1974 jensen healey

[the_end13]

hi my name is juan and i have a 1969 buick that some guy is interested in and wants to trade me a 1974 jensen healey roadster for so i came on here to get some back ground info on the car itself and how good they are and if it would be a good trade and any other info would help thanks in an advance juan

 

[Keoke]

Well they are a nice little car a lot different than the Buick. But doesen't that model require smog certification here in CA-???-My friend moved all the way to Atlanta GA so he could drive his it would not pass smog. -you might ask OK

 

[PC]

'74 doesn't require smog inspections.

the_end13, a well sorted JH is great fun.

But every forty year old car is a unique product of its entire history. So we can't tell you whether it's a good swap or not. That depends on your tastes and the conditions of both cars.

JH's have no "collector" value. You won't be seeing one set any records at Barrett Jackson. At best they're drivers for people who like them. Many are basket cases and organ donors. It just depends on the specific car.


pc

 

[the_end13]

thanks he says it runs and drives fine im just want to know more about the scene of these cars as well and is there a wide verity of options for these cars like anything that can and has been done to them already like a possible turbo or an engine swap or is there a larger size engine that came with them as an option just things like that would help out a lot

 

[Keoke]

thanks he says it runs and drives fine im just want to know more about the scene of these cars as well and is there a wide verity of options for these cars like anything that can and has been done to them already like a possible turbo or an engine swap or is there a larger size engine that came with them as an option just things like that would help out a lot

Not re[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]ally but:
High-end examples may have Lotus 907 engine performance [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]modifications, [/FONT](2.2 liter stroker crankshafts, high compression pistons, performance cams, 45mm Dellortos) paint and interior upgrades (custom wood, custom leather, etc.) [/SIZE][/FONT]

 

[the_end13]

ok kool ill check it out and has any one done an engine swap of some sort

 

[Mickey Richaud]

ok kool ill check it out and has any one done an engine swap of some sort

Can be/has been done:

https://www.britishv8.org/Other/ErnieVicencio.htm

 

[the_end13]

thats freacken nice but how easy is it to come by that engine

 

[Mickey Richaud]

thats freacken nice but how easy is it to come by that engine

Lots of them out there. Check ebay, etc. If you have the wherewithal, you can plug most any engine in there. But the Rover is a great choice. Check out the British V8 website - lots of info there.

I've put a GM 3.4 V6 in my MGB GT - another really good choice.

 

[HealeyRick]

Here's a couple of more with engine swap:

https://www.modifiedhealeys.org/Photos/128Garcia/Garcia2.htm Be sure to scroll down to "Jody's Movie 2" to see him pull the front wheels :shocked:

https://www.modifiedhealeys.org/Photos/63Hazen/Hazen1.htm

 

[the_end13]

thanks everyone im kinda looking forward to owning this car now

 

[Answerman]

From the man who owns one:

I'm more of a purist, and if it was me I wouldn't swap the engine. However, that's a matter of opinion and I also feel that you should do whatever makes you happy with your car.

The stock setup is a lot of fun as is, and I'd try it out with the existing setup before you start planning a swap. You might find you like it. The Jensen-Healey is kind of in a class of its own compared to other LBCs like the MGB and Spitfire... it was a really advanced drivetrain for its time and honestly its 2 liter 4 cylinder Lotus 907 engine performancewise is more than adequate for it.

Having said all that... as said above, it's probably never going to be an ultra collectible car. It just doesn't have the history that the other British sports cars of the era had, and I get a kick out of taking mine to shows and having people ask "uh, who makes that?". Nobody's ever heard of it. They made just over 10,000 of them in 4 years, and a conservative estimate is that there are less than 1000 left on the road today... they tended to rust really fast and have other issues that relegated them to the scrap heap early. A nicely sorted one is a fabulous car, though. I wouldn't trade mine.

 

[the_end13]

kool thanks that helps out a lot is it true that they have oiling problems and the valve cover gaskets go out pretty quickly

 

[PC]

The oiling issue happens under certain high rpm conditions when more oil goes into the head than it needs, starving the bottom end.

The common fix it to install a restriction orifice in the (way too large) oil passage to the head to keep more oil in the bottom. The topic has been discussed often in lotus and JH circles, a little googling should give you plenty of info on the subject.

Speaking of which, when you have a JH it's a good idea to join the Jensen Healey Preservation Society, especially when you're in SoCal. The club meets in Costa Mesa on the third Tuesday of the month.

The original paper gaskets for the cam covers rarely "go out" quickly because they're almost never "in" at all. They generally leak from the get-go. Everybody replaces them with rubber gaskets, which will still leak unless they're installed very, very carefully.

 

[the_end13]

thanks that sounds good and imma check out this meet this month do you know where exactly they meet and what time or is there a page for the meet id like to see what they have done to there cars

 

[PC]

This month's meeting was last Tuesday. Around ten members attended, which is a pretty large turnout. Four or five brought their Jensens.

Next month's will be May 20.

from the club website, https://www.jensenhealey.com:

"Monthly Club Meetings are held the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm at Round Table Pizza (not including the month of December), at Baker & Fairview Roads in Costa Mesa, California. Pizza and beer are the order of the day- all interested Jensen enthusiasts in our neck of the woods are welcome to attend."

 

[the_end13]

thanks ill try to make it next months

and i thought this months would be the 22nd of april

 

[JodyFKerr]

I just wandered in on this one. I have a pair of JH's, one stock, one, well, not so stock. One nice thing about the car, is unlike a lot of it's contemporaries it's surprisingly large. It's actually bigger than a Miata.

#1. A well sorted JH, even in stock configuration is a blast to drive. The *only* real downside is the freeway RPMs. Both the 4-speed and the 5-speed have the same final drive ratio and that means 3-4k RPM at full freeway speed. And surface streets I can happily slide my car sideways around corners (which tends to freak out other drivers on occasion).

#2. If you're going to modify it, I highly recommend staying with the 9-series engine. In stock configuration the weight balance is beautiful. It's not a heavy engine so it's hard to find decent swaps that are worth the effort. the other item to keep in mind is that the thing is the size and weight of a rollerskate. Since the real measure of a car is horsepower to weight, you don't need 1,000 HP. The current build I'm finishing includes an upgrate to a 912 block out of a Lotus, 2.2 crank, pistons, half-moon pulleys, flowed head, and dellorto 45's. I'm also swapping out the stock transmission for a toyota supra one. You can get a bellhousing out of one of the Lotus Eclat versions that will mate up to said transmission (the bellhousing version depends on the generation of the 2.2L crank). Then it's a matter of having a shaft made. Conservatively should make 200-250hp, which is a lot for that car. Also, I have seen JH's with rootes style superchargers on them. That's something on my list of "some day" projects as it requires fabricating the intake from the supercharger to the head.

The only downside to option #2 is that the build isn't cheap. But consider that Lotus, at the end of life of these engines, was producing somewhere in the range of 300HP from a supercharged version of this engine in the Lotus Esprit S4.