Grandad's Car: Big Healey

This car predates me in my family by a significant margin. My dad bought the car in March of 1977, first plating it in May of that year. He drove it for a few years, worked out of the country for a few years, drove it for a few years, drove it a bit after my sister was born and then essentially didn't drive it at all after I was (1990). For much of my childhood, it sat perpendicular at the front of my parents' garage on jack stands. At some point, my dad had it moved to a huge residential garage about 5 minutes from our house that the lady who owned the place rented out for storage. I remember asking, quite often, to go "visit the Healey". This is how it sat in that garage. 

In about 2005, we brought it home from that garage and, with the help of some local Healey club members, got it running (with no brakes). I used to putt it around the neighborhood just to hear it run, using the handbrake to stop. It then wasn't until the summer of 2012 that I really started tearing into it. It looked pretty OK on the surface...

It really wasn't. 

It was see through in many places in which a car should not be see through. I spent the next 7 years closing those see-through areas and in November 2019 I started it for the first time since taking it apart. 

The Small Axe Racing thread has tons and tons of detail of the rebuilding process and the various headaches and joys I had during the process. It has been back on the road since the spring of 2020 and I drove it a ton in '20, '21 and '22. This is one of my favorite pics that I've ever taken of the car since putting it back on the road. 

And the most recent pic from earlier this summer. 

It lives with me but it's my dad's car. My kids call him Grandad and ever since my daughter, now 5, could even conceptualize what a car is, we've referred to it to her as "Grandad's Car". So I guess that's it's official name. 

I always have and likely always will just call it, The Healey. 

What a terrific car. Glad it's still being enjoyed in your family.

Now, although the car was totally apart and almost everything was rebuilt, refreshed or otherwise fixed, there were a few things that I did not accomplish when getting it back together. There were various reasons for this; Cost was one. Even with all of the labor (other than paint on the body) being of no cost, because me, when you have to buy close to one of everything a project like this ads up really quickly. Time was another. By the time the car was back on the road, it had been 15 years since we first got it running again. Mentally, I needed the project off my plate and my dad really wanted it done too. 

So, some things were skipped. One of the simplest things is that I re-used the old trunk hinges. One of the studs on the passenger side had broken off during removal and the driver's side isn't much better. 

Last week sometime I got the passenger side swapped out for a new one and will do the driver's side in the next day or two. 

The bigger issues have been that the pinion seal leaks profusely, one of the axle seals is also now leaking badly and it fouls points pretty easily. 

Not remembering that it has a DM6A distributor in it, not the normal Big Healey one, I ordered the wrong Pertronix unit and when I went to put it in last week, of course I couldn't. I do have the seals needed for the pinion and axle seals so it's about to go under the knife. 

It's also getting a spin on oil filter conversion. 

I've been so hesitant to work on the thing because I have waited so long to drive and enjoy it but, it's really time. My August is extremely busy with work, personal travel and racing but I hope to have everything buttoned up in time to enjoy it through September and October before it has to sleep for the winter. 

Fantastic car and story.

It's definitely part of the family at this point. 

Got the second hinge in tonight with the help of my wife. A simple task checked off the list but it's checked off nonetheless.

Wow, this is an awesome generational car!!!

In reply to AxeHealey :

"Simple" "Healey"

Yeah, right

I got one returning  from paint on friday. 

In reply to NOHOME :

This reminds me!  If you can build a straight Healey, you will find an E Type a good bit easier, except aligning the bonnet. The structure has way less material designed by guys who were used to building one off monocoque tubs, so simple shapes and big boxes.  

In reply to TurnerX19 :

Well see with the Jag. Kinda "Car Burned Out" after the last three years or so. There is an MGB project in the wings that I can do with my eyes closed, and it contributes to the beer fridge the same as the jag per hour.

Love the car and the story. Why the color change?

In reply to jimbob_racing :

Thanks!

I'm a firm believer that the world doesn't need any more Healeys painted Colorado Red, BRG or Healey Blue so we found something else. This is supposed to be Oslo blue, an old Porsche color. 

Friends. Nut and bolt your cars. 

The last couple times I drove the Healey I was getting a periodic strange noise from the left rear. Well.

Can't tell what's going on there? Lemme show you.

That's scary. Nut and bolt your berkeleying cars, friends. The crazy thing is that there was no strange vibration or wobble feeling other than a month or so ago, when driving with my dad, I had a weird moment where the car seemed to tramline really badly for a second. I smacked the center nuts with a hammer when we got to his house and drove it home. It must have been that wheel getting very loose.

OK. Back to your regularly scheduled programming. Both seals are leaking, the passenger side is worse.

Before you ask. Yes, the brakes have been pretty weak as of late. 

I have the paper gaskets and o-rings on order. Hopefully I can get the pinion seal done and the hubs out in the meantime. I also ordered 5 new studs for the left side since they are gacked up pretty bad.

Love the story.

Love the color.

Love the car.

Ours uses two names from time to time.

Some times like yours, its called "Grandad's car".

Other times its the "Awesome Healey"

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/awesome-healey/216101/page1/

It's ALWAYS fun...

In reply to AxeHealey :

I think you have heard me mention that Healeys are a collection of parts traveling in close formation. Periodically it is a good idea to tighten the formation for best results. 

These cars actually get better if you use them a lot since you are forced to deal with the rattles and whatever you missed on initial assembly and eventually you catch up. 

In reply to NOHOME :

Yes.

Use it.

Often...

...and keep up with the things you can hear and feel, and constantly check the stuff you can't!

:)

And NEVER lean on the door in a hard corner...lol.

Since you have to take the hubs off to change the seals, it is time to do a thorough crack check on the end of the axle tube where the bearing rides. I have seen several failures. and caught one cracked pre-failure. The crack can propagate from the root of the thread, that is the one I caught when the nut felt wrong while I was tightening it. The ones I did not catch propagated from the step where you would expect. Use new nuts and Loctite on the hub splines, that is a pretty seldom failure, and spooky that it is quiet.

I had an hour or so today and knocked out the pinion seal. 

Some cleaning was done.

Then the fresh seal went in.

It went in very easily. Almost too easily. Hope it doesn't leak.

Still waiting on the rest of the parts...

Yesterday was an exercise in why holding on to bits of scrap metal is not as crazy as it sometimes seems.

You can buy a wrench to take the axle nut off for like $25 but why do that when you can waste an hour or so making your own? Cardboard template first. 

Then cut it out of some thick-ish aluminum that was part of the floor of the E21 when I bought it. 

Next was making my puller work. A thick chunk of aluminum left over from making the caliper brackets for the E21 worked great to push against. 

Clearly it was too big to pull the bearing over so I used two off-cut circles of steel from... some project, can't remember... and it worked great!

It's either time for me to buy a press or I'll be dropping the hubs off at a friends shop this week. I was able to smack one of the studs out but it put up a pretty good fight and, in any case, the bearings need to be pressed out to replace the inner seals. 

In reply to AxeHealey :

You only need a press if you are re-using the bearing. Many times you can shake them out. Almost certainly the hubs have been subjected to the hammer and punch method before. Now examine the end of the housing at the thread root and the bearing thrust seat. Those spots also seem to fail silently, or maybe the exhaust and wind noises mask it.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

I know it's tough with pics but I don't see any cracking. The right side has a distinct line in a portion of it where the bearing was but I can't even catch a fingernail on it. 

My plan has been to reuse the bearings but we'll see once I get them all cleaned out. Still waiting on the rest of the parts and I'm getting impatient. 

Cheap dye penetrant trick I would try on these if I saw any marks. Crumble up some red chalk as fine as possible and set aside. Clean it all thoroughly with fast evaporating brake cleaner. Dust it with WD40. Wipe with a paper towel dampened with the brake cleaner, and quickly sprinkle or spray the chalk on. Let it sit a few minutes and gently blow any chalk off. It will stay around at a crack. See if you can find a "Redi-sleeve" type repair for the seal track. They press on a proper polished surface, the one on your housing will eat the seal right away. 

P.S. The inner surface of the housing looks particularly nice on one of yours. The ugly "we never sharpen our tools" side is far more common. From the amount of wear on the seal face I think this rear has a whole lot of miles on it.

It's so cute! 

And, yeah, it bothers me too that the top piece is backwards and the nut side of the bolt is sticking out the front. I didn't realize the jack mounting plate was directional. It doesn't bother me enough to take it apart though!

I have that same press.  It's been useful enough to pay for itself many times.  As for the nuts facing out, it can't hurt to keep an eye on those, right?

I'm beginning to think that my diff oil leak may have been caused by warping a flange when separating it from the stub axle.  And that was just from using a puller.  Leak tracer dye is in, so I should have a better answer tomorrow.

In reply to JoeTR6 :

Now that's a positive attitude. Good for maintenance. Maybe I'll paint marker them too to make it look intentional.

Wow, really? It must have been badly stuck on there.