J
John Morrison
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This probably falls into the "For What It's Worth" category, but the recent thread on "Value Premium for a Le Mans Kit-Equipped 100" jogged my memory a little.
Sometime during the mid '70s I was told about a 4 cylinder 100 engine with "really big" carburetors on it at a local junk yard in central Pa. I bought it immediately when I saw the cold air box with the brass plaque.
After ensuring that it was in good shape and rebuilding carbs, changing oil etc. I dropped it into my 100, envisioning great performance improvements.
I was very disappointed with the results, seemingly minor (if any) improvements.
After working on it to get more power for some time, I then contacted British Leyland to see if I could find out exactly what I had.
Some kind person in Leonia, NJ xeroxed a copy of the <span style="font-weight: bold">"AUSTIN-HEALEY HUNDRED (MODEL B.N.1.) SPECIAL EQUIPMENT AND TUNING INSTRUCTIONS"</span> and mailed it to me.
This was somewhat confusing, because I had always heard that the "Le Mans" cars had flat-top pistons and those were not listed in the document.
I also checked the cam lift and discovered that it was NOT a high lift cam, but an even <span style="font-weight: bold">LOWER</span> lift than stock.
Even more confusing.
All was explained at Encounter 1979 in Harrisburg,PA. Geoff Healey and family were our guests that year, and they all participated graciously and unstintingly in our event.
At some point during the car show on Saturday, Geoff and I were walking around looking at the cars until we came to mine. I began to whine about my thwarted expectations about the engine swap.
He filled me in on the history of the Kit and the Factory "Le Mans" cars.
In the ensuing conversation, I mentioned the "Low-Lift" cam, to which he replied "Oh Yes. Well, a number to those kits were dispatched to the States with defective camshafts." (i.e. wrong spec).
Apparently my transplanted motor had one of the defective kits fitted to it.
One wonders whether any of the bad cams found their way into the "Factory" cars.
Sometime during the mid '70s I was told about a 4 cylinder 100 engine with "really big" carburetors on it at a local junk yard in central Pa. I bought it immediately when I saw the cold air box with the brass plaque.
After ensuring that it was in good shape and rebuilding carbs, changing oil etc. I dropped it into my 100, envisioning great performance improvements.
I was very disappointed with the results, seemingly minor (if any) improvements.
After working on it to get more power for some time, I then contacted British Leyland to see if I could find out exactly what I had.
Some kind person in Leonia, NJ xeroxed a copy of the <span style="font-weight: bold">"AUSTIN-HEALEY HUNDRED (MODEL B.N.1.) SPECIAL EQUIPMENT AND TUNING INSTRUCTIONS"</span> and mailed it to me.
This was somewhat confusing, because I had always heard that the "Le Mans" cars had flat-top pistons and those were not listed in the document.
I also checked the cam lift and discovered that it was NOT a high lift cam, but an even <span style="font-weight: bold">LOWER</span> lift than stock.
Even more confusing.
All was explained at Encounter 1979 in Harrisburg,PA. Geoff Healey and family were our guests that year, and they all participated graciously and unstintingly in our event.
At some point during the car show on Saturday, Geoff and I were walking around looking at the cars until we came to mine. I began to whine about my thwarted expectations about the engine swap.
He filled me in on the history of the Kit and the Factory "Le Mans" cars.
In the ensuing conversation, I mentioned the "Low-Lift" cam, to which he replied "Oh Yes. Well, a number to those kits were dispatched to the States with defective camshafts." (i.e. wrong spec).
Apparently my transplanted motor had one of the defective kits fitted to it.
One wonders whether any of the bad cams found their way into the "Factory" cars.