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W

Wheelie

Freshman Member
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Hey Guys,

Newb here, especially to these older british cars. I have a 1955 Austin Healey 100-4 that I got from a family member. Car was heavily modified back in '74 by the some of the Mear's family in Bakersfield, Ca. My grandmother purchased it at an auto action in Cali about 20 years ago. The car was given to me just over a year ago and in serious need of work.

I'm a car guy and have built a couple 10 second quarter mile cars, all 4 cylinder Japanese imports. I was a technician for 10 years but have since moved out of the shop.

Back to the car, as I said it was heavily modified. Sadly doesn't even look like an Austin Healey. The body was completely reworked to look like an AC Cobra. It has a solid roller sbf 302 in it with 65 heads, decently big cam and 650 carb. Transmission is a Toploader close ratio 4 speed and attached to a Hotchkiss '55 chevy rear-end (weak). For a build done in '73-'74, it has held up very well and has a lot of miles on it.

I'm planning on tearing it down completely and making some major changes. Since it is already so far from stock, I'm gonna stick with a v8 but I'll be going LS2-6 with a t56 trans and ford 9". As a big import tuner I want something a little more modern and the ability to do a complete stand alone management system. Its highly likely a set of turbo's or nitrous (probably both) find their way onto the car. I can't have my old car smoking me at the track with a 1.6L right???

Here are some pics, hate if you like but I'm doing what I can with what I've got. Hope you don't mind my questions and idea's along the way.

Sorry, gotta load all the pics I've taken and I'll get them on here.

Robert Shoemaker
 
Hi There Robert,

"Welcome" to the BCF.

Here you`ll find a ton of help with some of the questions you may come up with. Simply Introduce yourself & your project (Too bad it got cut up) to the "Austin Forum" and fire away.

Have Fun,

Russ
 
Welcome! Sounds like a great project. And the Bakersfield Mears connection [Roger, Rick, et al] is a real plus. Sometimes it is a handy thing to have a car that is already heavily modified so you can do what you want without guilt. Tailor made for your intentions. :thumbsup:
 
I'm a purist when it comes to Healeys. However, since you inherited a highly modified Healey, modify the heck out of it and beat everything on the track and then - Brag that it started out as a Healey!!

Welcome to the forum. :savewave:
 
Thanks for the kind words fella's. I don't mind the motor/trans swap stuff but I would have prefered the body in stock trim. As it is I will just have to work with what I have. I will be 'toning' down the body modifcations, they went way over the top on flaring the fenders and pulling the nose forward. They also removed the stops on the fenders that you put the windshield into to recline it. I promise to get some pictures up tonight so you can see what I'm talking about.

The site has been a great search point so far and has really helped me locate some good resources and information reguarding these cars.

Robert
 
pics as promised....

picking car up at shop, first image


Long ride home


Putting her up on jack stands...the insanity begins










Big P/S leak


Rust


Authentic Cobra Emblem


Edit: odly enough I can't see them from my work computer, can you gusy see the images??
 
Yes, they came in fine, a little too small though. There's a special forum for what we call "Nasty Boys", check it out.
 
Yes, the photos came in, and if you click on one it will pop up larger in a new window (along with ads) from the photo site.

I agree that toning down the body mods would be an excellent idea.
 
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