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Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
A few shots from the 100 engine rebuild
- Thread starter simon1966
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Bob_Spidell
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Nice. Can't say I've seen that kind of casting plug before; my machinist/builder refused to use steel plugs on my BJ8's engine.
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That's a near miracle. More than being pleased, you might want to consider sacrificing some livestock or organizing a parade with fireworks display.
Congrats.
Randy Forbes
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Indeed! Forty (<40) years ago, it was tough to find a 100 head that wasn't cracked. I expect that A.) was a motivating factor to why so many 100s wound up with 283 & 327 V8s, and B.) why I never subscribed to own one (don't get me wrong, as a 2-seater, I'm a fan, but I'd rather it have an oval grille...).
Sacrilege...
Bob_Spidell
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Randy just means he wants a 100S.
Randy Forbes
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Bob is the most right, but Simon, you are not wrong.
Back in the late 70s while I was working at Austin-Healey West, a buxomy mid-40s female customer had a 100 delivered to us that she found in an Arid-Zona desert. The car was complete, weather worn and nearly 100% intact, but it needed everything; the sheetmetal was almost 100% free of corrosion__and paint on flat horizontal surfaces__with just some rust-out in the triangles behind the doglegs, though it did have its share of mostly shallow storage dents.
The cylinder head was in the trunk...
We assessed the car's overall condition to make it road-worthy, as it wasn't going to be a total restoration (she apparently appreciated "patina" long before the rest of us in car collecting circles!) and the head was sent out to see if the crack between the #2 & #3 exhaust valves could be repaired. The project wouldn't start until a replacement was found, and the stack of rejected cylinder heads kept growing.
I left Ray's shop sometime in 1980 and went back to industrial electrical work before a repairable head was found, so I don't know the rest of the story, but I suppose that's why I never wanted to buy a 100. Nowadays, if you were lucky enough to come across a find like that, you could buy a brand new aluminum head for it (probably 8-times what that whole desert 100 cost, but at least they're available); the spares and replacement parts scene was a lot different back then
Bob_Spidell
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Don't forget the 100s like to eat crankshafts over 4K RPM.
Randy Forbes
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I did not know that, but with a 12" stroke (okay, I know it's only a tick under 4-1/2" but those were the longest rods I ever put in an engine) I shouldn't have been so surprised.
Back in the late 70s while I was working at Austin-Healey West, a buxomy mid-40s female customer had a 100 delivered to us that she found in an Arid-Zona desert. The car was complete, weather worn and nearly 100% intact, but it needed everything; the sheetmetal was almost 100% free of corrosion__and paint on flat horizontal surfaces__with just some rust-out in the triangles behind the doglegs, though it did have its share of mostly shallow storage dents.
The cylinder head was in the trunk...
We assessed the car's overall condition to make it road-worthy, as it wasn't going to be a total restoration (she apparently appreciated "patina" long before the rest of us in car collecting circles!) and the head was sent out to see if the crack between the #2 & #3 exhaust valves could be repaired. The project wouldn't start until a replacement was found, and the stack of rejected cylinder heads kept growing.
I left Ray's shop sometime in 1980 and went back to industrial electrical work before a repairable head was found, so I don't know the rest of the story, but I suppose that's why I never wanted to buy a 100. Nowadays, if you were lucky enough to come across a find like that, you could buy a brand new aluminum head for it (probably 8-times what that whole desert 100 cost, but at least they're available); the spares and replacement parts scene was a lot different back then
Randy, I'm thinking you must have left A-H West sometime in 1979. I started there in October 1979 part-time and then full-time from early 1980 until mid-summer.
Was the 100 in question a very faded red, nearly pink? If so I eventually had the "pleasure" to install a head on it. First problem was mutilated head studs. Tapped into one of my secret (aka a guy Ray didn't know of) parts resources for those and the dealer for the nuts. Before installing valve train or manifolds, I decided to fill the cooling system to pressure test. I didn't need to pressure test.....water came rolling out of the #4 exhaust port. Apparently the head had been magged but not PC'd. Was still in the same spot when I left.
Randy Forbes
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You didn't by any chance wear coveralls with a Packard Crest on the the chest pocket, did you? The shop fronting on Folsom used to be a teaching school before Ray leased it, though he still kept the old place in the alley too (Shipley St, which come to think about it, he had two places living in another bldg on Shipley__everything all on the same block).
In my mind__okay, it was San Francisco, and the 70s__the 100 was a very faded brown, but we probably never cleaned all the sand off it! But otherwise, I've got to think it was the same car; what are the odds?!?!
I guess it could've been later in '79; I went to work for En-Serv & Aspen Const, both in Concord, and I'm sure I worked for both of them__alternating, depending on who out-bid who__for about a year before moving to New Orleans in December '80.
Not sure of the timeframe, but my older brother John worked for Ray for a while too, but that was probably after your time there
BN6L/942 around the the time I bought it (4/78) in front of the Shipley shop.
We'll have to talk more, but I'm really impressed by the chance occurrence
Randy Forbes
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Good that they were flexible on the matter, everyone benefits from more entrants
Ray liked to put gee-dunk on cars; the plates held some sentimental value to him, because he said I couldn't have them, but he'd get me another set (during a trip to England and France, he had a very authentic set of plates made for me with the characters BN6 942__the car's VIN).
The GB plate__it was riveted on__according to Ray, was put there to hide a dent (!) as was the luggage rack. Both those items were added after I agreed to purchase the car, then at that point I was scrambling to get the car out of there before he put anything else on it!
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Back to you, Simon
