Tri-Carb Project

[Rob Glasgow]

Thanks.

 

[twas_brillig]

"Rally style seat belt anchors are in." We have a BJ7 with three-point front belts. I'd appreciate hearing how yours differ, etc. etc. Thanks, Doug

 

[Healey Nut]

"Rally style seat belt anchors are in." We have a BJ7 with three-point front belts. I'd appreciate hearing how yours differ, etc. etc. Thanks, Doug

Mine are just the regular lap belts but the rally style ones to fit the look of the car .

 

[twas_brillig]

Thanks! I was wondering if the mounts were somehow different. Doug

 

[Healey Nut]

Devil is in the detail .
Matching brass edge on the front grill to match the brass edge on the scuttle scoop .
Dash is done , windshield is on kinda , not bolted in place , my bolts are too short , And I need more shims than I have , but I’m almost there.
Light alignment this weekend and get all the chrome trim rings on , get some longer bolts and finish the windshield then the crowning moment of putting on the hardtop .

 

[Healey Nut]

I know you have all been waiting for a full frontal shot so here’s two .. you filthy minded people it’s a Healey with lots of lights all aimed and trimmed out in chrome . The upper rally lights have the hand made by me by modifying 7” Healey headlight trim rings to make them 5 3/4” then I had them rechromed .
Pretty pleased with that .
I did manage to get hold of two “rare as hens teeth” original Lucas 5 3/4” pinch ring trim rings (as originally used on the Austin Atlantic) but to use them I have to change the buckets to three adjuster type . (Future project when I can get them)

 

[Healey Nut]

More details , door seals done just finalizing the seat install , then it’s clean up and try the hardtop .

 

[Healey Nut]

Well the moment of truth .
Bought this car in boxes in 2011ish I think . The guy who sold it had given up on it after taking it apart and realizing it was really bad and they were in over their head . No Heritage cert with the car and no keys .
At the time my intention was to possibly break out the good bits and sell it as the hardtop was worth basically what I paid for everything .
I applied to BMHIT and it turned out it was matching numbers right down to the hardtop as sold with the car in 61 . So then it became a resurrection project and here she is today ready for a safety check and some shakedown testing .
It was always my intention to make it like a rally car , I just like the look .
The top needs some more tweaking to get it to fit better but I will just let it sit a while under gentle tension while seals compress etc .

 

[Healey Nut]

A few more pics

 

[Healey Nut]

Finally I got those evil little pins in on the door handles .
Safety check passed yesterday , insurance papers and licence plate paperwork to sort out and I can start road testing and tweaking .

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

Not awkward at all. Makes shifting from 4 O/D to 3rd a one-hand operation. Put the switch on the top, with "on" forward, and it's just like shifting from 4th to 5th.

View attachment 89030

Having it on the dash allows a dead pedal for your left foot.

View attachment 89031

Is your car air conditioned?

 

[Healey Nut]

No AC , the hoses with white banding that you can see are connected to the scuttle scoop in front of the windshield . It a “Ram Air” system to cool the driver and passengers feet .

 

[John Turney]

Is your car air conditioned?

Yep. In 2016, we went to California Healey Week in Yosemite. The weather was fine there, but it was 105+ in the Central Valley. The Healey was fine with it, but wifey was not. At the Monterey International Meet in 2017, she grabbed my arm at the car show and dragged me over to Gary Hodson's car and points to the AC and says, "I want that!" Since she was a major donor to the project, I said, "Yes, Ma'am."

 

[Healey Nut]

Finally got her outside today for a photo shoot in the driveway. She looks great but she’s running like crap. At anything over 2200 RPM she’s spitting and farting and losing power.

I have cleaned all the plugs and gapped them, set the points, rechecked and set all the valve clearances, removed all the dash pots, checked for jet centering, sticking dampers etc., all good. Set and measured the jet heights, checked static and running ignition timing with a strobe light. Checked for even compression on all cylinders. Checked the firing order etc., etc.

I even gave up with the fancy tools and started playing around and just using my ears and listening to how she runs at various RPM, but I still can’t get her to rev and maintain power over 2200 RPM. If you kiss the throttle she revs OK, but if you slowly push the throttle down she bogs down over about 2200 RPM. I'm stumped for now.

All new ignition components, and original rebuilt distributor and vacuum advance unit.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Sounds like fuel delivery. How did you check timing with a strobe light, graduations on aftermarket damper?

 

[Healey Nut]

Original timing pulley , I just enhanced the notch in it with a paint marker . I’ve tried advancing and retarding ignition and still get the same result .
Im sure it’s a fuel issue . There’s a fresh 5gals in the tank but maybe there’s a restriction , something crawled into my new tank while it was sitting on the shelf in my shop and is now restricting fuel flow ?
Also going to check the float heights .

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Best way to time a Healey, IMO, is with an advance meter. Set the advance you want on the dial then rotate distributor until the single mark lines up. I asked about it because at my last overhaul my BJ8's engine had the same symptoms when I first started it, even though the shop had broken it in on their test rig. The mechanic took my Pertronix out and put points in so he could static time the engine so it would start on first crank (it did). I think he forgot to re-time the engine when he put the Pertronx back in, it was severely retarded. Wouldn't run worth a hoot and backfired like crazy.

Makes me wonder if you can static time an engine with a Pertronix; theoretically should be possible, but you'd want to be quick lest you fry the Ignitor.

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

Finally got her outside today for a photo shoot in the driveway .
She looks great but she’s running like crap . Anything over 2200rpm she’s spitting and farting and loosing power .
I have cleaned all the plugs and gapped them , set the points , rechecked and set all the valve clearances , removed all the dash pots checked for jet centering , sticking dampers etc all good . Set and measured the jet heights .
checked static and running ignition timing with a strobe light . Checked for even compression on all cylinders . Checked the firing order etc etc .
I even gave up with the fancy tools and started playing around and just using my ears and listening to how she runs at various rpm but I still can’t get her to rev and maintain power over 2200 rpm .
If you kiss the throttle she revs ok but if you slowly push the throttle down she bogs down over about 2200rpm .
Im stumped for now .
All new ignition components , original rebuilt distributor and vacuum advance unit .

Are you using Pertronix?

 

[John Turney]

Are you sure the timing is advancing with RPM?

 

[Healey Nut]

Are you sure the timing is advancing with RPM?

Yes , ended up breaking down while out today . The hotter the engine got the worse the issue got . Coil was extremely hot to the touch . I’m thinking it’s an ignition problem , maybe another bad condenser