|
Post by bbh on Sept 15, 2018 19:42:46 GMT
Dougie, the current plan is to use the original gauges, which I have had cleaned and refurbished. They are currently tucked away in boxes some-where, waiting till I get to the dashboard build.
Your comment re multi-spark system is interesting in that I thought that you ran an updated Jaguar dizzy. How have you gone about multiple sparks?
I did think about MSD at one stage, but to get things up and running will stay with the re-build 25D with Petronix unit I have. But once passed the running-in stage it is a potential.
|
|
|
Post by dougie on Sept 15, 2018 21:41:32 GMT
I did stayed with my current race dizzy and Pertronix Ignitor II under the cap, but added Pertronix's new Digital HP eletronic management system that mounts very discreetly under the dash. The system has many nice features including a rev limiter which is a great safety benefit while racing. shop.pertronix.com/digital-hp-ignition-box.html#.W516gmRKgy4
|
|
|
Post by bbh on Sept 16, 2018 19:43:36 GMT
Haven't come across one of those before, but it looks like a very nice bit of kit. Would be interested to hear how it performs once you get a few miles on the new engine.
|
|
|
Post by bbh on Oct 14, 2018 18:40:31 GMT
Electrics continued .......Rear Lights, Nothing earth shattering here, just a case of installation. I did toy with the idea of both LED bulbs and converting the reflector to an indicator light. Whilst I may still do this in the long term, I wanted to ensure everything worked as planned first, before I add in any additional complications. For the rear stop / tail / indicator (Lucas 594) lights I bought some reproduction fittings (as my originals were well past it) but I had one original (red) glass and found another two (RH Column below. These are much better quality than the repros (centre column), one of which was so dark I am not sure you would have had much light passage – bottom middle below. Next was the number plate light. As I won’t be fitting bumpers, the choice was either an original type (Lucas 467/2) fitted at the top or the smaller (Lucas L550) on either side. I opted to use the original style 467/2 and found a NOS lamp in reasonable condition. Similarly, with the reflectors, I only had one original and the rubber was either perished or what was left, rock hard. Again I found two NOS replacements to fit. Distraction ……. Since I was “in the boot” and the weather was still reasonably warm, I decided to fit the Armacord lining. I followed the article written by Rich Chrysler, found on the John Simms excellent Healey6 site, www.healey6.com/Technical/Boot%20Trimming.pdf and this made things much easier. Distraction 2 …… Well whilst in there I thought I may as well install the rest of the “fittings”. The original woodwork (battery and spare wheel rests) were well past their best. I made up a new battery support out of ash with stainless fixings and purchased the two spare wheel blocks, pre-covered in black vinyl, all held in-place with stainless bolts. The boot lock, should have been straight forward, but probably due to the repair work on the bottom edge of the boot itself things didn't turn out that way! When the lock was fixed in-place it was not exactly 90 degrees to the locking shaft from the handle causing things to stiffen up – off by about 5 degrees. I made up a small wedge, painted it body colour and put it all together. All seems to work fine. Finally, to the metalwork – prop rod, side bracket and spare wheel hold down rod & bracket. These, well certainly on my MGA, are difficult to avoid paint chips and over time can look “grotty”. I decided to get these done in stainless (as well as those for the front bonnet). A local fabrication company did some copies of my originals, as a filler job (beer money!) leaving only the finishing and polishing to be done. Whilst not original, these look good and should stay that way!. The spare wheel rod bracket (or what-ever it is called) is only on with one bolt at present. Just want to wait till I get the spare wheel / tyre combo in there to judge space before final fix. Oh, and the boot lid badges. The 3000 flash badge was too flat and didn’t follow the contours of the lid with the result that the edges of the flash would stick up / out. I ended up copying the contour of the boot lid onto a wooden block and then fitting the badge to that and clamping it in the vice for a few days – seems to have worked.
|
|
|
Post by dougie on Oct 16, 2018 4:15:21 GMT
Looking great....I had to do some badge modifications as well.
|
|
|
Post by bbh on Feb 9, 2019 21:14:19 GMT
Enough done on the back end for now, so moving to the front to carry on with all those little jobs I want to get done before the engine goes in and limits space. First, however a small diversion mid way to align the pedals and fit the front part of a throttle conversion. As I was doing a LHD to RHD conversion, I needed to get a RHD accelerator pedal shaft, which was not a big issue, but on fitting it came very close to the RH bulkhead. Not sure if this is how they were originally, but didn't like it, so as I was doing away with the foot operated full beam switch, I decided to evenly space the pedals out, and away from the bulkheads. Brake and clutch were no problem, as the new pedal box arrangement pretty well catered for that. When the pedal covers were fitted to the middle of the shaft, eliminating the original spacers. The accelerator pedal shaft was reshaped with some gently pressure in the vice with a "soft"! 'S' which brought it in from the edge. Originally on a RHD when the pedal shaft came through the side of the pedal box, it was held in place by a thin tin cup which had a felt washer inside (top two on picture below) I thought that this could be improved, and found a bearing, which was the right size for the pedal shaft, and is 2mm thinner than the original cup (bottom of above picture). Then taking inspiration from the approach of the DMD throttle cable conversion I made up a plate in aluminium as a trial which would also act as a stop for the outer cable which I plan to run under the bulkhead (in a similar position to the original rods) and keep things aligned. This was then copied to 2mm stainless and fixed in-place. I thought about using the original lever, albeit straightened (top of pic below), but felt there was a more elegant solution!, So after a bit of playing with some flat aluminium bar ... and mounted ... The cable will follow the line of the original throttle rods under the bulkhead. To this end I made up a couple of aluminium brackets ... Which screw into the original threaded holes used by the throttle rod brackets, and keep the cable out of the way. At the other end I will come up under the carbs, using a "v" bracket to hold the outer cable and up to the fixing on the carb throttle rod, (hopefully!)
|
|
|
Post by dougie on Feb 10, 2019 4:58:38 GMT
Nice work, looks like a well designed system. It should work well, even under hard use.
|
|
|
Post by bbh on Mar 31, 2019 20:21:25 GMT
Ad Hoc,
Working towards the front and completing the electrics and the jobs which are easier to do now, before the engine is in, so this is a bit of a mixed bag and in no particular order ……. The front stainless wing beading was inserted and secured, no pics as every-one knows what that looks like. Must say though, having the holes in the wings for the vents made getting to some of the fixings much easier. Completing the side vents were next. I had the vents made whilst the bodywork was being done to ensure that they fit OK. I also has mesh screens made which screw onto the back of the vent assembly They were then removed and the wings and vent panels painted separately. The design of the vents is such that they can be inserted into the opening from outside, turned and pulled back. There is a small gap in the “blades” top and bottom and this slides over the flange created when the wing opening was made. This means that the outer surface of the wing remains smooth. With the vents in position they were secured to the wing by small stainless screws and the mesh screen added. Into the engine bay and fitting the bonnet opening pull rod – the long one from the cockpit to the lever at the front. As mentioned, and pictured, above I had the long rod, lever and short lever made out of stainless, so hopefully as it scrapes back and forth it shouldn’t look too bad. I also had the guide plate made in stainless (these are now available on that well known auction site – the chap who does them originally just did the slightly smaller ones for MG’s, but I sent him an original and he agreed to do one for a Healey). Not needing them just yet, but I am looking for the corresponding locking pin and spring in stainless… The plan has always been to fit an oil catch can, rather than plumbing the crank / rocker vent into the carbs, and whilst there are a plethora to choose from I liked the approach taken by Lin Rose, valvechatter.us/?p=9532 (just scroll down a few pages). He used a Mishimoto can as it has an interesting internal filter design, is quite small and easily mounted. I picked up a Mishimoto Compact Baffled Oil Catch Can, 2-Port, part MMBCC-CBTWO-BK as well as their Oil Catch Can Petcock Drain Kit, part MMBCC-DRAIN-02 from Mishimoto UK. All of the fittings necessary were in the pack, but I made up a small stainless bracket which allowed me to fix the can to one of the upper captive nuts on the RH footwell, whilst keeping the can vertical. I also fitted a small K&N filter to the outlet port The drain was then secured to one of the lower captive nuts on the footwell with a “P” clip. This way draining the can should be relatively easy, I just need to reach under the wind, put a suitable receptacle under the hose and open the drain valve.
|
|
|
Post by bbh on Aug 6, 2019 18:52:53 GMT
Still pottering away with a few bits and pieces at the front of the car before the engine goes in and restricts the working space available. The collection of lights at the front were the next job; As per the later Sebring cars the dishes in the front valance were filled with a rear mounted Lucas light. At the moment I have a spot on one side and fog on the other, but I may change so that they are both the same. The original headlight bowls were of the type for the US sealed beam, these were changed to the metal bowl type used for standard lights (Lucas TVS). Although these came with new glass, I had a set of NOS Lucas lights and chrome adjustment rings – so marked “Made in England”, rather than “Foreign Glass”. At the moment these do have the original light fitment / bulb type, so don’t expect to see much in the dark. An upgrade job once I am sure that the electrics work as intended. The side lights, again repro units as the originals were well past their best, but again I used original glass lenses as these are better quality. As above, fitted with an original bulb, but a candidate for a LED upgrade once everything tested. I like the new LED bulbs which will show white for the side lights, but amber for the reflectors, but I will also have to change the relay at this stage for one suitable for LED voltages. As can be seen from the above pic, the grille surrounds and the stainless infill piece for the main grille and the oil cooler vents were next in. This is where things started to get interesting, since apart from the chrome surround and eyebrow top, the grill and all of the associated bits for the airflow ducting to the radiator were custom built and all would use a different fastening to the original and needed to be secured / inserted in a particular order – talk about making things difficult for yourself!!! Finally, all in-place and hopefully will work as intended, once radiator fitted. At the moment I have not thought about a top infill to stop air going “over the top”, but will look at this once everything is in. As I am not running an oil cooler, the vents in the front shroud mimic the Sebring cars but would have had no practical purpose, which seemed a waste. So, I decided that with a suitable collection box behind, I could channel cold air up into the engine bay to supply the carbs, help keep the Filter King cool (see later). A bit of aluminium fabrication later and one cold air box shaped to fit the front shroud with a side duct channelling air up through the original air intake assembly into the engine bay. So far all of these changes use existing holes in the shroud / frame, so if it does have to go back for whatever reason, that should not be a problem. Keeping on this theme, I purchased an 85mm Filter King and searched for a suitable mounting point. Fortunately, on the front left inner wing there are two holes, originally used for the Flasher Relay. With a suitable bracket to hold the Filter King vertically and keep it steady, this looked as if it would work, as it is away from the exhaust manifold and can be supplied by some fresh air – see above.
|
|
|
Post by healeyneil on Aug 9, 2019 21:32:58 GMT
Just a thought . Looking back at your neat throttle cable, if you ever needed to replace it, you might curse those clamps on the bulkhead ! 😪
|
|
|
Post by bbh on Aug 10, 2019 18:54:53 GMT
You're probably right, but I just wanted to keep the cable out of the way and hold as gentle a curve in it as I could.
I did think of just "going over the top" of the rocker cover, but things then start getting messy.
I guess worst case is that I could leave the outer in place and renew the inner cable if I had to, either way much better than the original concoction of rods / levers etc.
|
|
|
Post by healeyneil on Aug 11, 2019 15:18:04 GMT
That wouldn't be hard !
|
|
|
Post by bbh on Oct 13, 2019 19:08:57 GMT
Staying with electrics it is the turn of the dashboard to recieve attention... As this was originally a US car, time for a swap from the original to a new RHD dash, using one of Dave Hardwick's panels. Interestingly the original LHD dash panel was in pretty good shape (so if any-one needs an original!). The guages were serviceable so have been given the once over, but the switch gear was pretty much past its best .... I don't plan to us the original heater control so this freed up a good place to put an additional switch panel, in pretty much the same shape as the heater panel. This was made up out of a bit of 3mm Ali and shaped such that it would fit snugly to the back of the dash and be secured via the two screw holes which were in the dash for fixing the heater control. I did think about leaving this in al Ali finish, but decided that it would be too reflective and covered it in the same vinyl as the dash. Next on with the brightwork. This was mainly original re-chromed. The ignition switch I managed to find NOS items and switched over my original barrel so the key number remains the same. All other switch gear is new, mostly toggle switches The empty hole on the left hand side is for the choke knob, rather than having it up in the middle of the dash. The gauges came back from refurbishment looking good. The have LED lights embedded to brighten things up a bit and the Dual Temp / Oil gauge has a stainless braided hose to the water bulb rather than the twisted wire thing! and in-place .......
|
|
|
Post by bbh on Jan 12, 2020 16:30:46 GMT
Steering
Now this should have been straight forward ..... Although the BT7, as bought, came with a LHD steering column, that was about it. If you exclude the last remains of an original wheel. The original plan was to fit a DWM RHD steering column, new wheel and as I had no trafficator, move the indicators, horn and headlight flash to a column mounted stalk. Sounds simple and in theory it would work just fine, however in trying to work this out and get it to look right, I was going to have to make too many changes, not to mention highly modifying an existing stalk. (The commonly available stalks are of a plastic type and not quite in keeping - you can get some chrome Lucas ones but these are a bit more difficult to locate and then you have the issue of mounting them / disguising the column clamp.). In the end I decided to keep it simple and buy a new trafficator from one of the usual suppliers. Interestingly at the same time / same supplier, I also bought a replacement trafficator wiring harness - and the wiring colours on the trafficator (supplied with loom) and replacement loom were completely different! As the new DWM adjustable column was installed, I attached my new steering wheel / boss – A 15.5” Derrington copy by Mike Lempert with an aluminium turned boss …. pbase.com/mdlempert/healeylistersblog has a bit of background. The wheel is a thing of beauty, but be prepared for a long wait! All mounted to the column OK I bought a new stator tube and connected this to the trafficator assembly off the car. I first filed down the slot in the tube to take away the rough edges and rounded the bottom corners to hopefully prevent splitting in the future. I then ran a line down the tube to pull the wiring through. Now I have seen it said that you can get the wiring through the tube by spacing the bullets and wrapping tightly, but there was no way I could get this to work. Rather than damaging anything I simply cut off the bullets, attached the line and pulled the wires through without an issue. With a guideline through the column the stator tube / trafficator assembly went in smoothly (thankfully – as this was an operation, I was to do a number of times!). However, even with the olive /nut in-place, the plastic cup holding the indicator lever was standing about 3mm away from the wheel. To me, this just didn’t look right. Out it all came. I made up an aluminium ring out of a 3mm sheet – exactly the same size as the ring on the outer face of the steering wheel, but 3mm rather than 5mm. Polished it up and put it all together again. Gap gone, nice snug fit, but I hadn’t taken into account the protruding domed heads of the steering wheel screws, which interfered with the indicator lever!!! Out again. A bit of research, or looking at what others had done, came up with three options: 1. Go back to having a gap. 2. Change the domed headed slot screws for flat headed 3. Sink the domed headed screws into the outer ring. I guess it is a matter of personal preference, but I didn’t like the look of using flat headed screws, although that would have been the easiest solution. In the end I drilled out the screw holes enough to sink the heads of the domed screws, which I think looks better. All together again, re-attach the bullets and link up to the wiring harness.
|
|
|
Post by dougie on Jan 13, 2020 1:51:58 GMT
Everything is looking wonderful. You must be really be itching to get behind that wheel, fire the motor up and tear up the road. Mike's work is great, I use one of his wheel bosses with a custom 14" Moto-Lita wheel on my vintage racer.
|
|