers I had purchased through J.C. Whitney were discovered to be impossible to match up while the motor mounts were on. The mounts were removed and the headers were installed. Then the mounts were replaced. With the transmission bolted on, the moment of truth arrived.
The front of the car was elevated as high as possible to accomodate the long assembly. We raised the engine just as outlined in the workshop manual and attempted to slide that baby in. It was here that we began to realize that the headers were too wide for the frame. They had to be removed and reinstalled after the engine was in the engine compartment. The motor mounts, of course, had to be juggled at the same time and the result was a 1-hour engine installation with considerable scratches in the engine compartment and a profuse amount of cussing.
The major problem with this installation is that the headers were simply too wide for the car's frame. Even after everything was finally bolted up, the left header was hitting the left motor mount. It was so tight that there was no flexibility whatsoever for the engine. The hope at this point was that engine torque would bend the header in enough so as to eliminate this problem. After eleven hours, there was no way that the engine was going to be taken back out just to reshape one header tube. Touch-up of the scratches made things a bit better. The next day I went back over all of the bolts to be sure that the mounts were tight. It was here that I discovered that the clutch was not going to clear the edge of the floorboard and transmission tunnel. These pieces had been replaced and were not shaped quite right. A big hammer, used very carefully, solved this problem. Even after space was made for the fork to travel, I noticed that the plunger pressure held the fork tight, resulting in the release bearing's touching the clutch. I am told that the pressure is not enough to cause the release bearing to wear. I guess we'll see about that...
I began now to bolt up the accessories, one by one. The water pump was an interesting one. The hub for the fan and pulley sits back farther on the shaft than a regular smallblock pump. Aside from that, the pump is the same. I purchased a new pump and had the hub pressed into the right position. Most machine shops can accomplish this for a few bucks.
I packed up all of the oil filter paraphernalia and replaced this system with a regular oil filter adapter and used a Wix filter. This filter is so small that it clears the frame and eliminates all of those leaky lines.
Then I replaced the driveshaft I noticed that it was extremely close to the right side of the transmission tunnel. At first I thought this was wrong because the driveshaft should be positioned down the middle of the car. But this is not the case on a Tiger. The transmission and rear end have an offset to the right and the space for the driveshaft is uneven. Therefore, this position is correct.
I assembled the muffler system next. After installation, I found that the right muffler was located within an inch of one section of the steel fuel line. I reshaped the line to prevent a problem there.
The Holley 500 CFM carburetor required a little special work to match up, but nothing too difficult. Re-routing the fuel line and installing a different baseplate were all that was really required. The original baseplate does not have large enough holes to prevent binding and, therefore, must be changed. The linkage itself was easy to hook up.
After replacing the carb and installing a manual choke cable (the Holley comes complete with a manual choke set-up, minus the cable), I decided to eliminate some of the water hoses on top of the engine. The hoses are both 1/2" and 5/8" inside diameter at different places. I switched everything to 1/2" because this was the easiest way to go. I put the water temperature sending unit in the intake manifold, eliminating a lot of extra line. I didn't use the carb baseplate with a preheat system and thereby eliminated even more garbage. The result was a somewhat cleaner engine compartment.
Throughout the reassembly process, other small changes were made in an effort to clean up the car. Some things were relocated; others were simply eliminated. I think you get the idea. Just taking extra time and thought can result in a cleaner, better appearing engine compartment.
While working on everything else, I continued the slow process of cleaning and assembling the trunk and interior. Everything had red overspray from a previous paint job and a lot of solvent and paint was used. Most of the hardboard panels were simply used as patterns for new ones and as much new rubber was used as could be afforded. Periodically I would have to look at an already-assembled car to see how something went back together. During these finishing stages things began to fall into place and each new part that was completed and attached made the feeling of success that much more apparent. I began to look forward, daily, to that moment when the car was ready to drive. Spring was to come and go before that moment was to arrive. It seemed as though for each step forward during this process I had to take two steps backward. For each item completed, two would be discovered to need attention. Finally, early one summer weekend morning, the time was at hand. All that remained was some minor wiring, filling of all fluid levels and some last-minute checks.
As it worked out, all did not go smoothly. I had relocated the coil to the left front of the engine block. This meant that the lead wire to the coil had to be lengthened. I did that, but failed to hook the new wire up. Since we had primed the oil pump and turned the engine over to assure lubrication prior to actual ignition, Top Dead Center had to be found before the distributor could be replaced. When I hit the ignition switch to bump the engine over to find TDC, you can guess what the loose coil wire did when the switch was turned on. Right! It melted all the way back through the wiring harness. There went a couple of hours of rewiring. We finally hooked up the lead coil wire and found TDC (in that order); the distributor was installed and everyone crossed their fingers. I choked the carb and hit the ignition again.
I'm sure that by now, you're betting against the engine's starting. To my surprise, it lit and the engine sprung to life. There were the usual leaks but for the most part, the job was complete. Dinner at the Robertson's was a joyous one that night. While this represented the bulk of the restoration work in 1884, what was to follow, in many ways, became the most tedious and frustrating portion of the job. All of those little nagging problems that come with a shakedown now began to surface. The heater core blew out. The left front brake caliper began leaking fluid profusely. The clutch engaged less than one inch from the floor. I discovered that I knew absolutely nothing about the assembly of headlights from scratch. One fuse kept blowing for no apparent reason. I could go on and on, but the point is that the job continued even after that one fateful morning.
Two other major segments of the car's restoration still remained to be completed while I worked through the shakedown period. The paint had to be buffed and the hardtop reassembled. Buffing of the paint was left up to Scott, since this was his area of expertise. He used 800 grit sandpaper to remove any rough spots and then compounded the paint three times with a high speed buffer. Then the paint was polished. Waxing was left up to me. The hardtop required a step-by-step reassembly, using my own notes. Rubber, plexiglass windows and headliner were all completely replaced with new parts.
As things began to wind down on the restoration of 1884, so did the bank account. Consequently, when a local tire wholesaler advertised Michelins cheaply, I bought five for the street. I rationalized this purchase by telling myself that I couldn't race the car after all of the energy I had expended. This argument might last a few months, at least until I come up with the bucks for a better set of wheels and tires.
As mentioned earlier, the left front brake began leaking. Examination of this area indicated that a total rebuild of the calipers was necessary. The pistons were removed and turned out to be completely pitted. The job of replacing them is a very tricky one and anyone who has never done this should ask a lot of questions before attempting it. Fortunately, a neighbor had a compressor and was a tremendous help. Without his assistance, 1884 might very well have been the only street Tiger with just rear brakes. At any rate, another hurdle was overcome. Except for cosmetics, 1884 was now street worthy. I began evening runs, each one gradually longer in length. Confidence grew with each evening and eventually I ventured all the way up to the gas station.
For all practical purposes, 1884 was finished. All that really remained was paying the bills. And bills there were! Anyone contemplating a job of this nature should think long and hard about all of the costs involved. I have enough receipts to wallpaper a two-car garage. When I stacked them all in the trunk, the car shifts to that side. In the end, the total cost of parts and labor (excluding my own labor, which was literally a 'labor of love') was more than twice the initial cost of purchasing the car. The total amount of my labor, can never be equated in a dollar figure, but at the moment I'm confident that my complete investment has far exceeded the car's worth. Let's just hope the theory about appreciating classic cars holds true.
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