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After sorting many squawks this year on my 66 Vert (made possible with a lot of your help),the wife and I launched from Western NY between Buffalo and Rochester destined for the Lenox, Stockbridge area of Massachusetts. We drove the back road scenic route all the way down there which added a couple of hours but we were in no rush. She ran great. The new seats were very comfortable even after a 6 hour driving day and the heaters worked fine. The Antique Radio maintained blue tooth contact with my phone for Google Maps. She did develop a fuel leak about an hour west of Albany that required me to pull over. I had taken a lot of tools, trouble shooting equipment and spare ignition parts and was able to coax the primary fuel line fitting at the carb (1") a tad tighter which seemed to work. Other than that we made it there without incident. While up there touring several gilded age estates, their botanical gardens and the Norman Rockwell museum we enjoyed spirited drives in the twisty mountain roads. As I became more comfortable refreshing my re-circulating ball steering technique, I found her pretty solid in the curves although I was mindful that they are public roads and did not attempt to explore the limits (cars or mine). Some of their roads are less that smooth and she had cowl shake that would be felt through the steering wheel. There is some play of the steering shaft in the mast so I plan to pull the column this winter and replace the bearings. The steering dampener looks good but could be worn as well I guess.
A couple of other issues became evident. When using the headlights its all good when the LED low beams are on. The High beams trip the breaker in the headlight switch (replaced prior to my ownership). Searching our site tells me that relays are in my future. The courtesy light issue you all helped me to resolve went south again with the lights remaining on with the doors closed. I just pulled the bulbs until I can take another crack at it. Lastly I spent some time realigning my vent windows relative to the "A" pillars and replacing weather stripping on those "A" pillars to improve the weather protection prior to departure. Thought I had it pretty well tight. Well it rained on one of the overnights pretty hard. Woke up the next morning to take a look. Drivers side pretty dry, passengers side has 1/4" water forward of the seat. Mopped that out and it's back to the drawing board on that issue.
5 days boots on the ground and we headed back home. At no time did we experience any sign of peculation (big issue with my Healey), she started instantly every time I turned the key. Temperature wise we got stuck for 10 minutes at a malfunctioning RR crossing and she did drift hotter but no where near red line (big issue with my previous 66). Chose to run the NY Thruway home keeping her at 65 MPH, around 2700 RPM. No issues on the way back.
So we put about 600 mikes on her and she came home on 4 tires, not a flatbed so mission accomplished. Combination city/highway driving yielded an average of 15 Detroit muscle USA MPG. The fuel gauge is apparently stuck on Full now by the way. Just did the math with the odometer to keep track of things. Few more things to sort out but that's OK, we had a blast driving her and she attracted a bunch of attention. For now a well deserved bath (the car that is).
You can chase windshield leaks until the cows come home or carry some blue painter's tape and when it looks like rain run a layer around the windshield to seal things temporarily...
Great place you're staying at. I've been there over night a few times on the New England 1000. Next time you go down that way you might want to try some of the Vermont roads I generally find them better tended to. BTW what model Healey? As you might guess from my screen name I have a BN1.
Should have used the term Healey with a small h. She is actually a replica that I spent a few years wrenching on so as to develop some skills. She is a steel tube ladder chassis with adjustable coil overs fore and aft (coil spring 4-link). Fiberglass body ( never had any success stopping rust so I favor all things fiberglass). SBC 350 with a modest level of "go fast parts", WC T5 and a posi Ford rear. She is fast and handles as well as any light (2,300 lbs) car would with a low cg, rack and pinion, wide tires and effective brakes. What made this project more appealing in the incorporation of wind up windows, wipers and a folding soft top so she is good to go for long trips. Also no Lucas. Toured the Adirondacks two years ago with her without incident other than the percolation issue. Never drained a battery starting her but it's always a concern. Insulating the fuel lines and the carb spacer thing would likely correct this but I have been concentrating in the C2 for the last two years. I'll be putting her up for sale sometime this year or next.
St. Jude Donor '09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-‘19-'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
Great trip and glad it went well for you. That's a bit more ambitious than I would have done for a "shake down" run but it sounds like the issues it turned up are small ones.
Last edited by Railroadman; 06-16-2019 at 08:33 AM.
Great trip and glad it went well for you. That's a bit more ambitious than I would have done for a "shake down" run but it sounds like the issues it turned up are small ones.
I owned a '67 from May '68 till fall 1970 (I think) and don't recall any issues with rainwater from either the hard or soft top, nor the windshield. If we now can take any other part of these cars -why are we still unable to prevent leaks?
They were engineered into the cars before production.
Should have used the term Healey with a small h. She is actually a replica that I spent a few years wrenching on so as to develop some skills. She is a steel tube ladder chassis with adjustable coil overs fore and aft (coil spring 4-link). Fiberglass body ( never had any success stopping rust so I favor all things fiberglass). SBC 350 with a modest level of "go fast parts", WC T5 and a posi Ford rear. She is fast and handles as well as any light (2,300 lbs) car would with a low cg, rack and pinion, wide tires and effective brakes. What made this project more appealing in the incorporation of wind up windows, wipers and a folding soft top so she is good to go for long trips. Also no Lucas. Toured the Adirondacks two years ago with her without incident other than the percolation issue. Never drained a battery starting her but it's always a concern. Insulating the fuel lines and the carb spacer thing would likely correct this but I have been concentrating in the C2 for the last two years. I'll be putting her up for sale sometime this year or next.
Looks like a Classic Roadsters Sebring MX. That was the first kit car I ever built in 1988. Used the drive train from a Fox body Mustang or sbc. Loved that car, but when the top was up visibility was very limited. When I sold my first house in PA, the guy that bought it also bought the car. I used to say he bought my life! Thanks for sharing!
Should have used the term Healey with a small h. She is actually a replica that I spent a few years wrenching on so as to develop some skills. She is a steel tube ladder chassis with adjustable coil overs fore and aft (coil spring 4-link). Fiberglass body ( never had any success stopping rust so I favor all things fiberglass). SBC 350 with a modest level of "go fast parts", WC T5 and a posi Ford rear. She is fast and handles as well as any light (2,300 lbs) car would with a low cg, rack and pinion, wide tires and effective brakes. What made this project more appealing in the incorporation of wind up windows, wipers and a folding soft top so she is good to go for long trips. Also no Lucas. Toured the Adirondacks two years ago with her without incident other than the percolation issue. Never drained a battery starting her but it's always a concern. Insulating the fuel lines and the carb spacer thing would likely correct this but I have been concentrating in the C2 for the last two years. I'll be putting her up for sale sometime this year or next.
The last Healey was a BJ8 and that would be a BJ9. If Donald were alive today my guess would be he would have something like that in production.. Nice piece of workmanship on your part.
06-15-2019, 04:54 PM
First Long Away Mission
