• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

A Red Engine In a Big Healey

Share this page

D

David IV

Freshman Member
Country flag
Offline
I have a '59 100-6. The Transmission has been replaced with a much later center shift trans. I've also been told that the head is from a later Healey. Unfortunate the engine ID plate is missing and the only other significant thing I can see is that everything below the silver valve cover is red. Is there any significance to this red engine or did a previous owner just luuuv red engines?
 
The BMC competition engines were painted a wine color. I doubt you have one of those, so I would go with the “previous owner just loved red engines.”
 
Or that's the paint he or his builder had on the shelf; my BJ8's engine was originally black (kind of a default color). 'Healey Green'--there are two versions that I know of, one from Moss and Bill Hirsh offers one, I think--would be a specialist color that might not have been readily available in the past.
 
Perhaps I am wrong but I seem to recall that some early 100's engines left the factory with blue paint.
 
John Turney said:
The BMC competition engines were painted a wine color. I doubt you have one of those, so I would go with the “previous owner just loved red engines.”
Click to expand...
Is there any specific trait on an competition engine I could look for to rule that out? It really is red not maroon or dark red. The thing is, everything is red, the generator, water pump, starter, head, block, and oil pan (I think as it's covered in grime). Also it has a center shift transmission, an obvious upgrade, so however unlikely, it is possible it's a competition engine. Do you know if generic factory replacement engines were painted uniquely i.e. red?
 
David--

Other than the engine's being red what about it makes you wonder if it is a "competition engine"? Is there any indication either that it was not the car's original engine or that the car has been used in any kind of competitive events?
 
David IV said:
Is there any specific trait on an competition engine I could look for to rule that out? It really is red not maroon or dark red. The thing is, everything is red, the generator, water pump, starter, head, block, and oil pan (I think as it's covered in grime). Also it has a center shift transmission, an obvious upgrade, so however unlikely, it is possible it's a competition engine. Do you know if generic factory replacement engines were painted uniquely i.e. red?
Click to expand...

Given that the ancillaries are also painted red, I'd vote for "a previous owner did it."

That said, I'd swear that John Wheatley once told me that factory rebuilt engines - just to standard specs; nothing competition about it - were painted a dark red. It was a long time ago; maybe I'm misremembering the color, but it definitely wasn't the usual green.
 
You can look to see what casting number you have and learn about the head origins without any disassembly - AEC 721 was on late (6 port) 100-6 engines and AEC 960 was on all 3000 engines (visible on top of the head near the manifolds). Bearing in mind the 100-6 head can be used on the 3000 so the casting number only tells you about the head.

I believe the block casting number for a 100-6 (2639cc) is AEC 335 and the 3000 (2912cc) is AEC 881 but you can determine externally if it's 100-6 or 3000 block by the type of core plugs used - the 100-6 used cup type plugs in a stepped hole and the 3000 used dish type plugs in a smooth bore hole (dish type have sides, and cupped are without sides that you set by striking the dome with a hammer to spread it in the hole - google core plugs if that doesn't make sense).

The only other external difference I know is the late BJ8 blocks have a higher dip stick location vs all earlier 100-6 and 3000. Otherwise there are only a few internal differences, like camshafts but you could have any regrind cam in there and it won't tell you much about the origins of the motor.

I also don't think the red has any significance.
 
Michael Oritt said:
David--

Other than the engine's being red what about it makes you wonder if it is a "competition engine"? Is there any indication either that it was not the car's original engine or that the car has been used in any kind of competitive events?
Click to expand...
The transmission was replaced with a center shift version is the only reason.
 
Does your motor look like this? If not ....probably just a DIY repaint job.

Competition 6-Cylinder Healey Race Motor.png
 
Red57 said "I also don't think the red has any significance."
--------------------
As a teenager I assumed that If it--which could have been anything--was red it must be faster.
My first car was a TR3 and applying this logic I painted the rear brake drums and the inside of the grill intake red.
 
Michael Oritt said:
Red57 said "I also don't think the red has any significance."
--------------------
As a teenager I assumed that If it--which could have been anything--was red it must be faster.
My first car was a TR3 and applying this logic I painted the rear brake drums and the inside of the grill intake red.
Click to expand...
ooh, speedy!!!
 
Factory rebuilt engines were painted gold. They were factory replacement "warranty" engines and were called Gold Seal engines.
 
This is a (Pat Moss') competition engine:

engine.jpg


If it doesn't look like this, it's not a competition engine. I vote for previous owner's preference.
 
Bob_Spidell said:
Looks like it had the 'heater delete' option; bet it got cold in the mountain rallies.
Click to expand...
Have you ever raced a big Healey for any length of time....Being cold behind the wheel is never issue.:ROFLMAO:
 
Oh, I've spent plenty of time in a hot Healey; one time traversing Death Valley when it was 115deg, but I suspect it gets a bit cooler in the Alps. But, yeah, I don't think any of the Rally cars ran topless.
 
BoyRacer said:
Factory rebuilt engines were painted gold. They were factory replacement "warranty" engines and were called Gold Seal engines.
Click to expand...
Somebody reported a rebuilt engine was painted a light blue color. I think maybe a replacement done by BMC?
 
Back
Top