[Healeys] Restart after storage

[John Sims]

Personal saga.

My BN6 was up on stands for over two years and in the four years prior to
that had only been driven about 50 miles after a long stretch as a daily
driver in Las Vegas (6 years or so)

While up on stands, I installed a new fuel pump (the old one had a fried
diode), fuel tank sender unit, rubber brake line components and many of the
pipes, dual brake/clutch reservoir, speedo right angle drive, stainless
exhaust, new carb set, new exhaust manifolds and new intake manifold, new
brake cylinders and the wonderful clutch slave cylinder extension. (If you
don't have one, get one)

Then I decided to bite the bullet and install a Pertronix iginition, coil
and bumblebee wires with Bosch platinum plugs.

Tales of woe. Upon turning the igniton on, the fuel pump ran wild and gas
poured on the floor. Stuck Grose Jets.  Replaced with regular jets and it
worked properly. Starter motor kicked over but nada.

Called a friend down the road who has a BJ8 and we saw spark from the plug
wires but it would not start. Pulled the Dizzy out and it is fine. Put it
back in and still won't start. Knew the Pertronix was OK because it was
sparking the plugs. Wait a minute, the coil is getting very hot. And, the
carburetor linkage was getting hot and tingly. OK. Check for a hot lead.
None found. Wait a minute, where is the engine to chassis ground. AHA. None
to be found. Twelve years of driving my honey and there was never a proper
chassis to engine ground -- I was grounding through the carburetor linkage
all this time. No wonder why I was experiencing black smoke coming out the
exhaust -- incomplete combustion. After an emergency call to Norman Nock for
a ground strap, made a temporary one out of 5 strands of 18 gauge wire just
to see if this was the problem. Cranked with no heating of the coil but no
start. My friend goes home to get a working timing gun and while waiting,
decide to see if the gas is going through the carbs on the theory that if
the Grose jets are stuck, what else could be stuck. No gas is indeed going
thru. I pull the carburetor pistons, and crank the engine and there is gas.
Put them back in, wait for my friend and when he arrives we decide to test
again. Push the starter and voila - immediate start, great sound, timing
just a mark or two off. NO black gook coming out of the exhaust like always
before. Ran several minutes with a paper towel at the exhaust and it was
totally clean.

Moral

Gas in the carbs for two years can do funny things. We still have no idea
what happened to make this love of my live run better than ever before
except that gas in the carbs for two years can do funny things..

Isn't Healey life wonderful? Thank you, Ray Carbone.

John Sims, BN6
Aberdeen, NJ
 
www.healey6.com