HealeyScotland - Recently Updated Pages

Calendar of Events

healeyneil — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:32:49 CDT

Date	Event	Location	Note
Wednesay 26/11/08	Monthly Meeting	Westerwood Hotel
Saturday 6/12/08	Christmas Dinner	Dakota Hotel	Contact Neil Munn for details
Sunday 29/03/09	The Argyll Classic Tour	Balloch Castle	Organised by CCHMSC www.caledonianmsc.com
Sunday 5/4/09	Spring Shakedown	Abington Services 9.30am	Assemble at Abington services 9.15 to 9.30 then down through the borders to lunch at the Chollerford Hotel. Route details at the start. email - StuartMackintosh@bpipoly.com
15/16/17 May 2009	Chasin' the Haggis tour	Galloway to Caithness	Fully Booked
6/7 June 09	La Carrera Caledonia Tour	Gretna to John O'Groats	Organised by CCHMSC www.caledonianmsc.com
19th July 2009	4th Scottish Classic Speedfair	Knockhill	Austin Healey Display (50th)
7/8/9 August 2009	50 th Anniversary Event	Event begins at Thirlestane Castle Lauder fri.7th Aug. 8am. then on to Forrestburn Hillclimb, and on to Culcreuch Castle Fintry for coffee. We then have an evening buffet and ceilidh at Drymen. Sat 8th. we drive the historic Rest and be Thankful hillclimb,then a visit to Kilchurn Castle and on to Inveraray Castle for a huge photo shoot on the front of the Castle. We then have an celebration dinner at the Loch Fyne Hotel Inveraray.where we celebrate the Healey 3000 50th anniversary in true Scottish style! Sunday is a optional drive down the Mull of Kintyre.	Ian 01360440418 Niel,0141 6381614

12th Dec 2009 Christmas Dinner at the Dakota. Contact Neil Munn at Renovations3@AOL.COM

Mike Kean

healeyscotland — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:29:31 CDT

Mike Kean, a stalwart member of the Scottish sub-center, sadly passed away earlier in 2009. His two Austin Healeys remain with the family who continue to participate in events in the region.

1960 LHD 3000Mk1 exported to Canada in 1960. Returned to Scotland 1989 part disasembled. Rebuilt by David Barnett (Classic Autosports) Inverkeilor 1989 - 1990. Healey ice blue.
Modifications - spin off oil filter, converted to lead free petrol, 72 spoke wires, otherwise totally bog standard. Coseted and dry used only except when Haggis bashing!

1972 - red 1964 3000 BJ8 Mk 2. Still in the family (2009) never rebuilt and continues to give much enjoyment and good service.

Cars Owned previously.

1961 - 1964 - Grey over cream. 100/6 BN 4 in Singapore. Used for rallying and racing. Chassis well out of true, took left hand bends well, right hand bends in bites!

1964 - 1006/ BN 6. In UK and Germany. White over Black, black hard top Reg No 6 AKM. An oil burner but fast. Engine siezed solid after "Servicing" by local German garage. BMC agent in Hannover found replacement engine. This turned out to have a porous block, through the oil gallery I suspect but in those days problem could not be rectified however the car continued to run well despite the malady.

Ed Murray

edmurray — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:32:27 CDT

Austin Healey 3000 Mk 111

FDS 106C

History

Registered June 1965 in UK, first two owners around London. Sold at Brooks Auction as restoration project in 1989, completed 1992 in Glasgow, and acquired by me in 1996 from Tom Brodie. It was a well known car in the Club locally and David Sinclair helped me assess the car prior to purchase.

Now BRG over OEW (originally Colorado Red), the car looked like a Californian cruiser with chrome wires, original ambla interior, white hood and period Dunlop Roadspeed cross plies (you will never go round corners on those, according to Ian Walker, and he was right). Very quickly, a black hood was fitted, new 72 spoke painted wires with Yokohamas, new black leather interior, Moto Lita woodrim wheel and, like many other members, became bumperless.

Highs and lows

The car was used properly for almost 7 years covering some 14,000 miles pretty much trouble free, including Haggis and other tours in summer months, until 2003 when it was taken in to Northern Healey for some minor paint bubbling on the front wing (which Alasdair Reid kept pointing out to me so it is all his fault!!). Somewhat predictably, it turned out to be a full body restoration and a year later it emerged from the paint shop looking great (although my wife said it looked just the same!). I kept the same colour scheme because that was Ed’s car! Mechanics were fine so we left well alone………

The following year in 2004, the engine went BANG on a tour round Scotland. We got home but compression was poor. One of the rings had broken up and welded itself to the top of the cylinder. Back to Paul on a trailer and a year later the engine and gearbox had been rebuilt, with a few fast road mods of course, including high lift cam, Dennis Welch 6 branch manifold and side exit exhaust, balanced, overdrive on gear lever etc. Again Paul did a great job as a motor engineer, although the final product was let down by poor quality remanufactured imported parts. When someone says fully restored, just find out exactly what that involved. The gremlins seem to have been sorted out now and the car is faster and more useable than before, and now fully run in with 6000 miles since. It hardly uses oil and fuel consumption is 22-25 mpg.

Latest news

In 2008, we took the car to France together with Norm in the Big Cat and covered 1500 miles viewing Chateaux of the Loire and visiting caves de degustation. We also fitted in a day at the Le Mans 24 hour race.

We are committed haggis chasers, the complete haggis actually, having taken part in 11 events and had the most fun with the best people you could imagine. And on that note, all thanks to Sir Donald and the women behind him who make it all happen-roll on 2010!

That’s all for now folks.

[IMG]http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o289/bigsi06/Knockhill005.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o289/bigsi06/DSC00847.jpg[/IMG]

News

iantwalker — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:28:33 CDT

Information and news will be added here. Feel free to add your own information here.
Of particular note for 2009 is our plan to celebrate the 3000's 50th annivarsary with a special event in July or August that it's hoped will attract Healeys from home and further afield - more details to follow - but places will be on a first come basis so don't miss out !
20/02/09 Bookings starting to come in, one or two new cars, the website and revcounter ad. seem to be working.

16/02/09- Both Thirlestane and Inveraray castles have given us the go ahead for the 50th event. We begin at Thirlestane on the morning 7th August.

9/03/09- Monkland Car Club have come up trumps and we now have the use of the hill on the Friday 7th. This is the last piece of the plan for our weekend, great news.

09/02/09 - Some photos of a recce trip to check castles and hotels in Argyll for 50th Anniversary event

15/01/09 - Cars, Castles & Kilts.The weekend we have chosen for the Healey 3000 fifty year anniversary is Friday 7th Aug to Sun 9th Aug. Starting in the Scottish Borders, our route will use some of the greatest motoring roads, around the borders, through Loch Lomond & the Trossachs to Argyll. We have secured the use of The Old Rest and be Thankful hill climb on Sat 8th August, which is for the sole use of our 50th event - more information to follow. - contact Ian 01360 440418 or Neil 0141 638 1614 for more information.We have been in touch with Inveraray Castle and will be welcome at the castle after our run up the" Rest" for a photo session outside the front of the castle. Our personal piper will be awaiting our arrival at the castle. The two hotels we are looking at are the Loch Fyne and the George both of which are local to Inveraray and we'll provide infomration about alternatives for accommodation in due course.

13/12/08 - Events organised by the CCHMSC have been added to our calendar. Please note that a few members particiapted in the 2 events mentioned in 2008 and highly reccommend them. If you want to find out more contact iantwalker@hotmail.co.uk and take a look at thier website - www.caledonianmsc.com

09/12/08 - There is a meeting at Balloch on Thurs 8th Dec 08 to launch a DVD about the Rest and be Thankful motoring history. A group called Friends of the Rest has been formed to reinstate the old hill, a few of us are attending. (National Park Headquarters).

Arthur Levy

arthurhlevy — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:54:18 CDT

KKD 76D was purchased in 1989 from Murray Scott-Nelson as a re-import from Texas USA.
I commissioned a complete body-off restoration, from them, changing the steering from left to right hand drive and the car was delivered to me in1990.
It could only be described as “out of the box”, everything was correct, in concourse terms.
Over the following years I discovered that other Healey club members were driving faster than me and their cars seemed to accelerate faster, corner better and brake better.
The car now is not correct, but who cares.
The cylinder head was rebuilt to take lead - free fuel (it runs best on Shell Optimax), and Mallory distributor was fitted. A Dennis Welsh six branch manifold and exhaust was added together with an up rated 7/8” anti roll bar (a must).
A Dennis Welsh high capacity water pump has been fitted. A DW 5 blade plastic fan and a Keenlowe fan, plus brass expansion tank take care of overheating.
I now have 5 1/2 J, 72 spoke wheels plus Fulda 185 tires and Green Stuff brake pads.
I dispensed with front and rear bumpers (too heavy). and added 7” Lucas spot lights.
The gearbox and overdrive was rebuilt by Hardy Engineering, (not without some serious hassle)
I have also added a spin-on oil filter, 14” Moto-Lita wood rim steering wheel & an alloy petrol filler cap.
The car now runs and drives well. I am lucky that club members help fix problems.
To sum up, I have had nearly 20 years of pleasure from my car, oh, and must add, Healey people are the best in the world.

Arthur Levy

Bob Brass

iantwalker — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:35:16 CDT

HealeyScotland Home

iantwalker — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:57:16 CST

Welcome from the Healey Club in Scotland

The Scottish sub-centre of the Austin Healey Club's Northern Centre has been on the go since 1977. The number of members in Scotland has grown steadily and we have a very active core of enthusiastic Healey owners who organise a number of events throughout the summer months. The emphasis in Scotland is on driving and enjoying the cars to the full. We do attend a few static shows and you'll find details of this years planned activities in the events section.

We have some very interesting cars resident in Scotland including a 1949 Healey Abbott, a 1947 Healey Westland, an Elliott, 2 rare Mk11 BN7s and a Mk11 3000 that went round the world in 80 days a number of years ago.

Have a look round the site - of particular note are our arrangments for celebrating the 50th Birthday of the 3000. Details of the plans for this event which we hope will be attended from enthusists from around the country can be found under "events".

NEW VENUE FOR MONTHLY MEETINGS

Regular meetings are held on the last Wednesday of every month at The Boathouse,Auchinstarry Marina KilsythG65 9SG located on the B802 in Kilsyth .

David Hamilton

healeyscotland — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:00:34 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Ian Walker

iantwalker — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:01:40 CST

133 1W was re-imported from the USA in 1992. I bought it as a derilict accident damaged project in May 92 on the basis that I already had a good front shroud and if it could not be repaired I could break it for parts. I had noticed that it had been fitted with a mk.3 engine and gearbox and this was an added bonus. I bought the flared wings and louvered bonnet from revcounter market pages and this dictated the look the car now has. After 4 years of hard slog it passed it's first MOT in May 1996 and we took a chance and booked in to the 3 day Highland tour in September that year. That was to prove the best thing we did as we met up with loads of Healey owners and have enjoyed many years of quality driving and great company.
Over the years I have improved the car in most areas, modified unleaded head, Welch manifold and side system, triple 1 3/4 carbs, Mallory distributor, lightweight flywheel and backplate, Welch oilseal kit, highpower starter motor, alternator, Welch plastic fan and modern core radiator, alloy sump, alloy fuel tank, Welch uprated shocks and 8 leaf springs, Welch uprated front anti roll bar, Capesport u/rated panhard rod, alloy rear drums, Welch front calipers, servo and minilite type alloy wheels. I restored the hardtop this year having had it stored for many years and I think the car looks tremendous with it fitted.
Things to do include, sort out the steering (always been a bit too loose) combat the cockpit and underbonnet heat, replace the shockers, probably telescopics on the front. I am currently trying out a pair of cobra type seats and so far they are a huge improvment on the weak Healey affairs. The car has been to the Euro meeting in Luxembourg and finished all 11 Haggis Tours plus two Highland three day events and has been very reliable with a little help from my friends!

Alasdair Reid

healeyscotland — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:06:07 CST

Alasdair sold his beautiful Mk II to buy a Mk111.basket case..

One and a half days work with Neil Munn and my new Healey is reduced to this pile of rubbish ( see bottom of page) ........... but look at the smile!
Now the real work starts.

A new chassis was obtained from Northern Healey,and the body was rebuilt using all alloy panels. All mechanical , electrical , hydraulic, and fuel systems were either refurbished or renewed.
The car has triple two inch carbs feeding a fully balanced and lightened engine with a Kent '286 ' cam.
I have fitted an alloy engine sump and backplate, an alternator and geared pre engaged starter.
An alloy radiator and 5 blade D.W. fan means no cooling problems.
It drives through a TOYOTA 5sp. Gearbox. Any horrified purists are welcome to have a drive .
I've had enough of BMC gearboxes and overdrives.( although I have retained a Healey box + O/D.to go with the car )
Steering is via a high ratio 'box with a 14'' Motolita woodrim. Very precise , but heavy at low speeds.
I'm running 15'' replica Minilite alloy wheels........much stronger and a lot easier to clean than fragile wires.
Stiffened dampers all round, lowered suspension , and race weight anti roll bars front and rear.
For braking I have the standard brakes at the front , but at the rear I have a set of Discs clamped by Jaguar rear calipers. ( see Technical Tips for an article on Rear Disc Brakes )
All of the above was used on my last car , and the set up suits me.The seats I have fitted are rigid ( non folding ) period looking rally seats.
These give much improved side support . I have tilted them back by fitting tapered wooden wedges under ther slides in stead of the flat wooden strip of the standard arrangement.

Neil Munn

healeyneil — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:11:15 CST

According to Heritage records my car was built 24th to 26th Aug 1960. It was registered PSD 736 on 9th Sept in Kilmarnock, to a firm of carpet makers. It had a white tonneau cover and a blue hood. It passed thru a few owners in Ayrshire until Sept 1967, when it was bought by Bill Porteous of Glasgow. As well as being his everyday car for transporting wife and large dogs, Bill was a motorsport enthusiast and used the healey for all sorts of events: sprints, hillclimbs, grasstracking etc.
Unfortunately he had a big moment at the "rest and be thankful" ending up with the car some thirty feet off the road in a rather battered state. Being a panelbeater to trade he simply took a few days holiday and "straightened it up". Quite possibly a Stihl saw and very large hammers were involved. During his ownership the car acquired a centre change gearbox (from an abandoned car) and a works alloy head (Exchange and Mart advert - £50). By 1972 the car was becoming rather tired so it was sold on ,via Scottish Motor Services !, to the north of Scotland. After a few years it became unworthy of repair and sent to the scrapyard. It was rescued from there by a Healey "old hand" Allan Adam, who passed it onto another "old hand" Keith Kelly. Keith started restoring the car but was also involved in restoring another six or so cars simoultaneously......
I bought the car in December 1986 and set to work restoring it. On 27th Feb 1991 it passed its MoT. That was only the start.
Over the next ten years it was modified and developed into what just might be its final spec.
Firstly, the engine.
It has been bored 60 thou oversize. When a lightened flywheel was fitted, the crankshaft was dynamically balanced. Each conrod, piston, and gudgeon pin was balanced individually, then checked as a unit. It has a Denis welch high lift cam and vernier pulley. This also required "pockets" in the block. The head, as already mentioned, is a works alloy one, standard valve sizes, but obviously been worked on. It has an alloy backplate with oil seal adaption and spin on oil filter with oil cooler. Externally apart from a Princess alloy rocker cover, it has triple HD8 carbs on DW manifolds, matching tubular exhaust manifold, alternator and DW five blade fan.
The transmission has a Toyota five speed gearbox and a diff from a non overdrive car.
Front suspension. There is some negative camber, thanks to offset top bushes. There is a thicker antiroll bar, and a high ratio steering box. Shock absorbers are standard.
Rear suspension is standard. Tyres are Fulda 185/70 VR15 on "mock minilites"
Front brakes are uprated with larger callipers (Ford Cortina !!) with semi race pads and a servo.
The bodywork has lightweight panels, alloy bootlid and composite wings with handmade vents. There is a rollover bar, more for show than go, although it might soon become a video camera mount.
Finally the front seats are period Paddy Hopkirk items, retrimmed to match the rest of the interior.

All the above was written some years ago. PSD 736 has now been reduced to its component parts so that it can get a (long overdue) new chassis, and I will need to add another page for the "Scary Sprite"

The "Scary Sprite" is the result of a couple of years work. The initial idea was for something in which to do sprints/hillclimbs etc, but that morphed into wanting a car to use while the Big Healey was being rebuilt. I had fancied the idea of a Sprite with a "K " series engine fitted, but was put off by 2 things; firstly, these engines have a reputation for blowing head gaskets and warping heads, secondly, I would be getting into some serious electronics to make it go, and thats not my strong point!. So, while looking around to see what 4 cylinder "revvy" engine could go in ( preferably with a gearbox on the back already) I dreampt for a while about a Honda S2000 engine (240bhp, 9000 rpm ! ) Eventually I settled on a Lotus engine, the 907 type first fitted in the Jensen Healey. By the time Lotus fitted them in their own cars they were developing 160bhp and were fitted with a 5 speed gearbox (with Austin Maxi internals ! ) The engine fitted is from a Jensen Healey, which, after 10 minutes with a Dremel, said "HEALEY" on its cam covers.
It was not an easy engine to fit, both footwells, the transmission tunnel and even the chassis rails had to be extensively modified, as well as having the sump "narrowed" by Daves pal who also modified the exhaust manifold for me.
The back axle had to be replaced , so the Jensen Healey once more contibuted. It was chosen as it has the same stud pattern as the Sprite, and it was "only" 4" wider. It is located by a 4 link system, with "coil over" shockers in fabricated mounts.
The front suspension has a Frontline conversion fitted, which removes the twisting seen with standard Sprite suspension, and also gives a few degrees of negative camber. Taper roller wheel bearings and a fat anti roll bar finish the front . The brakes at present are std calipers, grooved discs and Greenstuff pads, but bigger calipers and bigger discs are about to be fitted.
The fibreglass front is a modified "Ashley" with large bulge to clear cam covers and Dellortos, and the air intake smoothed to aapproximation of Jag E Type. While it was intended as an open car for enjoying our long hot Scottish summers I could resist when the coupe hardtop with Kamm tail appeared on ebay. The originals of these were made by Williams and Pritchard, who were better known for their alloy bodywork on many Jaguar racers of the late 50s. The whole thing is painted Speedwell blue, which my darling wife assures me is "a right gay colour"
So, whats it like to drive ? Simply ... A BLAST ! 0 to 60 must be around 6 secs. I havent dared find out its top speed (yet) On "ordinary" 175/70 tyres you can spin the back wheels in the first three gears, and " hang the tail out" at will. With competition 185/60s fitted it grips much better with excellent turn in ( thanks to the Frontline kit) but the ride is much harsher. You can drive it sensibly as the engine has not been much modified (twin 45 rather than 40 Dellortos) It will tick over at 500 rpm and pull cleanly from 1000 rpm.
While I have not added up what the whole project cost, by selling lots of Jensen Healey and Midget bits on ebay, I would guess at less than £2000 for everything ( but an AWFUL lot of hard graft)

Healey Seats

AlasdairReid — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:46:17 CST

A newly restored leather faced set of standard Healey seats look just beautiful.
Sit in them and drive the car and the impression quickly changes.
The cushions are too high , the seat-backs are flexible , and there is little side support.
For my rebuilt BJ8 I wanted something better.
I purchased rigid non folding rallye style seat frames and had them modified to suit me.
On a BJ8 , the rear quarter panel which covers the hood mechanism restricts the backward travel of the seat, so I had the outside of each seat modified to provide extra clearance.
Likewise the inner front side thigh support was modified to give greater clearance to the transmission tunnel.
They were then covered in leather.
Close inspection of the seats as individuals reveals a rather peculiar shape, but when fitted as a pair in the car it is hardly noticable.
A further change from standard was to fit tapered wooden wedges in place of the flat strips that normally sit under the seat runners.
These wedges taper from 1/4'' at the back to 11/4'' at the front and have two effects.
Firstly they tip the seat backwards increasing the distance from the shoulders to the steering wheel.
This is a personal preference , I don't like to feel as if I'm jammed up against the wheel.
( the tipped back position I find more comfortable on a long run.....but I do have a lot of back problems)
Secondly the taper means that if a shorter person is driving , and pulls the seat forward it rises up on the taper, giving them a better view over the scuttle.
I'm not particularly tall, but with these mods. I find the driving position much more comfortable.

SPOT LAMPS

AlasdairReid — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:13:39 CST

How many owners have beautiful shiny spot + fog lamps on their cars ?
How many have lamps which are connected and light up ?

When wiring spots , it is important to remember that they must only be lit when the car is running on main beam.
Having spots on without main beam is a road traffic offence.
Likewise you can be 'booked ' for leaving fog lights on.

Correct wiring of spots lamps requires the introduction of a relay into the wiring circuit.
If they are wired directly off the main beam circuit the power demand is greater than the standard wiring can sustain, and a burnt out wiring loom is the likely outcome

A feed should be picked up from the headlamp MAIN BEAM circuit. The easiest place to find this is in front of the bulkhead in the engine compartment. The wiring loom passes through the bulkhead and there is a 'Lucar ' bullet type connector making a joint in the main beam circuit ..............the BLUE /WHITE wire.
Take a feed from this Blue White wire and run it back through the bulkhead to your spotlamp switch.
The switched wire ( from the switch ) should then be run to the relay's switching contact.
Next, a power feed wire ...use 25amp for two spots.....can be run to the relay.
An ideal place to pick up power is the main battery cable connection to the solenoid.
Don't take it from the fuse box as an overload is again possible.
A 35amp inline fuse should be fitted to this wire.
Finally the spots are connected to the relay's switched contact.

The end result is that the spots will only be lit when the headlights are on main beam.
If the spot switch is left ON , and the headlamps are dipped ,then the spots will be extiguished.
Switching back to Main Beam will bring the spots back on.

Alasdair Reid

Rear Disc Brakes

AlasdairReid — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:47:55 CST

Perhaps it was just bad luck , but having owned several Healeys of most models , I seemed to be having nothing but trouble with my rear brakes.....the original drum type that is.
I replaced leaking slave cylinders ,I was forever freeing up seized adjusters , replacing pull off springs and cleaning out drums full of dust ( asbestos ? ).
So when Dennis Welch's catalogue came through the letterbox I fell for his rear disc brake conversion kit.
The kit consists of a pair of discs ,a pair of caliper mounting rings, and an instruction sheet.
You have to source your own Jaguar XJS type rear calipers.I aquired a tatty set and had them rebuilt.
The rear drum brakes are removed along with the half shafts and rear hubs.
This is done to enable some modification to be done to the rear axle tube.
Part of the backplate mounting flange has to be ground away , as has part of the rear caliper casting.
This is done so that the calipers will physically fit onto the axle tube. Templates are provided for the grinding.
The caliper mounting rings then bolt onto the axle tube , and the calipers onto the rings.
There is a fair bit more to it , but it is all simple stuff , and clearly explained in Dennis's fitting instructions.
Now comes the nasty bit.............the Handbrake rods do not line up with the caliper operating levers.
I found it necessary to make a new extended carrier for the handbrake swivel tree, and cables rather than rods to pull the linkages. Moving the swivel backwards extends the handbrake cable to its limit.
Getting the handbrake to work to M.O.T. standard was the biggest hassle of the whole job.

So, finally every thing is bolted up and the brakes bled and off we go for a test drive.
Major disapointment . The rear brakes are FAR too powerful. The back end simply locked up.
The disk brake kit is really designed for racing where extremely hard pads would be used at the front.
My solution was to fit a brake balance valve, set almost fully biased towards the front. This works.
My other thought was to split the output from the master cylinder and feed only the front brakes via the servo.
Alternatively I considered fitting a dual circuit master cyl., and again servoing only the fronts.
Currently I'm using ' Green Stuff ' pads at the front . They seem to bite a bit harder and I have re-adjusted my balance valve a little more towards the rear
At the end of it all I have a very effective and reliable braking system.
I have a Healey with rear discs , and that is unusual , and often provides a topic of coversation with keen eyed and knowledgeable owners.
Am I happy with my brake set-up .?.............yes .
Would I recommend it to other owners for road use ? ........probably not.
Getting it all to work properly is a real fiddle and in the end I think the net advantage is only slight.

Alasdair Reid.

As an afterthought perhaps I should mention that I use a 5/8'' bore master cylinder in conjunction with a servo.
Normal practice on servoed cars is to use a 3/4'' bore master cyl.
The narrower bore generates more hydraulic pressure at the expense of a slightly softer pedal and slightly longer pedal travel.
I find that the main benefit is a more progressive brakeing system.

Healey events in 2008

iantwalker — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:57:17 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Technical Tips

Joyce/DaveS — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:27:54 CST

This section of the site will contain technical tips from Scottish members and build up as members add information. Please note however that all information, opinions, advice and technical tips are those of each contributor. Healey owners should be advised that any action they take based on advice on the site is entirely at their own risk. Participants are urged to seek professional advice for specific individual situations and not rely solely on advice or opinions given in the discussions.

Editing a Page

joanwalker — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:39:11 CST

If you have permission to edit you can sign in and you'll see an easy edit button on each page which if you click it will open up a toolbar and allow you to edit the page you are viewing. Type in your text or add a picture as if you are using a wordprocessing application. Click save when you've finished and you'll be asked to leave a note of what or why you changed something which I recommend as good practice as it keeps us all informed at least until we get used to the software. If in doubt contact healeyscotland@googlemail.com . Each iteration of the page is saved and we can always revert to previous versions so you cannot delete everthing.

If you are adding information you should ensure that you do not upload anything without permission unless it consists entirely of content you created yourself. Please be aware that you may be editing information that has been added by another member of the community so be sensitive about the changes you decide to make, if any. Any bad language will be removed.

Dave Sinclair

Joyce/DaveS — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:20:32 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Five speed healey

healeyscotland — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:32:59 CST

If you are a fan of originality, you might want to turn the page now, If not you may want to consider the following.
Getting fed up with gearbox problems on my 3000, I decided to investigate my options. Either rebuild the existing box and overdrive or convert to a modern five speed. The overdrive had been "professionally" rebuilt a few years ago and was acting up sometimes. Had it been done correctly? Might I be throwing good money after bad? A few companies seem to offer five speed conversions - either based around Getrag or Toyota gearboxes. I decided to go for the kit manufactured by Conversion Components of New Zealand - they were cheapest!

What I received was a new alloy bell housing, a low mileage Toyota Supra gearbox, clutch bits, a propshaft joint and a new speedo cable. Oh, and sundry nuts and bolts and instructions.

With the old gearbox out and left to dribble oil on the garage floor, the first operation was to bolt the new bell housing into place and check the flywheel for clearance. Once this is correct (it was), the clutch is bolted up with the new Toyota clutch plate and the release mechanism installed. The new gearbox is then slotted in just as usual except that it is easier because it's a lot lighter, about 40lbs lighter in fact. I managed fine working alone as the new box balanced nicely on my trolley jack. The last few millimetres of bolting of the gearbox were fractionally tight but seemed OK. Certainly no warning bells going off but perhaps all these years of Healey blatt have taken their toll. The next task was to fabricate an inverted U section from 2.5mm plate to bolt onto the cruciform section of the chassis. As this section sits higher than the main chassis rails, there is no reduction in what we laughingly refer to as ground clearance. I drilled and tubed the chassis to accept 12mm dia bolts. I also fabricated a simple bracket to accept the tie bar (you know the one - it stops the engine fan mashing the radiator under heavy breaking). Next stage was to get a new propshaft made to mate Toyota gearbox to Healey axle. You do not need to chop up a Healey propshaft to do this. Incidentally, should I want, for some reason to change back to the original gearbox, the only change is two holes through the chassis and you can see them anyway.

With everything connected, it was time to fire up. Nothing. Just a loud click from the starter. Thinking that the battery was flat I tried jump leads etc, before realising that the engine would not turn. Gearbox out again. Xxxx. It was obvious that the clutch was fouling on the bell housing. A bit of relieving and a very careful check soon resolved that. I think that Conversion Components will modify their fitting instructions to take this into account.
With everything refitted it was time for final details. For my taste, the Toyota gearstick is too long and has a modern vibration damper fitted. Gentle heat soon took that off and left a stick just right. I also trimmed the glassfibre cover slightly. With the carpets in place, the interior looks the same as before.

Driving impressions. Clutch in; engage first gear - no baulking, no engaging second gear first, just smoothly in. As you start moving there is a strange noise, or rather lack of it. No first gear whine. Gear change quality is excellent, and the ratios seem to be nicely spaced with fifth gear very close to O/D top. The biggest surprise is the lack of transmission shunt, which I was not particularly aware of before. On my car the shunt may be worsened by a combination of high lift cam, triple HD8s and a lightened flywheel. Another advantage is said there is less power loss through the gearbox, meaning even more to the back wheels. My only loss is the lack of O/D third. I have always loved being able to flick O/D off to give you lots of passing power.

PS. I am aware that my heroes at Denis Welch Racing reckon they have sussed the gearbox problems and I believe them but I've given them enough money lately.

Neil Munn

Members Cars

healeyscotland — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:26:14 CST

This section of this new site contains information about some of the cars owned by members of the club here in Scotland. Each member of the Scottish sub-centre can have their own page so that you can share some of your cars background, information or photos.