Cost of V8 conversion

The other was getting kinda far afield from 5-speed conversion on a 100, so...

Rick - roughly how much would it cost to install a V8 in a Healey? Do most people use crate motors?

Basically a "How long is a string?" question, Steve. I'm guessing a guy with great skills, rebuilding his own motor and transmission, might be able to do it for $5k. A guy paying someone else to do everything could easily spend $100K. "Dropping in a V8" sounds simple enough, but it's way more complicated than that. Let me tell you the mods I had to do to make it work and you can plug in the numbers for parts and labor you think are appropriate according to your skill level. First the footboxes are going to need modification to fit the transmission. Outriggers will need some cutouts to run a dual exhaust and maybe some inner fender modification if you are going to run headers. Not too bad if you can weld, spendy if a body shop has to do it. Motor and transmission mounts will have to be manufactured. Easy for a welder, more expensive if you have to find a fabricator to do it. You'll probably want one of those foam block motors and gutted transmission to figure out where everything has to fit before you start cutting and welding. You'll want a custom aluminum radiator with a big electric fan and shroud to keep it cool. About $600 right there. Motor and tranny are up to you. Maybe you can find something cheap from a 5.0 Mustang, but it may need a rebuild. The Chevy LS motors are becoming popular, but if you plan on using the fuel injection and electronics, that will be complicated. If you don't, figure on a new manifold and carburetor. You'll probably want to buy a new alternator, along with new front dress, water pump, etc. Probably need a new oilpan. Ford used to offer a crate 5.0 for around $5k and a new 5 spd for about $2,400, but I think prices have gone up since the last I looked. Add in a clutch kit, hydraulic slave cylinder and pay to have a shop build you a driveshaft. Might as well throw in a nice shifter while you have your credit card out. They don't make off-the-shelf exhaust. Headers are nice if you can weld and make your own. Otherwise, throw in another 2 grand to have them fabricated, followed by a trip to the exhaust and muffler shop. You'll also need a new clutch master and add in another 1,000 or so trips for miscellaneous hardware, liquids, solvents, paints and whatever pretty jewelry you want to hang off that motor. Plan on upgrading your brakes, take your choice from the relatively inexpensive Toyota truck four piston calipers, right up to wilwood front and rear discs. And if you want to really get into some tire burning starts, you'll want a new rear axle with positraction. Rough estimate if you do some yourself and farm out some . $15-20k. And let's not forget you've probably devalued your Healey by 1/3. Would I do it again? Absolutely, I just love the way my car turned out. But it's not for everyone.

Steve - you may want to check mine out here in So Cal. It is engineered to the hilt with only the slightest of body mods, runs a HiPo 289 and I recently installed a Mcleod 5 speed which is basically a Tremec T5 on hypersteroids - extremely compact and smaller than the original trans. It weighs 87 lbs dry and gives me a 0.63 overdrive. Small Block Fords require less foot box mods as they are significantly narrower and lighter than a Small Block Chevy. Buick/Olds/Rover 215s are also a very worthy super lightweight option but may not give you as much power as a Ford or Chevy.

As for cost I cannot help you but would suggest a third party crate engine will save you a considerable amount rather than a Ford or Chevy factory crate engine. You may also want to consider installing a Ford 8” rear end on stock leaf springs, rack and pinion steering and a Mustang II type IFS. My recommendation would be to formulate a plan on how far you want to go and what your budget will allow. I don’t know if Kent Lacy is on this forum but he installed a 289 in one of his 100Ms and it looks absolutely stock until you open the bonnet. I believe he hooked it up to the original 4 speed OD trans.

Russ Thompson built a beautiful 302 Ford powered 100 for long time Healey aficionado Fred Cohen with a new front clip with Mustang II IFS which is also not too far from you.

Rick is absolutely correct that this is one of those exercises that probably doesn’t make financial sense but then again it may not have to if you get what you want - dare I say a Cobra eater. And this is a real car - not a fiberglass replica - just like the original Cobras which sell for north of $1m. Original Healeys are fun to drive but spend 10 minutes in a well sorted ‘Nasty Boy’ and it is a whole different dimension of excitement. Cheers, Guy

Thanks for the input, guys. I'm not actually considering it but thought it would be interesting to discuss in its own thread.

If I was made of money, would be interested in a 4.2 DMD engine. Maybe I'd 3D print a DOHC head for it.

Long as I was at it, a deDion rear with transaxle sounds good. Oh, well, guess I'll just buy a Maserati 300S.

Guido36 said:

Steve - you may want to check mine out here in So Cal. It is engineered to the hilt with only the slightest of body mods, runs a HiPo 289 and I recently installed a Mcleod 5 speed which is basically a Tremec T5 on hypersteroids - extremely compact and smaller than the original trans. It weighs 87 lbs dry and gives me a 0.63 overdrive. Small Block Fords require less foot box mods as they are significantly narrower and lighter than a Small Block Chevy. Buick/Olds/Rover 215s are also a very worthy super lightweight option but may not give you as much power as a Ford or Chevy.

As for cost I cannot help you but would suggest a third party crate engine will save you a considerable amount rather than a Ford or Chevy factory crate engine. You may also want to consider installing a Ford 8” rear end on stock leaf springs, rack and pinion steering and a Mustang II type IFS. My recommendation would be to formulate a plan on how far you want to go and what your budget will allow. I don’t know if Kent Lacy is on this forum but he installed a 289 in one of his 100Ms and it looks absolutely stock until you open the bonnet. I believe he hooked it up to the original 4 speed OD trans.

Russ Thompson built a beautiful 302 Ford powered 100 for long time Healey aficionado Fred Cohen with a new front clip with Mustang II IFS which is also not too far from you.

Rick is absolutely correct that this is one of those exercises that probably doesn’t make financial sense but then again it may not have to if you get what you want - dare I say a Cobra eater. And this is a real car - not a fiberglass replica - just like the original Cobras which sell for north of $1m. Original Healeys are fun to drive but spend 10 minutes in a well sorted ‘Nasty Boy’ and it is a whole different dimension of excitement. Cheers, Guy

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Guy brings up a good point about "well-sorted" Nasty Boys. I think they sometimes got their bad reputation in days gone by because they were quick jobs, done on the cheap, on cars that were basically unsound to begin with. People who build them now pay more attention to making them work right. We see them as taking the Healey to the next level that DMH would have explored if he had access to a decent V8. Give someone who is a purist a chance to drive a good Nasty Boy and they'll often end up building their own while keeping their original car.

Shoot I'm reading Rick's explanation on all the stuff to do to build a nicely sorted V8 Healey and I'm thinking.... well I do almost all that with my old truck engine Healey :highly_amused: !!!!!! ..... hhmm.... maybe not the smartest move????... oh well, I do much of it myself so I keep the bank damage down ... and, after all it is a hobby!...:rolleye: ... oh, and Guy says "as for cost I cannot help you" ... and I'm thinking... but he has one so maybe he doesn't want someone in his household to see the number??? :friendly_wink: .... well, we all have our priorities!!!... have a great weekend! I'm going to the shop to do some more tuning on my highly modified EFI 6 cylinder truck engine in the hopes I can keep Rick's tail lights in my sight should we ever meet up on a back road.

I have a 100/6 sitting in the barn that someone V8'd years ago. Motor and trans long gone. Tub is decent, missing a front fender and back fender. Have been thinking about building it back original, I have later BJ8 drivetrain for it but it would be fun to have the V8. The BJ7 I just finished wore me out so not going to jump on this project for now.

My Nasty Boy is a bit different. A Nissan motor and 5 speed out of a Datsun 280Z. 170 Hp and 200+ pounds lighter. No cutting of footwells or chassis. Motor mounts line up with Healey chassis mounts. Oil pressure capillary tube screws into Nissan thermostat housing - same threads. Uses stock Healey exahaust system from headers on back. Sounds like a Healey. Paint it Healey green and use SU HD8 carbs. Goes like ****.

Richard's right. There's a lot of other options besides a V8 and if you go inline 6 you don't have to do the body mods. David Pfaff has used a Chevy Vortec 4200 Atlas motor. Here's the specs:

[FONT=&quot]The 4.2-liter Atlas LL8, otherwise called the Vortec 4200, was a groundbreaking engine for GM. It featured an all-aluminum construction, dual overhead cams with variable valve timing on the exhaust side, four valves per cylinder, a coil-on-plug ignition system, a high compression ratio of 10:1, and its cylinder heads featured GM’s then-prevalent “Vortec” engineering designed to maximize airflow.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This combination allowed for the production of 1.06 horsepower per cubic inch – a total of 270 horsepower at 6,000 rpm. Torque was rated at 275 pound-feet at 3,600 rpm, but 90 percent of peak torque was available between 1,600 and 5,600 rpm.

[/FONT]

HealeyRick said:

Richard's right. There's a lot of other options besides a V8 and if you go inline 6 you don't have to do the body mods. David Pfaff has used a Chevy Vortec 4200 Atlas motor. Here's the specs:

The 4.2-liter Atlas LL8, otherwise called the Vortec 4200, was a groundbreaking engine for GM. It featured an all-aluminum construction, dual overhead cams with variable valve timing on the exhaust side, four valves per cylinder, a coil-on-plug ignition system, a high compression ratio of 10:1, and its cylinder heads featured GM’s then-prevalent “Vortec” engineering designed to maximize airflow.
This combination allowed for the production of 1.06 horsepower per cubic inch – a total of 270 horsepower at 6,000 rpm. Torque was rated at 275 pound-feet at 3,600 rpm, but 90 percent of peak torque was available between 1,600 and 5,600 rpm.

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Rick,
Are there any pictures of the Pfaff installation?

I did a Google search and this is what it looks like. Ugggh. I wouldn't want to see this in a Healey. Just my 2 cents.

The Vortec isn't so bad once the plastic junk is removed. Nice looking DOHC. The problem is it's a tall engine and in order to fit it under the bonnet I think David had to use a different intake (300ZX maybe with some modification) Sorry I don't have a picture of the motor in his car.

That's pretty cool. Would make a really cool Cobra replicar!

I saw a Healey with a Chevy 6 cylinder engine in it once. Seems like it would have lots of performance options available for that type of swap.

Thinking about costs of upgrading an old Healey power plant (whether through a conversion to a modern unit or through extensive modification of the original) to something more compatible with todays driving expectations ... and I couldn't help but reflect on the cost/benefit analysis... i.e. one of my other cars has an all aluminum dry sump 6.2 liter EFI V8 with 460hp easily capable of under 4 second 0-60 dashes and still get over 30 mpg on all-day 75+mph cruising with the a/c on, 7 speed, big 6 piston aluminum calipers, coolers on differential and transmission, in-car dial adjustable suspension, all leather interior, great sound system, etc ... point being, I'll be lucky/amazed if my Healey redo doesn't cost more than this car cost me.

So the cost/benefit analysis fails miserably ... but it is a really fun hobby right?!

Reminds me of someone asking what kind of mileage my Healey gets. My replay was "It's not measured in miles per gallon, but in smiles per mile."

IM surprised Reid hasn't come on telling us about the articles years ago when:

1 : The Japanese manufacturer used Healey data to design that well fitting 6 Clyn Engine.

2 : The healey specialist that pioneered this engine swap years ago N was almost run out of Business.

Rick,
What kind of car is the pic above with the Vortec engine?

Keoke said:

IM surprised Reid hasn't come on telling us about the articles years ago when:

1 : The Japanese manufacturer used Healey data to design that well fitting 6 Clyn Engine.

Patrick Quinn has pretty much debunked that rumor: http://www.acmefluid.com.au/larry/austinnissan.html

2 : The healey specialist that pioneered this engine swap years ago N was almost run out of Business.

Don't know if Reid was in CONUS during the great Roger Moment v. Mark Lambert wars where the originality vs. engine swap battles were fought. Mark originated the 280Z swap and I even found Richard Mayor's reference to Mark as giving him the idea: https://www.ahexp.com/forum/healeys-list-archive.13/280z-motor-in-a-3000.77331/

Click to expand...

Rick

steveg said:

Rick,
What kind of car is the pic above with the Vortec engine?

Click to expand...

That's in a Vega. The last year of manufacture for the Vortec 4200 was 2009 so finding one in a Pick-n-pull would probably need a rebuild. It will mount to a Camaro 5 speed. The engine, is all aluminum, weighs in at 480 lbs, so you're saving some weight over the Healey motor at 611 pounds. If there wasn't a need to fabricate a new intake, I think it would be a pretty good swap and it sure made David's car move. He runs it trough Healey mufflers and it even sounds Healey-like.