100/6 vs 3000 driving experiences

[HealeyRick]

Good morning.

Priced out a new interior and a set of Dayton tubeless wire wheels at Moss and just saw over $5500 go poof.

Can you paint one of these to a good, but not outstanding, condition with the fenders and doors on?

In a word, "NO!". The issue is with the seam where the stainless steel trim is. It's very difficult to sand close enough to the trim to get good adhesion and masking the trim itself is difficult, making it likely you'll face problems in that area in the future. You might be able to remove the trim by loosening the fender bolts, unbending the tabs that keep the trim in place and removing the trim, but at that point, you might as well go all the way and remove the fenders. Even more importantly, electrolytic corrosion (as Brinkerhoff mentioned above) will generally have gone to work between the steel fenders and aluminum shrouds. Unless you address that, you'll end up with bubbling along the trim.

 

[tdskip]

In a word, "NO!". The issue is with the seam where the stainless steel trim is. It's very difficult to sand close enough to the trim to get good adhesion and masking the trim itself is difficult, making it likely you'll face problems in that area in the future. You might be able to remove the trim by loosening the fender bolts, unbending the tabs that keep the trim in place and removing the trim, but at that point, you might as well go all the way and remove the fenders. Even more importantly, electrolytic corrosion (as Brinkerhoff mentioned above) will generally have gone to work between the steel fenders and aluminum shrouds. Unless you address that, you'll end up with bubbling along the trim.

That explains that join being thin / perforated on many cars I have seen.

 

[elrey]

Well then,... who knows of a car with little to no rust, somewhat beat or not, for a reasonable amount of dough, so that our newfound friend may create his dream come true?..... Have we dispensed with the pre 57 requirement?... If so the range will open wide. The two seaters are costly, so they may be out of the running. I do believe the 100s are quite dear, the bn4s are restorable but it seems to me that starting with the bt7s, the motor is improved.. and with the tricarb bt7 the pinnacle base motor has appeared. Coupled with the hardtop and sliding sidecurtains the 4 seater makes a fine, roomy:indecisiveness:, all weather rally auto. Next come the curved windscreen bj7s with roll up windows that retain the spare no nonsense interior.,,, and then the bj8s, the final iteration in their magnificent splendor with the most power in stock form. WHEW,.... what do you all think?... Are you still game T?

 

[tdskip]

Good morning my friend, thanks for the note.

Of all the long distance (~1000 events) only 2 have a '57 cut off. The California Mille (which always has a waiting list and we may not get in anyway) and the original Millie in Italy (which we are definitely not getting into).

The age cut off is a very good consideration, and I appreciate it being pointed out, but I think I was likely too fired up about an unlikely in practice consideration.

Thank I just got captivated with the potential rather than likely reality of what this car would take.

 

[dougie]

Well then,... who knows of a car with little to no rust, somewhat beat or not, for a reasonable amount of dough, so that our newfound friend may create his dream come true?..... Have we dispensed with the pre 57 requirement?... If so the range will open wide. The two seaters are costly, so they may be out of the running. I do believe the 100s are quite dear, the bn4s are restorable but it seems to me that starting with the bt7s, the motor is improved.. and with the tricarb bt7 the pinnacle base motor has appeared. Coupled with the hardtop and sliding sidecurtains the 4 seater makes a fine, roomy:indecisiveness:, all weather rally auto. Next come the curved windscreen bj7s with roll up windows that retain the spare no nonsense interior.,,, and then the bj8s, the final iteration in their magnificent splendor with the most power in stock form. WHEW,.... what do you all think?... Are you still game T?

I know you couldn't build this for what they're asking....

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C816151

 

[twas_brillig]

Cooling (for both engine and passengers) and exhaust system clearances are weak links in the real world.
Have a look at the later BJ8 frames with a view to notching yours to match to improve exhaust clearances (I don't know if this is feasible as I haven't tried it and don't think I've seen any threads discussing it) - losing the exhaust system on a speed bump would sure mess up a long distance run. There's quite a few threads on the site (and elsewhere) discussing ways to keep the engine cooling as well as keeping the heat out of the cockpit.
Also there's a thread entitled 'Tasteful Upgrades' that could be worthwhile reviewing as various members have contributed the 'tasteful upgrades' made to their cars to improve comfort, reliability, safety, etc. etc.
You could get a lot of suggestions on specific items as you make your decisions. Eg.: stock transmission, or Toyota? If you stick with stock seats, then modify them to increase the back angle and experiment with Norman Nock's suggestions regards drilling holes in the seat foam. Etc. Etc. etc. Plus folks have been rallying these beasts ever since they rolled off the assembly line, so someone has done pretty much everything you can think of. Doug

 

[twas_brillig]

Dang! When I was reading the thread, I missed the page where the decision was made to not jump off the ledge, so my comments above are a bit irrelevant. Doug

 

[tdskip]

Dang! When I was reading the thread, I missed the page where the decision was made to not jump off the ledge, so my comments above are a bit irrelevant. Doug

Very helpful still - there will be other ledges!

Thanks Doug.

 

[HealeyRick]

6Hard to evaluate a car on an auction site, but this one looks like it might be a nice base to build a rally car. Undercarriage looks like the 67k advertised miles could me original: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1965-austin-healey-3000-bj8-mk-iii-3/ Hardtops are available in the UK to give it that works rally look, although they don't come cheap.

 

[Michael Oritt]

I must take exception to the firm "No" with a caveat, though I will agree with Rick's statement if the existing paint is compromised and if rust has gotten into the joints.

I recently had my car painted in that manner: All exterior trim--everything--was removed, the fender bolts loosened, the strips removed and the car shot with two-part paint. The existing paint was sanded/primed to and beyond where the trim touched the fenders. The result was very good, the painters did not have to spend a lot of time realigning all the panels and the price was reasonable because of the labor saved.

The caveat is that the existing paint was in very good shape with the exception of 20 years of wear and tear since its body-off restoration in 1997--especially at and within the fender joints--there was no rust anywhere and the new paint was virtually the same color as the old.

In a word, "NO!". The issue is with the seam where the stainless steel trim is. It's very difficult to sand close enough to the trim to get good adhesion and masking the trim itself is difficult, making it likely you'll face problems in that area in the future. You might be able to remove the trim by loosening the fender bolts, unbending the tabs that keep the trim in place and removing the trim, but at that point, you might as well go all the way and remove the fenders. Even more importantly, electrolytic corrosion (as Brinkerhoff mentioned above) will generally have gone to work between the steel fenders and aluminum shrouds. Unless you address that, you'll end up with bubbling along the trim.

 

[tdskip]

Thank you Rick, I will watch that auction. That's a very nicely presenting car.

Thank you for the additional background Michael, that is good to know. On the 100/6 it would have to be completely taken apart based on what I learned.

 

[HealeyRick]

Michael,I think we're saying the same thing. My firm "NO" was to trying to paint a Healey while leaving the stainless trim in. I'm sure Earl Scheib did it back in the day with lots of resulting cracking and peeling at the fender joins. OTOH, if you remove the stainless beading and there's no corrosion between the fender and shroud, you should be ok.