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Who Am I Kidding?

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HealeyRick

HealeyRick

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One of my goals in doing the V8 conversion was to keep it as close to normal as I could on the outside. The only clues to the conversion are the shifter:



which I tried to keep period correct by using the Ford 4-speed top-loader shifter from the 289 Cobra even though there's a 5 speed underneath.

The stock gauges have been converted to work with the Ford parts.

And a leather hood strap has been added, to keep the 345 horsepower tied down in the engine compartment:



Even though I've "twinned" the dual exhaust to exit like the originals, the outlet size might be a bit of a give-away:



So I thought maybe I could pass the exhaust off as an ANSA sport system. Not knowing anyone in the ANSA factory that could custom craft a system for a V8 Healey, I counted my blessings that I have a good friend who's a wizard with artwork and a laser printer:





The deception all goes down the tubes, though, once the motor is fired up. It has such a great Cobra-like snarl that turns heads when cruising through the lot at a cruise nite. Doesn't get much more fun than that.
 
Well Rick, if you want to get that 6 cylinder sound for cruise night, just pull two plug wires.
 
Rick, your car looks fabulous. Love the details, truly one of my favorite Healeys.
 
Hey Rick nice ljob.
You might want to get one of those Lambs Wool covers for the bonnet strap to keep vibration from taking a toll on the paint.
 
Healey_Z said:
Rick, your car looks fabulous. Love the details, truly one of my favorite Healeys.
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Thanks, Ken, I really appreciate the compliment. It's great that we have room in the Healey community for Gold Level concours cars and those that stray a bit away from original. The fact that DMH seemed to have a real interest in the modified V8 cars give them a degree of legitimacy that other modified marques never received. And many of us know that Carrol Shelby first approached DMH with a proposal to put a Chevy small block in a Healey before he went on to doing the Ford motor in an AC Ace and ended up with the Cobra. My car is my "dream Healey". Other Healey folks envision a perfectly original car. What I love about Healey folks is there is room enough for all of us to appeciate a "Healey" in our own way.
 
Keoke said:
Hey Rick nice ljob.
You might want to get one of those Lambs Wool covers for the bonnet strap to keep vibration from taking a toll on the paint.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you're right that the lambswool would be a good idea. But I don't remember the 100M having any lambswool on them. I like to think of Healeys as being a bare-knuckled brawler rather than a foo-foo pretty boy machine.

A few scars won't hurt this bad boy at all. :devilgrin:
 
I think the 100M bonnet strap had felt on the underside, yes? no?
 
i am trying to do the same with my 63bj7. i used a lokar shifter and was able to center in the original healey shifter location and tunnel. if i had used a black shifter knob it would hardly be noticeable. but, in redoing the dash i used speedhut gauges in order to not have to cut up an original dash for gauges and i wanted a gps speedometer. the converted dash is very noticeable and especially at night with the blue led lighting. but, as you pointed out the sound of a built 383 sbc with mechanical lifters is a dead giveaway that the car is not original. and, i have corrected the side flashes which were installed backwards when i got the car.
 

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maxwedge5281 said:
sound of a built 383 sbc with mechanical lifters is a dead giveaway that the car is not original.
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That motor must sound great with mechanical lifters. I dressed my motor to look like a Ford HiPo 289. If I could only figure out a way to fake the mechanical lifter sound that went with the HiPo.
 
BoyRacer said:
I think the 100M bonnet strap had felt on the underside, yes? no?
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Michael's right. I've been lucky enough to see a few original "M"s and "S"s over the years and knew that I wanted an authentic bonnet strap. The ones sold by a number of the suppliers are too thin and almost plasticky (?) Bill Meade sells an excellent reproduction strap in connection with the 100M registry and that's what I went with, which has no lambswool or felt on the bottom.
 
After looking this over, I may have to build a nasty boy car. I have a 100/6 body (no motor) that would be a good candidate for the conversion. I 'll be on the lookout for a wreaked Mustang or old V8 ford I can get a drivet train out of.

Marv
 
Marvin Gruber said:
After looking this over, I may have to build a nasty boy car. I have a 100/6 body (no motor) that would be a good candidate for the conversion. I 'll be on the lookout for a wreaked Mustang or old V8 ford I can get a drivet train out of.

Marv
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Marv,

Personally, I think the Ford is a better fit than the Chevy, because it's narrower.



But the Chevy guys were doing it first with the 283 motor.

Everybody does their swap a bit differently and I had a lot of help along the way from those who'd already done one. If you want to see how I handled mine, go here: https://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,8264
 
rick that is why my first conversion was a 289 ford motor. also another reason was due to the distributor location on the front of the engine. i wish my car had a 289-302 but ill have to live with the sbc for now!!
 
stuntflyr said:
Hi Rick,
I can't remember, and my pictures don't show, did you re-core the original radiator tanks?
Chris...
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Hey Chris,

The original radiator was recored with extra fins per inch. I also have a 16" Maradyne electric fan installed on the rear of the radiator as a puller with a shroud I fabricated. It cools acceptably, and I stay between 190-212 degrees. I was a bit concerned about the upper temps at first, but realized that's what 5.0L motors run in newer Mustangs and Explorers. Even still, I'd be concerned that driving this car in a warmer climate than New England (say, like SoCal :devilgrin:) might result in some cooling problems. I suspect that's why you have that ducting in the front of your car ... someone was trying to fix cooling problems by directing as much air as possible to the radiator. The problem is that there's not a lot of room in the Healey for a bigger radiator without converting to a rack and pinion steering system.
 
Rick,
Love your car! I think you've done a stellar job of keeping it period correct looking while thoughtfully crafting the V8 installation. I also really like your choice of small block Ford. I'd like to see an article in the Marque about your car.

Have fun with it!!

Steve
 
Hey Rick,
You need to put that video on with you starting up the Nasty Boy - or maybe a new one since that one is from when you first got it running !!! And you're right, nothing sounds better than that V-8 staring up and scaring the women and children !
Regards,
Mike

Just noticed you have the video up but that one's two years old - get us a new one to listen to so we can drool even more !
 
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