NOHOME said:Sounds a bit like you have hit the "Ordeal" part of the project. It happens when we want stuff to come together so that we have something to show for the work. Stuff that was "Fun challengine" starts to become frustrating.
Take a moment to read your build thread from the start so that you get a sense of all you have accomplished, you are doing an amazing job and moving at an impressive pace for a Healey restoration.
Pete
Thanks, Pete. I really appreciate that.
I was able to spend a few hours on the Healey yesterday. Great progress. Fuel lines are done.
I got a measurement wrong on the main supply line so I don't love how it's bent. I'm happy with line from the tank to the pump.
After that I had just a few minutes left so I threw on a couple little things.
Today started with separating the lower arms from the king pins. What an absolute bear of a job, no pictures, but it's done. On to brake lines. I pulled out all of the lines that were on the car and re-ran them just to be sure my notes were right and then I started on the main line from the MC to the distribution block.
I'm still not good at this whole bending thing but I'm headed in the right direction. Slight hiccup though. The new line is significantly longer than the old one. I'll have to spend some time tonight looking how this line is actually supposed to be run. Maybe the kit just made it too long and I'll have to loop it somehow.
In reply to AxeHealey :
Your master cylinder is on the wrong side of the car. Along with every other control. If the line kit came from the old country they seem to always forget where we sit to drive. Do not loop the line. Cut it and re-flare it.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
It is a British made kit, yes. I would think the distance would be the same side to side though, right? Either way, the line on my car is run the same way as every other picture I could find on the internets so the new one is just too long.
I guess cutting and re-flaring is the number. This means I need a flare tool. Sort of gets rid of the whole convenience of buying a pre-made kit...
Update: Andrew using his noggin alert. I'm taking my wife's car in for an oil change tomorrow at a buddy's shop. He shall also be receiving an Austin Healey brake line to cut and re-flare!
That’s better than driving down to me to do it.
Well I decided it was silly to have 3 inches chopped off and re-flared. If you guys look at what I did and think it's going to be problematic, I'll get it chopped. I have to imagine it will be fine.
The lines from the distribution block to both front corners are done as well.
And here's a picture with PEDALS. How strange.
Other little things: The frame has been reunited with its VIN and body tag. Kind of cool. I also put the oil pressure line through the firewall. After I struggled with the grommet for a couple minutes, I realized that I had it in the wrong hole because I incorrectly ran one section of the loom. Oh well.
The kingpins have been dropped off at a local Healey shop to be rebuilt. Not only do the old brass bushes need to be pressed out (I don't have a press) but the new ones then need to be honed to fit. It just made sense to farm this out.
The rebuilt shocks and front brakes should be arriving tomorrow.
any place where the brake tube is higher than the master cylinder, that's a place where air will try to hide. could give you trouble bleeding.
In reply to AxeHealey :
Make the loop with the axis vertical, not the current horizontal. That would allow air bubbles to circulate up and out, not get trapped.
Like this:
Yeah... I'm just going to get it cut. Aside from the air pocket concerns, I'm already annoyed with how it looks.
I would look upon this as a tool buying opportunity. You NEED a brake line flaring tool!
Good luck making the gibblets look all orgaized and neat....I find that Big Healeys are like some women: They look better with the frock on.
In reply to NOHOME :
Yeah... you're right, I do. Thing is, I also need to get the trim painted on the house as well as do something about the backyard grading/drainage before winter comes. The Free.99 option (or close to) is the way this time around. I dropped the line off with my buddy this morning.
It's actually very helpful seeing that picture. I've completely forgotten how the wiring ran across the front support, no matter how ungainly a naked Big Healey is.
Last night consisted of running the line from the front distribution block to the rear, relocating the oil pressure line and spending a great amount of time with the wire wheel cleaning up the last parts to paint. Just a few more little bits and the rear end to knock the nasty off of.
Oh and I'm currently packing up the fuel pump to be sent out and rebuilt.
Question for the Healey people watching: Are the iron bushes for the shackles in the rear supposed to just slide into the mounts on the frame? The ones I have will not slide in. It's close enough that I could freeze them and it would probably do the trick but then they'd likely never come out... I don't have the ability to turn them down but I suppose I could hone the mount out?
Or...I just found a video where a guy "pressed" them in with a nut and bolt combo. Maybe that's the way to do it?
The shackle bushings are an interference fit, so freeze them with dry ice and install quickly either with a properly sized bushing driver or the nut/bolt spinning the nut with power.
TurnerX19 said:The shackle bushings are an interference fit, so freeze them with dry ice and install quickly either with a properly sized bushing driver or the nut/bolt spinning the nut with power.
Awesome, thank you!
Finito.
More wire wheeling lead to making a painting rack and painting. I think this puts me about 95% done with parts painting. Still need to clean and paint the rear end and would like to paint the pedal box as well.
The shocks didn't show up yesterday. I check tracking and it said it was delivered. Hm... After a closer look, the address listed was across the street. Sure enough, there it was hidden on their front porch. I stole what is rightfully mine.
Very little progress on the Healey this weekend because...
Nelson 24hr!
Another great weekend with the Miata. Every time I drive this car I love it more. The only time it wasn't on track (aside from fueling and driver changes) was about 2 hours between 2-4AM when the headlights were cutting out for at most 1/2 lap at a time. It seems to be in the switch and we all collectively decided to take the opportunity to get some shut eye. The problem wasn't as bad when we went out again. We ended up 7th (out of 11) in class A and 16th overall (out of 25). Not bad considering we were changing drivers in the paddock then rolling back to the pits for fuel, doing 1hr stints instead of a whole tank, etc. We ran the same set of pads that were on the car at PittRace and didn't even burn through them all the way, never changed or rotated the tires and put a total of 1 quart of oil in it over 24 hours.
Driving at night was an experience for sure. I'm certain I'll get more used to it as I do it more but it was a little unnerving. My fastest laps were Sunday morning as the sun was coming up. I turned one out in the 1:24s. For reference, our fastest guy who ran Spec Miata for years turned one in the 1:23s. I'm pleased with that.
Although I was a zombie yesterday afternoon, I dragged myself to the Healey. I threw the front shocks on, put the sway bar on, did some cataloging of parts and then started to assemble bits of the rear suspension. I should have been more careful than I was painting around holes and threads. I'm spending a lot of time cleaning them out.
Although I think I'm about 1/2 week behind my ideal schedule, I'm hoping to have all of the suspension together this week. It will really depend on how much time I have this weekend with family coming into town.
Some progress last night. Panhard bar put together with bushings. Drop links cleaned up and bushing'd. New ends put on the steering crossrod. Rear shocks mounted. Rear end and trans mounts painted. I'm not sure I'll be able to muscle the rear end into place by myself without destroying things so that may have to wait until this weekend and the guy who is working on the kingpins for me still hasn't started. That means progress in putting things in may be slow during the week but I still may be able to knock out the suspension by the end of the weekend.
Rear axle set in the car, kingpins have new bushes installed and reamed, new clutch master in place, poly bushings in the lower arms, 3/4 iron bushes pressed in.
One of the cork washers needed for the kingpins came broken in half so I was only able to assemble one of them last night and I'll be waiting for the new one to arrive until next week sometime. I may try to repair the one in the kit to keep things moving.
I decided to give freezing the iron bushes in my home freezer then transporting them in a cooler filled with ice to the shop a try. 3/4 went in with relative ease carefully using a large clamp. The 4th started going in crooked so I took it out, started over and it seemed to be going well. I then had probably 1/4" to go and it just wouldn't budge. I knocked it out from the inside to find that the lip had cracked. Sweet. So now I'm waiting on a new one from Moss. I should have been more patient.
At the very least, this means I won't have the rear suspension done this weekend but depending on how my cork washer fix works (I may also just make a new one), I could have the front suspension done this weekend. I also have plenty of other things I can toss on the car to keep progress moving forward.
We're about 5 weeks, 3 weddings and 1 rallycross away from when I hope to have it on the road. Seems steep. We'll see!
In reply to AxeHealey :
I have been known to substitute neoprene O rings for the cork seals in Austin front suspension. Just be sure it is large enough in section to drag lightly on both faces when assembled, and grease it liberally (which you should the cork also) before final assembly
TurnerX19 said:In reply to AxeHealey :
I have been known to substitute neoprene O rings for the cork seals in Austin front suspension. Just be sure it is large enough in section to drag lightly on both faces when assembled, and grease it liberally (which you should the cork also) before final assembly
Hm. That makes sense, may even be better than the cork. If the cork gets held up in shipping I'll go this route.
Very little time to dedicate to the Healey this weekend but alas... Kingpins together (jeez I hope I did it right!), lower arms mounted, spring perches loosely mounted, steering column in, idler in, panhard rod in and some other bits and bobs. The replacement iron bush should arrive today meaning there's nothing holding me back from finishing up the suspension. I need to figure out a good way of finding the "center" of the steering column and idler rotation so I can get the arms and steering wheel orientation correct.
In other news, I had been waiting patiently for the correct (looking, not asbestos) heat shield kit to arrive from the UK via some company in CT. The guys in CT have been less than helpful and often don't answer the phone. I even got notice that the shipment was canceled. In any event, it arrived on Saturday. Yesterday afternoon I opened the box to find that two of the pieces were broken! I was pissed. Not only is this a pretty expensive item (like $200 or so) it's literally just cement backer board that has been cut to the right shape. If you're restoring a Healey, unless you really need the period look, definitely don't bother with these kits. I'll be sending it all back for a refund and will just go the dynamat route should our toes not be able to stand it.
On the way to the shop last night, I stopped at the parts store to grab a spring compressor. As I was checking out I realized there was no way it would work. I soon found out that there was no way it would work. From googling, I've found there is a common technique using bolts, nuts and large washers to compress the spring nut I'm not entirely certain what the technique is. I'm sure I can figure something out but if anyone watching has some pictures of what they've done, that would be great.
I moved on to the rear springs. Both springs met their mounts with absolute ease. Then came to compressing them. Here was my solution to keep the car from coming off the jackstands.
The passenger side was a cinch but I spent easily 45 minutes trying to get the pin on the top of the spring pack to go into the hole in the axle on the driver's side and never got it. I assume this means that my spring mount locations are off a hair but it's going to have to do. Maybe when I'm back at it tonight or tomorrow it'll go in no problem.
Although I've had a frustrating pace of progress lately, It's really cool to see suspension on the car.
I'm sitting here thinking that maybe you don't actually compress the spring at all... Here is a description of the method from ahexp.com.
Replace one bolt at a time and install 2 3/8 all thread rods about
12" long with a flat washer and nut on each end. Then remove the two
other bolts holding the plate to the lower control arms. Then start
loosening up the two long threaded rods. This will lower the shock
plate and then you can remove the spring. This will also work to re
install the springs.
And another
We usually take out two bolts on opposite corners of the spring perch /
a arm bracket. Insert a 3/8 threaded rod and nuts on each end. (Double
on one end). After both are tightened, take out the opposite two bolts
then start cranking the nuts down on the threaded rod. Very helpful to
have an " O-Ratchet and socket kit" , in place of moving the wrench
every so many inches. Others may have better ideas, this works for us.
So maybe you support the bottom of the kingpin with a floor jack so it's close to level and the arms aren't at an extreme angle. Then, take the long rod through the spring perch holes (4 of them) up through the holes on the arms (2 on each side) and tighten down the perch to draw it upwards and thus compress the spring. (??)
That's going to be a bear of a job with no impact or air...
Are we talking about compressing the front springs for re-installation?
All I seem to recall is that it was the same as the MGB: Just locate the spring and using a floor jack under the end of the lower a-arm and jack up until the the kingpinupper trunnion reaches the shock a-arm.
Of course this does rely on having the engine in place.
Pete
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