Roys' Austin-Healey
June 2000
Well, the beginning of June was nowhere near the warmth
that was blessed on us in May. For the first time in Footy history (Australian
Rules Football) a game was played in snow. A blizzard hit us here in Victoria
causing several deaths. Several car crashes and road closures incurred as native
Australians struggled to adjust to a strange phenomenon known as snow. It was a
strong contrast to the warmth and sunshine we had in May.
I was
fortunate to meet a very kind mate who is also a member of the Austin Healey
Club of Victoria. He and his modified Healey 3000 Mark I came over for a visit.
He has rebuilt about 12 Healeys in his life. Our conversation led to much
encouragement and a welcome offer of help whenever needed. A few pictures of his
car are shown below and in the Gallery for your enjoyment.
The last three and a half
years were spent dismantling, stripping, sanding, shaping and welding the Mark
I. Some days it was discouraging to spend so much time and effort into something
that seemed to be a waste of time when no one would see the hard work once it
was buried under the car or behind a fender. Sometimes weeks were spent just to
get a rust covered section cut out and a new metal piece properly welded in.
There seemed to be no encouraging events happening to inspire me to move on.
Long hours were spent in the summers heat boiling in a tin garage or in the
winters freezing cold bundled under layers of jumpers to keep warm. BUT, all
that has changed. June seems to be the month that all those endless tedious
hours of hard labour are starting to pay off. The car is now starting to come
together.
It seems that all the major tedious work is complete and now
it is time to start putting the Healey together. Hopefully all those hours to
detail will ensure that all the parts will fit on smoothly. Last month I painted
the frames front end and started to attach some components. This month I have
started to install more parts. I made a few trips to various recycling centres
and picked up some loose odds and ends that I figured don't need to be purchased
new. After one prosperous trip to a recycling center I found a heap of light
globes, wiring, lens caps etc. I found a couple really rare heater parts but
they were destroyed. The sad part is digging through these centres and finding a
rare and needed part only to find that it was obviously smashed with a hammer by
some neanderthal to get it out of the way to get to some other part.
A few tidbits of information that may come in handy.
Nissan purchased the then going bankrupt Austin Healey company years ago. Liking
what they found they started using the Healey engineering on allot of their
cars. Keeping this in mind, I will be switching some none visible components
from Nissan to my car. Another tip is using parts from your local recycling
centre for those expensive parts that are probably lying in some junkyard
somewhere. As an example, I found some cold air intakes buried in the spare
parts box that came with my car. They just needed some sanding and repainting
but the wire bug screen was ruined on both of them. A trip to my local recycling
center found the solution. Wire mesh from an old car speaker cut out and spray
painted black can replace the wire mesh for the bug screen. You really won't see
the intakes unless you crawl under the bonnet and even if you did go that far,
could you really tell? Why buy new ones? Other parts from a Nissan can be
switched altogether depending on whether you want your car to be 100% authentic
or not. Such things as the engine, transmission, dash, stereo system, seating,
door latches and floor matting are all interchangeable with parts from the local
recycling centre. Are you building your car for show or for yourself? This is a
very important question when deciding on whether you want authenticity or
comfort. Of course, a 100% authentic vehicle will fetch more money on selling
day but at what cost to you?
June 05th
The Healey is finally close to
being ready for body panel assembly. The entire front end assembly is FINALLY
attached. The tyres were at an odd angle and needed to be adjusted back in.
Unfortunately, whenever I adjusted the stabilizer bar to adjust one tyre the
other tyre would adjust the same degree the OPPOSITE way. I had a very hard time
adjusting the tyre alignment. Apparently the front stabilizer bar is made to
make adjustment easy. After that myth was dismissed I found that I had to
continually shave off one end, re bore the end and then re-attach it one end at
a time. (NB:
please remember that this is Roy's son-in-law writing this and so is this sounds
funny, email Roy for a better explanation)After three adjustments it was FINALLY
close enough to perfection. Allot of hours and frustration went into that
adjustment.
June 13th
The front frame is painted, the
firewall insulation in place, the rubber protectors in the firewall for the
wiring are in, the cool and hot air tubes in place, the heater box in place and
the front shroud attached. The entire braking system (less the lines) is in
place and the master cylinder in place. I have started to line up the wings with
the shroud and put on the final coat of body filler to fill in those small dings
and scratches. A coat of self etching primer (needs to be applied to aluminum)
has been applied. Re-building a handmade beauty is no easy task. Each piece is
handmade to fit onto another and so when you go to replace one part that is
severely damaged it is a heck of a job aligning it properly. I am not 100% sure
that the wings that came with this vehicle are the originals as I am having a
VERY hard time aligning them. I am told that once they are are properly aligned
you are suppose to take them off, paint them and then re-attach them. I think
that once they are aligned I will keep them on and I will paint them THEN loosen
the bolts and then add the stainless steel piping. There is a good reason for
this stainless steel piping. The reason is to have a stainless steel divider
between the tin wings and the aluminum shroud. Without this seperator the two
metals will come into contact and cause an electrolytic reaction thus breaking
down the metals and turning the metals into dust.
June 30th
Well, it has been a busy month. I
have almost all the body work finished now and just working on the proper
fittings of the doors. The main work I have been doing is the wiring. It can be
very time consuming. I have also decided to modify the body a bit by adding some
turn signals. There is alot of wiring and probably too much to describe here so
if you have any questions feel free to email me with them. Next month wil be
spent with finishing the wiring, body work and aligning the doors just right.
With the classic cars, there are certain "sounds"
that make it distinctive. One can normally tell the type of car just by hearing
the closing of a car door, the rev of an engine or the honk of a horn. How many
times have you been drawn by the beauty of a car but were immediatly
disenchanted when it was started up and instead of a sensual purr flowing from
the bonnet you hear the distinctive sound of a volkswagon motor or some
super-charged motor? Automatically everyone thinks "kit car". Trying to keep the
car as original as possible on a shoestring budget I was able to get one of the
original horns unceased but the other was not so co-operative. I decided to just
replace them both. The original horns (worth $85.00 each from the factory) are
going to be replaced with two from the recycling centre (together they both cost
me $6.00). I fully intend to replace these new horns with Austin Healey horns
but that will be further down the road. Nothing like the original sounds right?.
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