[Healeys] Ten-Year Renewal

Mon Sep 17 23:54:47 MDT 2018

I recently rebuilt the complete suspension of my Bugeye after restoring it 18 years ago and only 7000 miles on it.  All new bushings, brakes, steering rack bellows, tie rod ends, etc.  I dropped the fuel tank to replace the float that had a hole in it and sunk.  Most hoses are OK, but the rubber grommets on the firewall were stretched and did not seal anymore.  I found numerous loose nuts and bolts in places like the front and rear suspension.  I also learned how to properly adjust the kingpin with shims.  I also put tapered bearings on the front hubs which turns out to be a good primer for the hubs of my BN2 restoration that have yet to be done.  Last night with the help of my 28 year old son, I crawled under the car and bled the brakes. Hoo boy!  Now I know it's 18 years later, my back was really sore all day today.  All I can say Lin, is to take your time with this ten year service, we're not getting any younger.Mike MacLean   

    On Monday, September 17, 2018 12:35 PM, Linwood Rose <linwoodrose at mac.com> wrote:

 It has been approximately ten years since I wrapped up (if you ever really complete a restoration of a Healey) the restoration of the Bloody Beast. He has weathered the ten years quite well – better than me, that is for sure! I have taken good care of the Beast and completed periodic maintenance as one should. There have been a few things along the way that have required attention, such as the failure of the brake master cylinder seal that led to the replacement of both masters and the clutch slave cylinder while I was at it. However, for the most part, it has simply been fluid changes, tire replacements and etc.

I am sad to report that I have not driven the Healey as much as I should have during the time since I finished the restoration. About a month after I completed the restoration work I drove the Bloody Beast 8,000 miles in a cross-country trip from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to California, up the coast to Victoria, BC and then back to Harrisonburg, VA. Between helping my son with his Bugeye, restoring a 1964 Jaguar MK2, and maintaining the 1987 Alfa, a 1969 MB 280SL and the Porsche in addition to the daily drivers there just wasn’t much time to drive! I am ashamed to say that I only put an additional 2,878 miles on the Healey in the ensuing nine-plus years. Driving, however, is the whole point of having a sports car and that is certainly true for an Austin Healey roadster. My son has now taken the Bugeye to his home. I have sold the Jaguar and the Mercedes. I now intend to spend more time driving the Bloody Beast!

After almost ten years I thought it might be healthy to go over the car carefully and examine the condition of components, check tolerances, and replace items that typically wear – even though they might be in operable condition at the moment. Some items such as rubber hoses may need replacement due to age rather than wear. 

I have prepared an initial draft of a check list for this ten year renewal process, but it only a draft and I would love to have comments and suggestions from others on this list so… if you have time to look at my initial list and share your thoughts it can be found on my website at this link: http://valvechatter.us/wp-admin/post.php?post=9570&action=edit

You can either leave comments on the web site or you can respond here with suggested additions to the list. Once I have a pretty comprehensive list that has benefitted from the wisdom of the group, I will make a final check list available so that others may have the document.

Thanks so much,
Lin Rose
60 BT7 - The Bloody Beast

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