Intro and Questions about V8 conversions

[Shealey]

Hey all,

I post over on the Sprite forum. I'm building a 59 Bugeye with a Suzuki Swift Twin cam engine and a Samurai 5sp for my wife. We call the car Shealey. I picked the Swift engine because it looks like a Lotus at a glance. It's getting closer to completion so I'm starting to plan for my next project.

I have a 1954 BN1. I have an engine and transmission but I really want to install a Rover V8. I did a search for "Bad Boy" and "V8 Healey" But really didn't get any hits.

Are there any V8 guys here?

Anyone ever do a Rover?

If so, what transmission did you use? T5?

 

[bill_young]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

This is one swap that even I can't recommend. If you already had a car that had been modified then go for it, but these are just getting too rare and expensive to modify now. As for modified Healeys, you should take a look at both the Healey pages on the British V8 Newsletter https://www.britishv8.org/Photos-Austin-Healey-Conversions.htm and also take a look at the web page of the Modified Healey Registry https://www.modifiedhealeys.org/ I think you'll probably find a car or two that used the Rover/Buick V8 although the majority are small block Chevy's converted back in the 60s.
Most swaps using the Rover/ Buick these days use the T5 as a transmission. Bellhousings are available from D and D for this application.

 

[Shealey]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

Thanks for the links Bill. This car is missing the plastic ID plate under the dash and has suffered from a shunt to the front end and a poor chassis repair. I'm sure I can repair the chassis, and locate all the missing bits, but I'm a hot rodder at heart. I really torn as to which was I want to go with this one.

 

[GregW]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

If you have your heart set on doing something different, maybe go hybrid. I'd guess that would be a new challenge for you. I've been kicking around doing that myself, not to my Healey though. Possibly a diesel engine, but I have recently been thinking of the Suzuki SV650 motor. It's a V-twin that could be coupled to something like a 15kw generator. Many possibilities for a project, choosing can sometimes be the hardest.

 

[glemon]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

I thought long and hard about doing an engine swap in my 100 when it needed and engine rebuild--but what ultimately killed it for me was that I wanted to stick with a stock looking interior, and to get the guages to work with the new motor would have required all sorts of adaptors and reworking of guage innards and such, so I punted.

If are set on doing a swap the Rover is a good choice, not sure I have seen one on a big healey, but my TR6 book says they weigh about the same as a TR6 motor, in the neighborhood of 450 pounds, I would guess the Healey four weights that much if not more, so you would be doing well with wieght distribution.

Might be an issue with width and headers getting out, you might wither have to cut some frame of have some custom pipes made.

If you haven't already check out #34 on the modified Healeys picture page:

https://www.modifiedhealeys.org/Photos/34Delzer/Delzer1.htm

I lust after that car, personal preference, but I prefer the stock/sleeper look to big mags and fat tires sticking out the sides, also if you are a hot rodder you may not want to go this way--but I just don't get the big motor autobox thing in a sports car, you are supposed to clutch and shift a sports car, period, end of story.

My opinion, your mileage may vary.

The 100 has beatiful lines, the engine is a lump with limited development potential--I like original, and it does make great torque compared to MGs and such, but a swap on these cars is tempting for sure.

 

[Shealey]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

Glemon, Cool, Ya, That's the car I want to build. The Rover comes in about 315 lbs stripped of all the accessories. If I go down this road I want fuel injection, modern brakes, and a stock look.

I have a friend that did the tach and is now working on the speedometer for the Shealey. The ignition is electronic and the 5 sp has no cable output for the speedometer. He used the stock tach face and needle without even cleaning it up. It looks untouched. The speedometer is still in the works for digital guts. Were not sure how that will work out yet, but the goal is the same as the tach. I really want both cars to look stock until you lift the bonnet.

 

[glemon]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

Good luck and keep us posted, sounds like you are doing it right to me, yeah, I think the stock until you lift the bonnet is the way to go.

Greg

 

[bill_young]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

That's one beautiful car for sure, but like I said this one was originally built in the 60's before these cars became so valuable. If you were missing the original drive train then I'd probably say go for it with the V8, but if you modify it it will be very difficult to ever restore the car again.
I lust for a big Healey, but they're far beyond my budget so I'm building my poor man's version using a MGA for a starting point. Now those are a bit on the rare side, but still cheap and plentiful enough to not cause too many strokes when someone modifies one of those. You could always sell the Healey and build something like John Mangles from St. Louis did and probably have money left over. https://www.britishv8.org/MG/JohnMangles.htm

 

[red57]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

Shealey,

I'm a lifelong hotrodder too. My current project is bringing back to life a '53 BN1 that had a Ford 289 conversion done in the late '60s with a 3 speed top loader tranny - I have been calling it my 100-ford.

While I don't have any info on the BOP swap, I can tell you that in my research comparing small block Chev and Ford, the Ford motor is about 2" narrower requireing less footwell modifications. Another advantage is the distributor is in the front making it much easier to work on (and again less clearance problems).

In my case the frame and chassis is shot - the entire bottom foot or so is rusted away so I am using a 1960 BT7 chassis that I am shortening to BN1/2 length. Aside from the fact that I happend to have the '60 chassis, it offers another advantage you might want to look into and that is the hanging pedals, making the swap easier. It looks like it would be easy to add a 6 cylinder pedal box and bracing to the top of the footwell in place of the rectangle tube brace you now have then you don't have to fight the stock pedals (this also eliminiates the source of hot air leaking around the pedals where they go through the floor).

I say go for it, the biggest advantage I can see is the BOP is a lot lighter than the Ford/Chev small block but any way you go you have a 'poor man's Cobra' and I know in my case I've been wanting one since the late 60's

Dave Phillips

 

[DART]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

I have to admit I enjoy reading all the posts about the problems associated with creating a V8 Brit car when Daimler did it in 1959 with one of the nicest little hemi V's to come down the pike. Whatever you may think about the body "styling", the sound of that V makes up for it, and then some.

 

[GregW]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

Whatever you may think about the body "styling", the sound of that V makes up for it, and then some.

Specially driving at night. :wink:

 

[Shealey]

We sold our Cali 59 MGA a couple years ago. It had a .40 over 5 main from a 67 MGB. It was ok for two lane black top but still felt like you were pushing it hard when driving it on the freeway. I bought it for my wife to drive but she never liked the manual choke and the drum brakes. The only time it ever left the garage is when I was driving her around in it.

So, That's the inspiration for the Bugeye. Fuel injected 100 hp, 5 sp, disk brakes.

Here's the MGA.

 

[AJAX50]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

Why don't you really go to town on the Healey unit: steel crank, special pistons and rods Weslake head, twin 45's and hey presto 8000 rpm and 200bhp with a fabulous noise and that never ending power curve. It would make a change from your rumbling hotrods!

 

[Cottontop]

Shealey,

Tim Moran here.... I am the web master for the Modified Austin Healey Registry.

We are a loose knit association of about 400 owners of heavily modified Healeys (mostly V8) and have about 200 of them on our web site.

While building a V8 Healey is a challenging engineering and fabrication task, it is not a task to be taken lightly. In resto-modding your Healey, you will spend at least as much money as if you had returned the car to stock and when you get through the car will be worth HALF of what it would be worth if it WAS stock.

That said, completing a V8 Healey is a tremendously rewarding personal task and there are few cars on the planet that are more fun to drive.

I urge you to visit our web site (www.modifiedhealeys.org) and there get the information to join our Registry. Membership is FREE with NO sign-up fees and NO dues.

We also have an active Yahoo "chat" group where you can connect with other owners and builders to help you solve most of the age old difficulties of building a V8 Healey.

We have a bi-monthly newsletter (The Wheelspinner) with articles on technical issues and profiles of members cars, etc..

If you have other questions or comments, you can contact me at the Email link at the bottom of the home page.

Good Luck with whatever you decide.

Tim Moran - www.modifiedhealeys.org - Car Number 1

 

[zblu]

Cottontop,you have said it well!, I thought about it, and kept my 100 stock, if I want to go down that path, I'll buy an AC Conbra kit, put a Jag rear end in and a 327 or similar up front, I'm impressed by what some of you have done though!

 

[Shealey]

Hi Tim,

I am working to get signed up on the Yahoo list. I always have trouble with that. I'm a car guy not a computer guy.

I printed two membership applications. One for the Shealey (my wifes) and one for the hundred-4.

I like the big bore 4 idea but I want to actually drive the car. If there was a 100-4 kit car I would leave this one stock and build a plastic one. The Cobra is cool and all but it's kind of a belly button now.

I'm fully aware of the potencial loss in value and the amount of work that goes into conversion projects.

Here's one of my Franken cars. It's know in the Porsche circles as "The Alien" It has a 350 hp 928 hybrid V8 mounted mid-ship. I have driven this car all over the country.

 

[Shealey]

Here's the engine. This is call the Money shot. Check out the reflection of the Porsche script on the rear lid.

 

[GregW]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

Why don't you really go to town on the Healey unit: steel crank, special pistons and rods Weslake head, twin 45's and hey presto 8000 rpm and 200bhp with a fabulous noise and that never ending power curve. It would make a change from your rumbling hotrods!

That is an option, but a really expensive one. One could easily drop 10 grand in Denis Welsh parts alone. Then you get to build it.

 

[glemon]

Re: Into and Questions about V8 conversions

the "914/8" looks nice, and nasty...

 

[tiga2]

....Go for the conversion! You will have some real fun and enjoy the car as it should have been. I bought one and have since restored and have not regreted it one moment, it is FUN to drive, reliable, and does NOT leak or use oil.
Everyone loves it, I get more compliments on this car than anything I have ever had.

Cheers.