Rochdale Improvements

Healey Journal

The car was in generally good mechanical condition when I bought it though it did need some cosmetic attention. Points that needed attention were:

The Interior:

The headliner was damaged, it looked as though access was needed- presumably for the wiring to the antenna. This looks like one of those tricky jobs I'll outsource to a specialist. With the old one as a pattern I'd think it'd be a relatively simple task to make up a new one. I might install it myself; then again, maybe I'd just let the specialists show how good they are....

The seats look OK for their age; and they're comfortable enough, but... after a drive there are a few crumbles from deteriorating seat foams. The seats too are showing their age so at some point I intended to get some nice, new leather covers and seat foams. One slight problem seems to be that I have seats from a Triumph GT6, but one seems to be from a Mk 1 while the other is from a Mk 2, and they're slightly different- and would need different covers. But covers are only sold in sets, so I may need to make a set fit when they won't- or get another seat to match one of what I've got.

The Rear Hatch Hinge:

Ron had used some neat hinges on the rear hatch. Unfortunately these were not particularly robust and the pivots at the top and bottom were broken. They'd work but were so loose they'd come apart. The hinges also used a friction disk at their "elbow" to hold the hatch up. This worked OK, but seemed a little susceptible to wind and bumps dislodging it. I'd initiallyconsidered replacing it with gas-filled struts, but that seemed a little "high-tech"; and I'll have a couple of the "low-tech" Jensen-Healey bonnet stays that would seem more contemporary to the car. However they weren't suitable and I found an article in the club magazines that described the fitting of gas-filled struts evry well and thought that this would be the best solution- and so far it seems to be working pretty well..

Broken Fuel Gauge Sending Unit:

One of the known faults when I bought it was the inoperative fuel gauge. It came with a short stick that provided a manual means for checking the fuel as required, but this was rather more "low-tech" than I intended to go. A quick investigation (basically I tested the gauge and wiring by putting power to it- so that it showed "full" when it ought to) soon showed that the sending unit wasn't doing its job. After driving the car to get the fuel level down I pulled the sending unit out and found that attaching an Ohm meter to its terminals and manually moving the float gave no change in resistance as it should have done. I then disassembled the unit and found that the resistance wire used had burnt out at one point. Time for a replacement. Easier said than done... Given that this was a kit car with components taken from all sorts of other cars finding the right one became a minor challenge. I found one that worked the right way (harder than it sounds for the pivot was 90° to all the ones I could easily find for MGs, Triumphs, Fords, etc.) but I just happened across one that'd fit. For a "Classic" Mini- it needs some slight modification for the Olympic tank's screws rather than the Mini's retaining ring but that easily done....

Fuel Pump:

While blasting around the Highlands the car suffered from severe problems with fuel delivery. I initially thought this was due to vapor lock. the car would come to a stop and wouldn't re-start. I pulled the covers from the carburetor float chamber and found it empty. Letting it fill would then allow the car to start and run for a few miles until it all had to be repeated again. But the car simply wasn't seeming to get hot enough fast enough to cause that severe of a problem, so my attention soon turned to the fuel pump as a potential trouble maker. Just by coincidence I'd brought along a replacement pump (it was one intended for my Austin Healey that was just sitting in the garage- and I'd thought that if any of my friends had a problem I could be a Good Samaritan....). I soon fit that and the problem went away... only to be replaced by a different one. The Healey pump was a lot stronger than the Olympic needed- and it over-powered the carburetor floats and was almost literally drowning the poor little car in fuel. So I replaced that with one more suitable. And then still suffered problems. The inlet line from the fuel tank to the pump had a small air leak under suction. When there was no suction the fuel was not sufficiently pressurized to leak. But when suction was applied then air was pulled through the small fault and problems created. Once the hose was replaced the problem was then fixed. I now have a new fuel pump and have also added a fancy fuel filter/regulator to the system- so, if in the future, I need to use a gutsy, Big Healey pump it'll then be able to cope.

Minor Mechanicals

One of my first drives was rather eventful- a heater hose split and left me without any coolant miles out in the country. I'd decided to take the car for a spin and see how it ran- a "shakedown" drive, and it did shake things down well. I ended up replacing that one hose- and determined that I ought to replace the others, thinking that they were probably all of a similar age (and condition). A minor job to be done over the winter so's the car will be fit for the spring and summer.

The other trivial task is remedying the car's seeming lack of timing marks. It uses a BMC "A" engine formerly housed in an MG Midget circa 1967. I understand that these had their timing marks underneath (quite why anyone would do that is an amazing conundrum, but....) After casting about on the Internet I found a ready solution: a kit that would easily bolt a pointer to the timing chain cover and use a "tape" on the harmonic balancer to gauge TDC and all the rest....

Minor Electricals

I cannot say that I was overly impressed with the car's lighting. This is despite the fact that its been converted to using Halogen headlights. I suppose the glass cover does affect the lighting output somewhat, and that a higher intensity bulb might be a solution. But there are also a pair of spotlights in the Grille so I could upgrade those to some a little more powerful.

I've also found that the radio is all but unusable. It is a contemporary one and works well enough but suffers very badly from interference and static- in a fiberglass car there's no surrounding metal to shield the radio from the static produced by the engine's electrics. I've obtained a filtering unit to install in the power lines but I also think that I may need to fabricate a steel box to surround the radio and thereby provide a shield. If all that works I'd probably then upgrade to a more modern radio/CD player.

Major Cosmetics

The car was restored several years ago now and Ron has suggested that its refinishing was not as well done as he would have liked. But Ron struck me as something of a perfectionist. Never-the-less the car's finish is showing signs of its age, and although the paint generally looks quite presentable still the underlying surface preparation is now starting to shows some flaws. The surface is cracking and crazing a little, and there are some odd spots of mottled swelling as though the surface might have been contaminated. The car is certainly drivable and decent enough looking yet, but at some point I'll need to attend to these issues.

Major Mechnicals

I'm pretty happy with the car just as it is. But... it would be nice if it could cruise at speed without howling like a banshee. The car uses a four speed transmission from an MG Midget and a fairly low geared differential. This combination gives extremely good acceleration but it also makes Motorway driving or covering longer distances rather tiresome. Great for blasting along country lanes, not so great for getting to those little lanes. Since I'm not using the car that much it's a very minor annoyance, but in the longer term I'd consider "fixing" it with either a "higher" geared rear axle (say 3.5 rather than 3.9) or leaving that as it is and using a 5 speed conversion. I know of ones for Midgets and Morris Minors so they're do-able and apparently fairly available... Maybe the next time the clutch needs any attention....

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