Engine's Firing on All Cylinders

I agreed to purchase the Healey back in January; however, I didn’t have the time to pick her up until May. Fortunately, the owner was gracious enough to keep the Healey in his barn while I finished moving. Finally, in late May we loaded the Healey up onto a flatbed truck and took her to her new home.

Once the Healey was in our garage, we got to work right away to get her up and running again. We flushed the gas tank and radiator, changed the oil, etc. Once we put in a charged battery, we were ready to see if she’d start up. She didn’t. We took apart the electric system and found the point set, condenser, and rotor were worn out and needed to be replaced. We obtained the required parts from a local mechanic, and they did the trick! Here are the results:

The timing is still a little off and there's couple of leaks to fix (well, British cars always leak, but I just need to get it to the normal amount for a British car). The rumbling of the Healey engine is invigorating!

Next, we wanted to see if the Healey would shift in gear. However, the clutch did not engage when the clutch pedal was pushed down. After adjusting the connecting rod, the clutch engage perfectly! I started her up and drove her in first gear. The brakes needed to be redone, so I couldn’t go very far or very fast. 

My next step is to get all the brake parts (shoes, rebuild kits for the cylinders) and to detail the Healey from bumper to bumper. Stay tuned for more updates!

Another Barn Find

Several months have passed since my last update on my Healey project. My wife and I were busy selling our home and buying a new one. This process consumed all of my time and energy.

Much has happened with the Healey project since my last post. In the journey to track down parts for my Healey, an acquaintance, knew of someone looking to sell a complete 1955 Austin Healey BN1. The backstory was intriguing. He had purchased the Healey in the mid-90s and spent about a decade bringing her back to life. He had completed about 95 percent of the restoration when he was unable to continue with the project. From about 2005 to 2015, the unfinished Healey sat in his garage.

After several conversations with him over the phone, my friend, Travis, and I took the two hour drive to see the Healey in January. We found the Healey covered in barnyard dust. Parts of the car were scattered throughout the barn, but she was complete. 

I told the owner I was interested but needed to talk about it with my wife first (I do not adhere to the old adage that it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission). And, a few days removed from seeing the car, I agreed to purchase the Healey!

Purchasing my second Healey left me in a quandary, which Healey do I keep? I contemplated three viable options. First, I could put the second Healey back together and sell it, using the money to finish my first Healey. Second, I could use the second Healey as a parts car and sell what I didn’t use. Lastly, I could sell the first Healey and keep the second Healey.

I was heavily leaning towards option two, but after being persuaded by both my good friend Tim and my father-in-law, I chose option three. Ultimately, I went with this option because it got me to my overall goal in this venture quicker; namely, I wanted to own and drive an Austin Healey 100-4.

This means, of course, that I will be selling my first Healey. My goal is to just recoup the money I have invested. Now I just need to find a buyer. Though I am sad not to see the first Healey to the end, I am excited to know I will have a complete and beautiful Healey to work on and get back on the road!

The Frame of Restoration

The first step in restoring my Austin Healey 100/4 BN1 was to strip it down to the frame and sub-frame. George and I accomplished this step back in July. This weekend we moved on and complete steps two and three. Specifically, sandblasting the frame and applying epoxy primer to the frame.

The Austin Healey was loaded onto a friend's trailer to be taken to Artistic Body Shop to be sandblasted. Most likely this will be the only work I outsource.

After five days and eight hours of labor, the car came back with a new and different look!

Sandblasting takes the frame and sub-frame down to bare metal and remove any rust, truly exposing the areas that need to be repaired.

Overall, the frame and sub-frame was in the condition we expected, and, thankfully, the sandblasting process didn't expose any problem areas we didn't already knew existed.

Since the car is down to bare metal, it has to be primed with an epoxy primer immediately. A bare metal frame and sub-frame can easy rust. Even a fingerprint can cause damage. So George and I spent the afternoon applying an epoxy primer to the frame and sub-frame.

Now that the frame and sub-frame have been primed, we will now move onto the next step: repairing the frame!

The Engine Dilemma

My Austin Healey came with four cylinder, 2660cc (or 90 horsepower/2.6 liters) engine. The 100/4 name came from its top speed (106 mph) and the number of cylinders (four) in the engine.

The four cylinder engine was powerful and could move the car from 0-60 mph in 11.2 seconds. On top of that, the car still got 22.5 miles per gallon! Unfortunately, my Austin Healey didn't come with this engine or transmission (a three speed with overdrive). In fact, the last engine to be in the car was a Chevy 350 V8 (the previous owners butchered parts of the car to fit it in).

Before starting this restoration project, I had decided to use a Chevy V6 4.3 liter engine with a five speed manual transmission.

This Chevy V6 has many advantages. First, the engine is readily available, which means a lower cost. I should be able to find a good engine and transmission for about $600 to $800. Replacement parts are also readily and cheaply available. Second, this engine, unlike the V8, fits very well in the Austin Healey. Lastly, the engine does increase the power of the car. The V6 will move the car along very quickly (which is both a pro and a con).

The only disadvantage the Chevy V6 has it that it significantly decreases the value of the car. According to several experts, it decreases the value somewhere between $30k to $40k. Now I am in a dilemma, which engine do I choose?

I love the look, idea, and added value of the original four cylinder engine. However, I am not thrilled about the cost, as it will cost approximately $15k to $17k to install a rebuilt engine and transmission. Currently, my plan is still to use the Chevy V6 because my budget doesn't allow me to consider the original engine. Though once the car is finished, I can look into saving my money to get the original engine and transmission. I may put the original engine and transmission in my five-year plan.

The British Parts Guy

Back in my Austin Healey Sprite days, I spent much of my time (when I should have been in school) at European Sports Car Garage. They proved to be useful in ordering parts for my Sprite.  This same place came to mind when I need parts for Austin Healey 100/4. I simply had too many parts to track down individually and knew I needed a parts place if I was ever going to restore this car.

I performed a Google search of British parts store with the intent to see if European Sports Car Garage had a website. However, in my Google search, another British car place comes up, British Car Specialts. As I checked out their website and online catalog, I found they have almost everything I need. The icing on the cake was that this British car parts store was located in Stockton, California. I couldn't believe my luck! Out of all places where such a place could be located to have it so close (only 40 miles away) was a relief! But maybe it’s too good to be true. So I called them. They were just as knowledge and friendly as I had hoped they would be. Dave, the owner of British Car Specialists, encouraged me to come and visit his shop to see some Austin Healeys under restoration, see his parts warehouse, and to touch base with him as I begin this restoration process.

In late-September 2014, George and I took a quick road trip to Stockton to visit the British car specialist. From the moment we go there we were treated with great customer service. Dave escorted us around, showed various Austin Healeys in his shop, and showed us his parts warehouse. He answered all of our questions and gave us invaluable information about my Austin Healey. He had every part available I would need to rebuild the car.

He even encouraged me to think seriously about putting in the original engine and transmission back into the car. According to him, it would add about $40,000 in value.  However, it will cost me approximately $15,000 to go that route. Now I have to do a cost-benefit analysis (I knew the policy analyst in me was going to come up). I will be thinking about this in the months to come. 

Moving forward, British Car Specialists will prove to my main resource for parts and will make this restoration process so much smoother!

Diamond in the Rough

As I wait to sandblast the Austin Healey, I am using this time to learn more about my car and track down the various parts I need. To this end, I have joined a local Austin Healey club (Golden Gate Austin Healey Club) to get connected with other Austin Healey owners and experts. I took my family to our first Austin Healey club event back on August 24 in Vacaville. It was an ice cream social at a local Frosty Freeze. We met many other Austin Healey owners, and they were very welcoming and excited to have us a part of the club (even though we all came in a Honda Odyssey). Ironically, one of the Austin Healey owners lived only a couple miles from us.

Also, I have joined a nationwide Austin Healey club. My main purpose for joining this group was to utilize the club's online forum. There are questions I come across that I need an expert to answer. My first forum post proved to yield valuable information on my Austin Healey. I posted a picture of my dashboard:

It appeared as if the dashboard has been cut away or was missing a part. The car had been butchered in other areas that it wouldn't be surprising to learn they cut this too. However, all my internet searches on the dashboard were fruitless. All I could find was a one piece dashboard. I posed this question to the forum.

The forum administrator was quick to answer. He said that this dashboard had two pieces, and I was missing the instrument cluster panel, This panel would bolt on to the main dashboard. Only the first 800 Austin Healeys made had this feature before the dashboard was in manufactured as one piece. And, while this meant the car was rare, finding the instrument cluster panel would be extremely difficult (even more so than the windshield frame). Now the journey to find this part begins!

Against the Wind(shield)

One of the many parts the Austin Healey didn't come was the windshield frame. The windshield frame consists of eight main parts. There are two posts, two post feet (connecting the posts to the body), and four frame components. The only components that came with the car were the two feet.

The beauty of this windshield was its ability to slide down. Its regular position was upright, but it could slide down, giving the car a sleek, racing look.

This windshield design was only used in the first two years of production. The limited number produced, along with the Austin Healey used as racing cars, makes this part difficult to find. In fact, the difficultly in finding a windshield was one of the reasons the previous owner decided to sell it. I called several people who specialized in old British car parts, and all of them had the same response, "that's a hard part to find, good luck." I was able to track a company in Europe that was selling it complete, but they were asking $2,500. Ebay had a listing of just the windshield frame posts, and it sold for over $400.

 As was needed to find this part, I ran into a whole lot of luck. To help in the search for this part, and other parts, I purchased an iPhone app that would search listings on Craigslist nationwide. This search pulled up a 1955 Austin Healey BN2 for sale back in Massachusetts I read the description about the car for sale, and the owner had mentioned the car came with an extra windshield frame posts. I quickly called and asked him if he would sell just the windshield frame posts. Unfortunately, he had someone already commit to buying the car, but he would ask the potential new owner if he wanted the extra windshield frame.

My persistence paid off. After multiple calls over several weeks, the owner decided to sell me windshield frame. In addition to that good news, he also said he was able to dig up the other components I needed. In other words, he had everything I was looking for and for a price that was significantly lower that I could ever imagine! He sent it, and I paid for in (in that order). Much like a kid on Christmas, I was excited to open up the package the day it came in the mail.

They need to be re-chromed/repainted, but, overall, they are in great condition. Finding them relatively easy took a huge burden off me in the journey to restore this car. Now all the pieces (pun intended) are beginning to come together.