[Healeys] More on routine Healey maintenance

[editorgary at aol.com]

 Just so everyone won't think I've become one of those checkbook owners of a classic car, on Sunday Tracy Drummond came over and between the two of us we refreshed our rusty skills and memories by doing a deep-dive tune-up on the Healey, setting the valves, replacing the spark plugs, checking, cleaning and gapping the points, setting the timing (which required a little repair to the distributor shaft clamp, then adjusting the carburetors. (While photographing the process for a future article in the Austin-Healey Magazine).
Now, those tasks aren't the sort you can trust to the young mechanic in your local garage.


 

Gary Anderson
Registrar, AHCR

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mirek Sharp <m.g.sharp at sympatico.ca>
To: editorgary <editorgary at aol.com>
Sent: Mon, Jul 25, 2016 9:23 pm
Subject: RE: [Healeys] Oil change and Radiator Flush



Gary, I agree in part.  I use a mechanic who services my BMW and who actually understands how cars work and fixes things instead of replacing them.  He is no Healey specialist, but over the years I have seen him repair most British sports cars, and even re-wired  DeLorean from scratch.  An oil change and rad flush is well within his ability.  Finding someone competent to do it is not the issue, it is how much time you have to spend on routine maintenance and what other priorities are on the table.  When I am busy, I will get a shop to do it, when I have time, I love to tinker around the car and do it myself.  Also, as others have pointed out, spending time on your own car provides an opportunity to spot other pending issues, frayed wires, a loose or missing nut, leaks, loose fan belts, etc., etc.  There is no right answer here, but thanks for the perspective – it makes us all think (I hope).
 
Mirek
 



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/healeys/attachments/20160726/c78de2a3/attachment.html>