Projects Austin Healey pulled from field, anyone know these?

PS: Denver CL guy, you should have run down there with $750 instead of posting that here[/QUOTE]

I have no room for it.

 

Actually, the BJ7, which introduced roll-up windows was a Mk II, not a Mk III. The Mark II roadsters consisted of the two-seater BN7 (355 produced) and the more common BT7 with "occasional" rear seats. While the BT7s were still in production, the BJ7 "Sports Convertible" was introduced with roll-up windows and a permanently attached convertible top. The BJ7 (like the one in my garage) still carries the Mark II logo on the hood, although it is informally known as a Mark IIA (not by the factory, though) The BJ8 was the last big Healey and also had roll-up windows and a beautiful wood dash.

Rick

 

Here's a Healey story: In 1969, when I was 24 and living in Raleigh, NC, I had an 1966 Healey 3000. This car had the big six engine, four speed with electric overdrive, roll up windows, knock off wire wheels and that cool walnut dash. It was a super car, wish I still had it! Like all British sports cars of that era it had a few shortcomings. The Lucas electrics were always "interesting" to say the least. The fuel pump, electric, was fond of giving up at inopportune times.

Those things aside, it would run like the devil and out corner just about anything else on the road. The carb linkage was mounted via a nylon, maybe delrin, bracket that would break if you really jumped hard on the accelerator pedal. When this happened the linkage would cease to work until this bracket was replaced. I was forever breaking the damn thing. So much so that I carried a couple of spares in the glove box. One night after a rousing night on the town I was going home and; since it was very late and I was in a hurry, I intentionally ran a red light. The sky lit up and one of the city's finest was on my ass. What to do...What to do. I simply stomped the throttle, causing the linkage bracket to break, came to a stop and waited for the officer to come to me. He, of course, was pissed because he thought I had tried to run from him. I pointed out that the reason I ran the red light and appeared to accelerate when he pulled me was that the throttle had hung and I had no choice but to run the light. Of course he didn't believe me, whereupon I told him I'd show him what happened. I got out of the car, raised the hood and pointed to the throttle linkage which was obviously not attached to the carbs as it shoud have been. He bought the story and after I told him that I'd call a friend to come and get me he helped me push the Healey into a bank parking lot and went on his way. As soon as he was gone I got a spare bracket out, installed it and was on my way home. Healey's I love 'em.

The rest of the story is that about six months later I was hit by a lady who ran a stop sign. (Probably karma for the fib I told the cop) This damaged the right front fender and severely tweaked the aluminum panel that surrounded the hood. Otherwise the car was OK. Not having the money, or skills, to properly repair it I sold it to a kid who was a student at NC State University. Word was that his Dad owned a salvage yard in Richmond and that the car ultimately wound up with a small block Chevy, although I was never able to confirm this.

 

I love stories like this. I don't have a Big Healey but I have had my share of British cars (I right now have MGB-GT, TR6, and a Herald) 20 years ago or so I was coming home from Pismo and just flyin' trough the Kettelman hills in My MGB, about 100+, when the points started to close up on me. This is a common occurance and I had experienced it many times so I always carried extra ones and a tool box full of other little parts. Anyway the car was decelerating as I climbed a hill, just as the speed reached 55 a Fresno county Sheriffs car crested the hill in the other direction as he passed me the MG cleared its throught and ran perfect the rest of the way home. Brithish cars can be cantankerous but they have personality.

 

they still make the pump on demand fuel pump for these things, it's been improved though with better internal materials,and they are now solid state which got rid of the points, the internal points were the failure point(no pun intended) i'll have to seach for the link

 

lets see if this link takes you right to the pump, the one you need is the FRD-2, intermittent on demand pump, 2.5 to 3 psi, 10 gph. think the old pump, click-click-click-click. if thelink goes to the home page you have to click on the frd pumps icon,then scroll down. only problem is they are 12 volts, unless you want get an inverter to go up to 12,they are supposed to pull less then 2 amps. http://www.autoperformanceengineering.com/html/fr_pumps.html

 

LOL... one of my Healey stories (in my BN7) was coming back to college on a very "back road" state highway. Very scenic if you like Illinois cornfields in the winter. Anyway, the fuel pump stopped working in the middle of EBF. My Healey was the kind where the spare sat where the back seat would be, and the fuel pump was under a panel on that shelf. I pulled off the panel, reached down to the pump and beat on it with my fist. It started working, but unless I whomped on it every so often, it would quit again. So I drove 150 miles with one hand on the steering wheel, one reaching back to smack the pump.

Needless to say, the gal I was giving a ride was impressed with the lack of actual heat in the car, the side curtains that rattled and leaked like a sieve, and the unusual "driving methods" needed to maintain forward progress.

 

My memory has gone into the dumper. I haven't owned or worked on a Healey in 15-18 years. Use it or loose it.

 

Same here... my friend's BRG '67 must have been a BJ8 because it had the wood dash. I remember it being a BJ7.

 

Sweet christ thats a hell of a nice tone!!!!

 

Well, now you've gone and done it, posting those pics!

I thought I was over her. My '64 3000, that I sold many, many years ago. Found her on a car lot three years after I sold her, but couldn't afford to buy her back.

What a sweet, tempermental bitch she was. Beautiful body, supple interior, with the beautiful burled dash. Running like a demon, then pouting and refusing to start. Had to rebuild the SU's early one morning just so I could get to 24 Hours of Daytona.

Red, with red interior, and a black top. Stebro exhaust system that would leave you deaf in your left ear after a long run. Torquey 6 cyinder, and with the OD, you could easily cruise 100.

But it was those Saturday mornings. A thorough cleaning, tweaking the
SU's, and it was off to run deserted country roads with my buddy who had a XK140 Jag. He would leave me on the top end, but the AH would eat the Jag in the turns and short runs. Got over my head MANY times dicing with him, taking up both lanes, running flat out. Damn, that was fun

Thanks for the good memories. I loved that car.

 

if you go back in my posts you'll find part two of that video of the Healey dicing it up with the jags

 

Thanks for that!

That is one revvin' pushrod 6 cylinder.