100-6 galley head engine - Do I feel lucky?

[blueskies]

healeyblue - I will give that a try. If that does not work, I'm hoping that a plate from one of my spare later 3000 engines will fit.

Keith, I'm thinking that the engine almost certainly came from a non-Healey car of the same vintage. But as long as the castings are identical to the Healey castings, it might be better to use this engine instead of a later engine from a 3000.

By the way, the carburetors are SU carburetors. I can't make out all the numbers on them yet, due to the layer of dirt, but can see the numbers on the float bowl tops. They are 1160 and 1161. Numbers on the carb bodies seem to be something like C 2060 Z, although I will need to do some disassembly and cleaning to see the numbers properly.

 

[blueskies]

We wondered whether one could just flip the back mounting plate to mount the starter on the other side. The answer is No. Fortunately, I had a spare back mounting plate hanging on a nail on the garage wall, so I did not have to rob one from a complete engine. The plate, flywheel, and starter are now temporarily test mounted in the right position.

I see that a paper gasket fits between the block and the mounting plate. The main reason for that seems to be to provide a seal for the end of the camshaft, and then one likely needs a gasket around the rest of the block/mounting plate to maintain the same gap between the block and the plate. The nearest gasket is several weeks away in a parts order for a gasket set that I placed, although I suppose that I could cut one out of thin gasket paper. Just wondering whether RTV sealant would work well in place of that paper gasket.

 

[blueskies]

Other jobs have occupied my time lately, but today I dug a little deeper into this engine. You may recall that I was wondering whether to try the engine as is or take it apart and go through it. The story is that some unknown person rebuilt this engine maybe thirty or forty (or fifty) years ago and never installed it. As mentioned earlier, it has new spark plugs, but the exterior paint looks well worn.

I pulled the oil pan off today. The outer edge of the pan gasket has old deteriorated paint on it, which led me to think that the pan had not been off, maybe ever. The oil in the pan was fresh, as if put in there yesterday. The cork pan gasket was very clean, even at the inside edge; no staining from old, black oil. Inside on the crank and camshaft, everything is covered with yellow grease - likely used as assembly lubricant.

Now I do believe the story about the engine being rebuilt and not run. I also pulled the side cover on the transmission that came with the car; it too has assembly lube on the gears.

So, I'm thinking of installing a new pan gasket, putting fresh oil in it, installing a new clutch, pressure plate, and throw out bearing, and attaching the transmission, painting everything, and then working on the electrical and fuel systems before installing it in the car and trying to fire it up. Any thoughts? Does anyone see something of concern in the pictures? Any other steps that you would recommend?

 

[blueskies]

Here's a pic of the transmission innards, with old grease on the gears. Who knows when this one was rebuilt. It's a BN4 transmission with overdrive.