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H

Healey_Z

Jedi Warrior
Offline
I found this project car that was kept under tarps in a not so nice part of Oakland CA. It had a Datsun 280ZX drive train swapped in it 25 years ago. There was very little rust which was repaired and painted a nice BRG. The tired Z motor was swapped out with a fresh one and the trans rebuilt. I still have some things to do on the inside, but I guess these cars are never really done.
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It's a beauty and an appropriate engine upgrade. How does it perform?
Any suspension changes? How much weight did you lose? Please post pics of engine compartment.
As far as never done. I've been working on mine for 30 years.
 
Its a real beauty.

Working on it is why I bought mine ;-)

Hans
 
The Z motor is 145 hp and the weight of motor/trans is decreased by approximately 200 pounds (728 lb vs 523 lb).

I had a FFR Cobra replica for ten years, which was a really nice balanced car with a 5.0 / 5 speed. The Healey certainly doesn't pull like that car, but it is a fun and enjoyable car to drive around on the street.

I'm working on eliminating a stumble that I have (suspect my SU's), but I'll work that out.

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Thanks, I really appreciate it. Yes it is no v8 but it is more in keeping with the intent of Donald Healey in my opinion.
 
This looks just great, Ken. With the lighter Z motor, you might want to think about lowering the front end, looks like it's riding a little high. It's an easy fix. You can get some longer bolts that hold the spring pan to the A arms. Also get some lengths of allthread. Remove two of the bolts holding in the spring pan and insert the allthread and install nuts on each end. Remove the other two bolts and then slowly undo the nuts on the allthread until the spring tension releases and you can remove the spring. Install the longer bolts and insert a couple of nuts between the bottom of the A arm and the spring pan, which will lower the pan. Bolt everything back up together.

The Z swap caused a huge kerfluffle in the Healey club magazines back in the early 90s. Mark Lambert from Nashville, TN did the swap, which was featured in the club mags. The purists grabbed their torches and pitchforks, but Mark fired back in defense, with each side having its proponents. There were stories that Datsun had bought a 3000 to use in designing the original Z, who knows?
 
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