In a message dated 3/5/06 10:45:00 AM Pacific Standard Time,
kentmclean@mindspring.com writes:
It isn't running now. And it hasn't run
any time in between. :)
Kent,
That's funny. Looking at from that perspective, mine has not failed me sine
1983...
However, in reference to Ned's question, when it was running (long story on
why it has been sitting so long) it only had to be towed once, and that was my
fault. I "rebuilt" the fuel pump using almost literally chewing gum and
bailing wire and it quit one day. Again, my fault.
I drove it as a daily driver for two years and frequently until I tore it
down to rebuild the engine and never got back to it (the long story). Anyway,
other than normal and routine maintenance it ran pretty much flawlessly for 70K
miles. The clutch slave died on me once, got something into it that wore a
"canyon" in the side and it would lose pressure that was kind of funny. The
first three times it gave me problems. I was driving home from work and the
clutch stopped engaging. Fortunately they don't have the dreaded "clutch
safety
starting switch" and I was able to shut it off a stop lights, put it in first
and get it going on the starter. Clutchless shifting until I got home and bled
it. It would be fine in the morning and all the way to work, and part way
home and then the same thing. Got a rebuild kit and located the problem.
There
was a gouge in the side of the slave cylinder about 1/16th inch wide and the
length of the piston travel. New slave cylinder fixed the problem.
I used to drive from SoCal to Paradise, 500 miles monthly to see my GF and
parents, two trips a year to Monterey for various races, as well as driving all
over SoCal when I lived there and never had a problem. The clutch slave issue
pretty well wore the syncros out of second gear so the gearbox is going to
have to be done when I get closer to having it back on the road, hopefully this
year. I want to get it drivable and then continue worth a rolling
restoration. When I moved up to Paradise, it would sit most of the winter and
never
failed to start right up and drive away well. I also autocrossed it a couple
of
years.
I have owned several Brit cars over the years, concurrently with the Healey,
and most of the problems I encountered with them were from DPO's who didn't
fix things correctly. As has been said, condensers, even new ones, fail. A
good reason to convert to an electronic ignition.
Cheers,
Dave Duffey
59 BT 7project
Paradise, CA
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