Frame Measurements

[BOBBYR]

Good morning Guys ,
I hope everyone is doing well . In the last year I have put together , what I think , is a pretty good plan for a full frame off restoration . My Healey is a tittled 1965 BJ8 that was actually built in November of 1964 . In the past I have tried to acquire as much information on the proper frame measurements , always running into the same old problem . It seems that there is very little published prints or drawings for BJ8s . If anybody is aware of a straight forward print , please let me know how I can get a copy . I hope you all have a great day .
Bobby R

 

[Keoke]

HI:
There should be a complete frame drawing with dimensions in the factory manual.

 

[HealeyRick]

Try contacting Marty Jansen at Jule Enterprises: https://www.jule-enterprises.com/ If anyone has accurate measurements, he does.

 

[Keoke]

Additionally:I think we need to clarify.

That there is not a conventional bolt on body for the big Healey cars.

One cannot simply remove [unbolt] the frame from the body.

During a ground up restoration a bare composite chassis is generally the lowest level of disassembly.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Additionally:I think we need to clarify.

That there is not a conventional bolt on body for the big Healey cars.

One cannot simply remove [unbolt] the frame from the body.

During a ground up restoration a bare composite chassis is generally the lowest level of disassembly.

To illustrate what Keoke is saying, this is BN6L/942 reduced to zero (0) remaining bolt-on components; not a single fastener (bolt, screw or clip) on the superstructure anywhere.

Same method of construction through the BJ8 models.

To go any further would require cutting torches and/or cold chisels.

 

[Keoke]

Thanks much Randy

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Is is possible to straighten the frame on a Big Healey? My BJ8 has a little body sag on the driver's side; wondering if a frame shop could put it on a straightening rig.

 

[Keoke]

Is is possible to straighten the frame on a Big Healey? My BJ8 has a little body sag on the driver's side; wondering if a frame shop could put it on a straightening rig.

Yes if all the involved metal is good.
Alternately it may require ;

1 Frame parts replacement with new bits.

2 Stiffening members added to the existing frame.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Is is possible to straighten the frame on a Big Healey? My BJ8 has a little body sag on the driver's side; wondering if a frame shop could put it on a straightening rig.

Yes. I pasted mine to the side of a mountain in Woodside, California, following an AHC?Pacific Centre officer's election picnic, and LeDue & Ahonen (sp?) frame shop in San Francisco pulled the RH (LH?) frame rail back into position. Tough to remember now, but I'm thinking that one side__or the other__was "up" about 1-1/2" @ the front bumper mounts, and I seem to think "the kink" was about halfway between the engine mount pedestal and toeboard.

Another friend, Layne Perkins (and which may or may not be one of the Healeys that Marvin here worked on) was hit the day after he bought it in Lafayette, Louisiana. Hit hard from behind, and jammed him into the car in front too. That rolling chassis was stretched/straightened by a shop near the corner of Louisiana Avenue and the Breaux Bridge Highway (Jim/healey blue) probably knows, or remembers the name of the shop.

Just like any process that we're familiar with ourselves, to the frame-shop guys, straightening the car back out is no big deal; they work off the datum points as laid out in the back of our shop manuals. The Complete Official Austin Healey, by Robert Bentley , Section R (tried to upload a pdf of the pages, but I'm not that smart...).

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Thanks, Randy (I do have the Bentley manual, grease-stained and dog-eared). My concern would be the 'superstructure;' and if if would be difficult to bend the 'chassis' with that superstructure resisting (of course, the superstructure didn't resist the bending in the other direction too well).

 

[CLEAH]

Bob, as Keoke suggests, it seems likely that it would require a new sill and /or outriggers. Unless it was an otherwise sound car that got tweaked in an accident, putting weak metal on a frame straightener seems like it will not fundamentally fix the problem, or at least not for long.

 

[John Turney]

Bob, as Keoke suggests, it seems likely that it would require a new sill and /or outriggers. Unless it was an otherwise sound car that got tweaked in an accident, putting weak metal on a frame straightener seems like it will not fundamentally fix the problem, or at least not for long.

Or you could use this stuff: https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/showthread.php?106683-FiberFix-commercial

 

[Jim 58 BN6]

Or you could use this stuff: https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/showthread.php?106683-FiberFix-commercial

Wow! Think of all the money I could save on replacement panels, and you can even sand it and paint it!