Just Finished the 66 Restoration

[dougsmarkIII]

Four months, five days a week. Very proud, take a look. I think it looks great.

Doug

 

[Keoke]

Finished 66 restoration in:
Four months, Very proud, take a look. I think it looks
great




Must not been nuthin wrong with it just needed a good
washin. To retore one wouldah took me at leasr 4 YEARS. ------Keoke

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Very nice. What kind of air filters are those?

 

[dougsmarkIII]

Don't know the brand of the air filters, they came when I bought the car. The four months, five days a week to complete the restoration was also with my body-man brother in his shop with a lift in Deer Trail, Colorado. The transmission and overdrive were resealed. The engine was already in good shape. I replaced the front springs and some of the steering parts. The lower part of the front shroud was replaced. Some previous poor body work was corrected. The right front fender, I believe from a donor had surface rust inside and the left rear fender had to have a small section cut out and replaced We repainted the car with PPG base-coat, clear coat.

The car originally was Colorado Red and changed to Metallic Golden Beige before I bought it. Had to finish the color change underneath, lots of sanding, grinding and priming etc. Shocks, power brake booster, oil pan, radiator etc were removed, stripped of paint, primed and refinished. Replaced all of the brake lines and installed a new electronic SU fuel pump. The interior was in good shape, made a few repairs. I refinished the dash wood with the pour-on two-part epoxy finish (Evirotex Lite) purchased from Hobby Lobby.

I racked up about 9000 miles on my 87 El Camino traveling to and from the 68-miles to Deer Trail Colorado from my home in Lakewood, Colorado to work on the Healey.

Doug

 

[HealeyPassion]

Doug,
Wow, I too am impressed! I have been working on mine since Jan. 2006... hope to have it done by mid-July! And, yes, I work on it all the time! I guess I'm just slow! Since you are practically a neighbor (I live in Larkspur, CO) I'm sure I'll see your beautiful machine soon. I assume you belong to the Rocky Mountain Healey Club?

Congratulations on getting it back on the road!

Cheers,
Steve
https://stevesaustinhealey.com

 

[Michael Oritt]

Bob--

The filters are available at: https://www.su-filters.com/

I bought a set for my wife's BN7 just to dress up the engine compartment a bit. They are made of nicely polished aluminum and you can get the logo or not. The actual filter is simply a piece of washable foam--nothing esoteric but they do look good!

 

[Marvin Gruber]

Looks great, four months? thats moving on, mine took a year and a half but I had to replace floors and rockers. Its almost a twin to mine, mine is 67 GMB w/ red interior

Marv

 

[dougsmarkIII]

Michael, the filters on my Healey have the filtering media like K&N uses, that is, oiled cotton.

Doug

 

[dougsmarkIII]

Hi neighbor Steve. I have not joined the Rocky Mountain Healey Club. Have looked at their site. I'll consider joining. Let's get together when you finish your restoration. e-mail: dbillenart@yahoo.com. On completing the restoration of my '66 in four months, my brother and I have restored several cars. We are like pit bulls, we don't let go until it's done. I was lucky, the car had very little rust. The lower panel of the front shroud was a challenge though, the right side did not fit the grill surround. Aluminum responds well to hammering to shape though and I have learned how to join and solder aluminum. The Healey will join the 260 V8, 64.5 Mustang convertible in my garage that my brother and I restored 18-years ago. Hope a photo of the Mustang is OK to show in this forum.

Doug

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Bob--

The filters are available at: https://www.su-filters.com/

Hmmmm ... The ones on this car are conical instead of cylindrical and the front one is properly offset to fit under the shroud. They look like they have K&N or similar filter material.

Lots of people are looking for a good filter for HD8s. I got a set from a speed shop but they're a one-off and cylindrical--probably not as much surface area as these.

 

[HealeyPassion]

Beautiful little Mustang Doug. I'll drop you an email.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[shorn]

Took me about 4 months just to get the car back from the painter. He did a great job though.

 

[HealeyRick]

Beautifully done, Doug. I'm a huge fan of Metallic Golden Beige (right after Healey Blue, of course!)

 

[TomFromStLouis]

Beautiful job Doug. I tip my cap to anyone who can do what you have done. Bonus points for the speed to finish.

And yes, since we appreciate beautiful cars here, a ~65 Mustang is always nice to see.

 

[dougsmarkIII]

A little exclamation of why only four months to restore this '66. First of all hardly any rust except for surface stuff. Did not need to rebuild the engine, transmission,overdrive or differential. The transmission and overdrive was resealed by Kats British car repair shop in Denver. My brother is a professional and I paid him professional wages. Fortunately the funds required to restore the Healey was not a problem. But I was driving 680 miles a week to and from my brother's shop in Deer Trail, CO. Between paying my brother and the milage and gas, I had a lot if incentive not to drag this project out.

I refinished the dash wood, recovered the dash vinyl, part of the console and tops of the door trim at home on weekends. Since the car was on a lift the entire duration of the rebuild except for painting the exterior of the shrouds, work on the underneath and after all the wings, doors, bonnet. deck lid etc, were removed was greatly enhanced. I believe working with a lift is the next best thing to a rotisserie. The quality of the work and finish underneath of this car reflects that.

Thanks everyone for the compliments,

Doug

 

[Superwrench]

Sweet ! Good job !