[Healeys] Chassis / Sub chassis restoration question??

Brashear, Jack, N JNBrashear at garverengineers.com
Mon Aug 11 08:45:58 MDT 2008


Hi Alan.  Having been there and TRIED that, the thought of piecing
together a chassis is a real red flag to me.  I'd absolutely go with an
entire unit if you're asking for advice.  I'm assuming your car is in
Hong Kong....??  If so, I guess a Kilmartin is the easiest thing for you
to obtain.  I have built and/or been connected with three Healeys near
me that have the Jule chassis and have seen numerous others.  It is, in
my opinion, an outstanding replacement if you can cope with not having a
welded seam line top and bottom.
Regards,
Jack (Brashear, that is)

-----Original Message-----
From: healeys-bounces+jnbrashear=garverengineers.com at autox.team.net
[mailto:healeys-bounces+jnbrashear=garverengineers.com at autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of Alan Seigrist
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2008 11:20 PM
To: Healey
Subject: [Healeys] Chassis / Sub chassis restoration question??

Hi All -

I assume Jack Aakerlin can answer this but here goes -

I am considering taking my beloved BJ8 and stripping it down to the
chassis
and rebuilding her.  The big question for me is whether to keep the old
chassis and fix it properly, or just go for a new Kilmartin Chassis and
put
the Front End and Rear End assemblies on the new chassis.

The reason for going with a new Chassis is at some point about 30 years
ago
the left front clip was hit hard and the whole front left chassis rail
was
repaired very poorly.  When I did my ground up restoration on the car in
1985 (I was in college) I did not have the money at that time to deal
with
it, so I left it.

The left front chassis rail is 1) repaired poorly and 2) bent in the
back
behind the repair section.  This means to fix it properly I will have to
cut
the front left chassis rail off all the way back to the passenger
compartment right before the chassis cross... not ideal.

My question is... if I go with a whole new Kilmartin Chassis, is it
difficult to line up the front end and rear end assemblies properly on
the
chassis, or is that a pretty easy job?  My rear end sub-assembly is in
good
shape and the front end sub-assembly is in pretty good shape except for
the
front left side.

Will I need a jig or is it all pretty simply done with measurements and
minimal rigging to put the sub assemblies on the chassis?

You can assume I will have the old chassis by the side, so I will be
able to
compare the old chassis with the new chassis as the work is done.

I'd like to go with a new chassis, but if it's easier to save the old
one, I
will consider that as well.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Alan

'52 A90
'53 BN1
'64 BJ8


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