May 2000

This issue is your first from our new editor, Jim Anderson. I hope you continue to support Jim as you did our outgoing editor, John Webber, in the submission of articles and the like. Welcome again, Jim.

Around the Morrison household, things have been pretty quiet. . . particularly around tax time. It is truly amazing how much time, energy, money and fretting go into filing this nation's state and Federal taxes. Can anyone say "Flat Tax" or "Value Added Tax"? But enough of that.

I just received my 5-speed transmission "kit" from Dale's Restorations in San Bernardino, CA. I have heard nothing but great things about having a 5 speed in a Tiger and, in particular, about Dale's kit. The objective of the kit is to have a 5-speed installation that looks absolutely stock in the cockpit and is a complete bolt-in installation with no metal cutting. The key component is, unfortunately, virtually impossible to find anymore. It is a tail shaft housing from a T-5 from a 1982-1983 two-wheel drive AMC Concord or Spirit. There weren't that many of those to begin with and there has been a run on them to go into Tigers and other British cars that used other British cars that used Ford V-8s for the five-speed conversion. I truly lucked onto the one I found. The tail shaft is machined to accept the Tiger speedo cable and Dale even provides a speedometer gear based on your tire size and rear end ratio. In addition to that piece is a new T-5 transmission (modified by converting the stock 0.63 ratio fifth gear to a 0.8 ratio), a spacer for the driver shaft and a modified shifter assembly from an S-10 pickup. Who ever figures this out? 

Lastly an adapter plate is made to rotate the transmission assembly about 30 degrees so that the shifter comes up through the stock hole in the tunnel. Slick! Of course, the shifter is modified to be straight up and down and looks exactly like the short Tiger lever, even down to the reverse T-bar (now not functional). A new transmission to-frame bracket completes the kit. All you do is add a shift knob, trans fluid and labor! 

The transmission is not in the car yet and will now go in until June. I have ordered a 347 cubic inch stroker motor from Dan Nowak in Orange, CA that will go in at the same time. Similar motors from Nowak have dyno'ed at about 385 hp and 415 ft-lbs of torque. That should be sufficient in the 2500-lb Tiger! I worried about the power of the motor versus the torque rating of the transmission but I have been assured by everyone that it will not be a problem ...that long before the transmission suffers from too much torque, the tires will go up in smoke.

Jim Morrison