Rear Wheel Opening

[60BN7]

Our 1960 BN7 has 2 different shaped openings. Wondering what the correct shape is at the bottom of the arches. If anyone knows what is actually correct, would be helpful to have some visual reference.

 

[dezand]

From my 1960 BT7
1.75" from tire to fender bead at front and 1.50" at rear
At the very bottom of the fender

 

[60BN7]

Thanks Dezand. This is helpful!

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Maybe the axle placement is off a little? The earlier sixes sat lower in the rear than the BJs (which usually have a somewhat unsightly gap at the top). Check the axle-spring mounts; maybe someone rigged something to give a little more ground clearance and changed the fore-aft placement?

 

[Randy Forbes]

The forward portions of these (BN6) fenders have had a dogleg repairs, but the rear contours are original.

I'm sure that is the case with MOST Healey rear fenders, as the doglegs tended to rust even in non Midwest cars (mine was a California car when I bought it >45 yrs ago).

These were the most straight on images I could find of my car, and with only halfway-decent contrast to show off the wheel opening; a detail picture I hadn't previously considered needing...

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Randy, It looks to me from your photos your driver-side wheel is better centered than the passenger side. I think the panhard rod arrangement is less precise than the radius arm design on the later cars (it seems to move the passenger side forward). Of course, the BJ8s suffer from the too large gap above the wheel.

Agree on the dogleg repairs; my BJ8 has them, my BN2 has donor wings that were in amazingly good shape and didn't need them (but didn't fit particularly well elsewhere). As an aside, the dogleg repairs are one of the more common bodywork miscues I've seen; sometimes the panel is turned out so that the car appears to have 'spurs' forward of the wheel well; yours look good (of course ). I was warned of this by someone on a list or forum--possibly this one--so I did reasonably well for an amateur. But, my repair was done with the cheaper panels that don't replicate the inner bead (easiest way to check if a repair has been done). I got some panels from Kilmartin that have the bead, but haven't gotten around to installing them (possibly never will). I'm not sure how I'd do it TBH; do I 'unroll' the bead to splice it in, or just butt them up square, weld and grind the seam, or ?

 

[Randy Forbes]

Could be a residual effect; Panhard Bar bar came off some 30-yrs ago (I didn't like the way it "jacked up" one side of the car in turns).

Camera angle has a big effect too, but since I am just completing another round of rear axle work, I will double check the centering before buttoning it all up (though I believe I'll be at the mercy of where the leaf-springs dictate it'll go...).

Articulated A-arm locating device, that can, I believe, be traced back to Colin Chapman (original Lotus 7/11 Series?).

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Ah, now I remember your mod; way better than a panhard. Can the rear axle still pivot some on the rose joint on the diff?

Edit: There was a video going around a few years ago of a racer with a panhard rod Healey who'd put a GoPro in his axle well as he did some laps. It was pretty scary how the axle bounced around, fore and aft almost as much as up and down.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Way back when...
I experimented with the pivoting point(s) by using just the main/single leaves of the springs (and spacers) to get relatively bindless pivoting__within the already shallow limit of suspension travel__didn't matter which side (or if both) hit the bump/droop.

The length of the A-arm (differential and chassis rod-ends included) is the same as the forward portion of the leaf spring, so similar in that regard to the later BJ8s. On that note, do the radius arms of the BJ8 truly control side to side axle location? I'd think a Watts-Link (+ radius arms) would've been the ideal setup...

 

[Bob_Spidell]

... On that note, do the radius arms of the BJ8 truly control side to side axle location? I'd think a Watts-Link (+ radius arms) would've been the ideal setup...

Probably not, but I don't drive hard enough to tell.