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!

Unveiling the Find

My father-in-law, George, had the Austin Healey for weeks before I was able to see it. By then he had already put it on jack stands. Upon seeing it for the first time, I loved it! The Austin Healey just needed some TLC. It came with a book on restoring Austin Healy 100/4s, 100/6s, and 3000s. Using this book and the car's vehicle identification number (and the type of rear axle), we were able to determine it was an early 1953 Austin Healey BN1.

Other than the frame and body parts, there wasn't much else that came with the car. All the car had with it was the radiator, gas tank, front/rear suspension & brakes, and the steering column. There was no engine, transmission, seats, and windshield. The original license plate, in California black, also came with the car. The last registration tag on it was from 1970.

In mid-July 2014, we began the restoration process and took every removable piece off the Austin Healey. Every bolt had 40 years of rust to knockoff. Most bolts we had to break using a drill.

We uncovered some original upholstery in navy blue. The exact color of the upholstery will be useful in determining the original color of the paint. There was rust damage, but not as much as we anticipated. With time and money, all of it can be repaired.

As we moved along, it was obvious that the last person to have the car running (not the person we bought it from) didn't know what they were doing. The had put a Chevy 350 in it, and, in the process, cut and poorly welded it in various places in order to fit it the engine in the car. Their jerry-rigging, though unfortunate, can all be fixed.

The above picture is taken of the engine compartment. The red arrows identify two areas that the previous owner had cut away in order to fit the exhaust of the Chevy 350. Ironically, this jerry-rigging cut into the leg room in the cab. After three days working on the car, we finally got it completely apart.

Now that the car was apart, it revealed the parts of the frame and sub-frame that would need to be fixed. Our next step is to sand blast the frame, further revealing the areas needing repair, and fix the problem areas.

George and I did get a chance to visit the previous owner, and he gave us valuable information on the car. He mentioned (as I had already come to find out) that the missing windshield posts and frame were extremely difficult to replace. Also, he had acquired it in the mid-1980s with the goal of restoring it. He purchased it from the person who had it last running (and had done the jerry-rigging). As the years passed, he realized he was never going to get around to getting it done, because he had several other cars in his yard he was going to restore first. Ultimately, his main goal was to have the Austin Healey go to a good home. He knew he accomplished that goal because we had done more work on it in three days than had been done in three decades.

The Beginning of My Love for Healeys

I have always had an infinity of Austin Healeys. It all began with a 1965 Austin Healey Sprite. This Sprite was the first car I owned (picture below). On January 27, 1998, I bought it, much to my parent's chagrin, after seeing it in a newspaper ad for $1,000. According to the ad, the Sprite ran well, but had been sitting for a few years and, as a result, the brake master cylinder needed to be rebuilt. My friends, Tim and Colin, and I rebuilt it in the guy's garage. We had never rebuilt one before, as we were novice mechanics, but we did an exceptional job and drove the car home. Here's a picture I dug up of us working on it that day:

I took it home, cleaned it up and fell in love with it.

The Sprite was the lower-end model of the Austin Healey convertibles; however, it drove beautiful. Heads would turn on every street I cruised. I could maneuver this car on a dime. I spent more time at a European car shop than I did in school my senior year of high school. My parents gave me a convertible top for it as a graduation gift. I learned how to diagnose and fix my first car problems on my Sprite. I learned how to rebuild a front suspension and replace wheel bearings and various other car parts. I enjoyed every aspect of this car.

The only problem was the size of the car. As the name indicates, it was small (and if you have never seen one, it is smaller than you think). My parents thought it was a death trap due to its size, even though they bought me a roll bar and seat belts for additional safety.

Sadly, I traded this classic convertible for a 1955 Chevy four door sedan, mostly because of safety concerns with the Sprite. I thought and hoped the Chevy, a car I always wanted, would be an even greater classic car experience. I was mistaken. The Chevy did not live up to my expectations and the experience and thrill I got from the Sprite. Ever since my Healey days, I have longed to drive a Healey again.

In the background of my mind, I always wanted a "Big" Healey (the name of the "Big" Healey is used among enthusiasts to distinguish those Healeys from the Sprite, which came out years after the first "Big" Healey). The "Big" Healey was the higher-end of the Austin Healey and came with a 2660cc engine. They were formally called the 100/4 (100 because its top speed was slightly over 100 mph and 4 because it was a four cylinder).

The 100/6 and 3000 (named because of the 3000cc engine) models followed the 100/4 in later years. These Healey were faster, better designed, and, overall, a much, much better car than the Sprite, but they were always going to be out of my price range.