Tiga FFA78!

[LanceKTM950]

I'm the soon-to-be proud papa of a Tiga FFA78 and would greatly appreciate photos and construction/setup comments to keep me going thru the winter. The current owner has disassembled the car for restoration and lost motivation before starting to put it back together. I'm going to ask him if he'll re-assemble it but if he won't I'll be doing it but the next 4 months are the busiest of the year for me at work due to trade shows. Again, any comments/advice/photos of cars would be greatly appreciated! Lance Renshaw Northern Illinois

[lucky13]

I stopped-by at the last FRCCA event at Summit Point and there was a beautifully-restored Tiga 78. You might want to check their site to see who the owner was. Congrats on a very nice car.

[Clyde]

Lance; The owner of that tiga is Joe Marcinski. When you are reassembling your racecar just make sure the left and right sides are assembled evenly. Both sides MUST be the same.

[Bill Bonow]

Lance,

I know the '78 all too well. Great car, CV stub axle nut tension arrangement is terrible. Need to convert that over to VW joints. If the car has a cast aluminum lower rear cross brace, pitch it and have Pat Prince build one out of steel tubing.

Otherwise, a great car. Unlike a Lola or VD, the Tiga loves to be abused. Try to be nice to it and it won't respond well.

What chassis number did you get? IIRC mine was # 60

[Dennis Valet]

[LanceKTM950]

Awesome photo! Thanks!
Got more?
Lance

[Dennis Valet]

I think this is a FFA 78, let me know if it's not - the results sheet say it is...

From the 40th anniversary at road america - Coello took the win

[LanceKTM950]

I'll never be as fast as Nikki but the car sure looks good!
Lance

[Bill Bonow]

Lance,

Here is two shots of my Tiga FFA 78. One is early (barn find, bolt it together and race it), while the other is after a little "improvement" via Pat Prince. I sold it before the EWC ever got started.

[Roux]

You probably want close-ups of suspension etc.....

but instead, check out Joe's car in action (the orange Tiga of course) in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0L-EAzJsrw

If that doesn't inspire you to get the car ready and looking good, what will?!!

Steve

[Maureen Harris]

LanceKTM950,

Joe Marcinski periodically travels to Chicago for business. He also posts on Apex occasionally.

Send him a PM; he might be willing to meet you during one of his trips and share some pointers. Joe has done a frame up on his Tiga FF78 and would be a great resource.

Good Luck!

[Joe Marcinski]

Hi Lance,

First, thanks to those who offered the kind words about my car. I would be happy to assist you by providing some pictures and any advice you might want.

Bill's comment and advice about the stub axles/CV joint things are spot on. After I drove the car twice, the first thing that I did was to send the rear uprights to Craig Taylor. The stock stub axles and hubs just wouldn't stay tight for longer than a session or two. Craig replaced the stock Tiga parts some much lighter and much more reliable stub axles/hubs and bearing assemblies. They have been on the car since June of 2007 and have been maintence free during the past 4 1/2 very, very full (14 to 20 races per year) seasons of racing.

There are many other things that I have done over that time and it really just depends upon how far you want to go in terms of work or investment.

On the frame we (Ted Eller of Performance Concepts and I) made some adjustments in the forward facing roll bar bracing to make entry/exit from the cockpit easier. We also did some work around the dash roll hoop to make some additional room for my knees as I am 6'2" and pretty stocky.

I still have the cast aluminum lower cross member and I have had no problems, but I may take Bill's other suggestion and call Pat Prince about a fabricated steel piece.
The car is still using the standard geometry/pickup points and seems to be very well suited to the current generation of Club Ford tires (I use Hoosier).

I have also replaced the heavy Girling LF14 brake calipers with some much lighter ICP calipers.

I have had the opportunity to have owned quite a few differnent FF's & CF's and this is by far my favorite car. So, please feel free to contact me at marcinskij@midwescofilter.com or call me at home at 540-678-3729. I am away a lot, but I will call you back if you leave a message.

Joe Marcinski

[Will Velkoff]

Joe's car is a top notch ride, saw it for the first time at the NARRC Runoffs this year...was good racing against him as well!

[Bill Bonow]

I still have the cast aluminum lower cross member and I have had no problems, but I may take Bill's other suggestion and call Pat Prince about a fabricated steel piece.

I never actually had one let lose (cast aluminum), but was warned by many a former Tiga owner that they don't snap while towing to/from the race track, they tend to pop in high corner load situations. Hard CF tires are less likely to produce high G's that the cars saw in the early days (stickier tires), but didn't figure I'd test my luck on that one after discovering that very few Tiga's still have the original cast aluminum lower cross member.