Bob's Cat

A weekend of progress

2007-06-12T17:48:00.000Z

OK. Been on hols for a couple of weeks so not much progress on the car, but I did manage to get a few things done the weekend before I headed off.

Chassis

After what has seemed like forever, I have eventually finished all the welding up and grinding down of the old rivet holes!! Woo Hoo!! :-)

Now that the chassis was ready for paint, I decided to press on with painting the chassis using the POR15 paint I decided to use (www. por15.com).
I have only done part of the chassis but what I have done looks OK and should look a bit better once I put on a top coat of chassis black or similar (POR15 isn't UV stable so needs a top coat).

Engine

I've decided that I am going to make my own engine mounts so that I can position the engine exactly how I would like to clear the bonnet, etc.
The plates that will secure the engine to the mount were mocked up using some MDF to get the right shape and hole spacings. Now they are done I will make them out of steel plate (3-4mm?)

While I was at it, I thought I may as well swing the engine into the bay and make sure it matched up with the extensions I have made to the original mounts and whether the positioning of the new injection system would cause any problems. All seems well which is a relief but I suppose I'll need to do this a few more times as things progress with the rebuild.

I also managed to get the bottom end of the engine back together and fit the Scholar sump I had bought from a friend in EATOC so thats another job to tick off the ever increasing list.
A new 1.8 Zetec water pump (spins in the opposite direction from the 2.0 version) was also fitted to compensate for the change in the routing of the auxiliary belt with the removal of the power steering pump.

The alternator for the Zetec is now sorted as well. Using the grooved pulley from the big heavy Zetec unit and a bit of filing, I managed to modify the smaller unit I had fitted to the Pinto so that it could be pressed into service and save me a bit of cash in the process.
The alternator's mounting plate was also mocked up in MDF ready to be now made in steel.

All in all, not a bad weekends work!

Current Build Status

2007-05-30T14:01:00.000Z

OK. All moved into the new garage and now ready to do some work.

First things first, so I'll give a quick update on what I have managed to get done since stripping the Tiger down last year.

Chassis

The chassis has all been hand stripped down of the various layers of paint and powdercoat to the bare metal. This was mainly done with lots of paint stripper, wire brushes, etc.
If you are planning to rebuild a chassis I would strongly recommend you get the chassis dipped, blasted or use another method to strip the paint off. Doing it by hand is completely soul destroying and life is just too bloody short!

A quick coat of POR 15's Metal Ready from Frosts meant that the chassis was protected from rust, but could still be welded without any issues.
The task of welding up every single rivet, rivnut and bolt hole on the chassis now began. I had decided from the beginning that I was going to do this rebuild properly so I knuckled down and slowly I have reached the stage where I 'think' I have welded every hole on the chassis that wasn't specifically needed.

While doing this I also extended the passengers side engine mount to fit the new mounting position of the Zetec along with adding a piece of chassis in the passengers footwell which had mysteriously been cut out by the Cats previous owner!

There's a bit of grinding to be done, but eventually the chassis has got to the stage where it can be repainted (using POR 15 Rust Preventative Paint).

Engine

The preperation of the engine has progressed better than the chassis in many ways although less time has certainly been spent on it.

The list of jobs done so far are as follows:
- Block stripped of paint and repainted Matt Black with High Temperature Paint from Halfords.
- Oil pump stripped, inspected, new Front Crankshaft Oil seal fitted
- Rear Crankshaft Oil Seal fitted
- 1.8 Zetec Water pump (to get around the problems of running the 2.0 pump the wrong way with the new Auxiliary belt setup)
- 1.8 Zetec Flywheel bought but not yet fitted. (8.2Kg as opposed to 9.9kg for the 2.0 version)
- Shortened Scholar Sump bought from a friend in EATOC (Thanks Nial!) who had uprgaded to a Raceline unit.
- ST170 Inlet Manifold with GSXR750 Throttle Bodies fitted. Bodies have been respaced, and the linkages have been extended to match the different port spacing of the Zetec. I will go into this in more detail on a seperate post. The Sparks and Fuelling will be controlled with Megasquirt which I used on my previous throttle body install on the Pinto. Although I could use the GSXR750 fuel rail (after a bit of lengthening), I have decided to use the ST170 Fuel Rail. The holes for the GSXR injectors will be bunged for the moment but these can be added at a later date if need.
Fuel delivery duties will be handled by a Golf GTI fuel pump. This is a handy unit combining pump and swirl pot that I also used on the Pinto install.

Steering

Having driven a friends Avon, I was determined that I would fit a quick rack when I put the Cat back together. After missing a few on Ebay I eventually managed to get hold of a Cortina Quick Rack (2.5 Turns) off Ebay for a bargain price of 21 quid!
I had a 200 mile round trip to collect the rack but I think it is going to be well worth it when fitted.

A New Beginning!

2007-05-17T13:46:00.000Z

Hello!

Having owned my Tiger Cat for over 5 years now, the time had come for a full rebuild. After my trusty Pinto threw a rod during a trackday in August last year, along with a spookily timed offer of a bargain priced Zetec, I decided it was time to strip the car back to its bare chassis and carry out a complete overhaul.

Unfortunately, a single garage without power, starting to play rugby again, a new lady friend, etc., meant that the rebuild process didn't quite go to plan and between August 2006 and May 2007 I had only managed to carry out a handfull of jobs.

Fear not!! Due to a change in living arrangements and the lack of a garage at my new abode, I had to find a new home for the Cat and through a few phone calls I managed to secure a substantial lockup close to home with electricity, good lighting and even running water. This now means I have no excuses at all to move forward with the rebuild and you never know, I may even get the chance to drive the car before the end of the summer (maybe a tad optimistic!)

So, the plan is that I will keep this site updated with my progress with the rebuild for anyone who is at all interested and hopefully my waffle will be of some use to another Tiger or Se7en owner looking to embark on a similar path.