BN7 & BN2 Last Week, photo courtesy of Wyn Cooper
A minor calculating error with regard to available space on the website has caused this week’s update to represent last week’s goings on, but that’s O.K. these are still a couple of nice cars, and after all, how often do you see a hard top on a two seater Healey ? The BN2 was here for complete servicing, and the BN7 for complete checking over. It will be back soon to replace the transmission baulk rings, a.k.a. synchro rings.
Cleaning out a Healey Rust Trap
An important part of Austin Healey servicing is cleaning out the dog leg rust trap in front of the rear wheel, it’s one of the first places a Big Healey starts to break rust. Your scribe is seen here emptying out the beach sand with a bent wire probe and compressed air. This was followed with a 50/50 solution of Waxoyl & Hydraulic oil to rust proof the area, as we’ve discovered that Waxoyl alone doesn’t have sufficient “creep”, and Hydraulic oil doesn’t have sufficient staying power on its own. The back of the fender is much easier to reach.
John and Butch pull an MGB engine & TX
Last week we also dealt with a highly unusual repair, a rebuilt MGB transmission that didn’t want to shift from 2nd to 3rd. If you’ve perused the Sports Car Services website, you’re probably aware that we regard the 4 synchro MGB transmission as pretty well bullet proof, so to have one apart for any reason is an unusual event, and the owner sourced this one somewhere to convert the car to overdrive, which is always well worth doing.
A loose lock bolt on the 3rd/4th gear shift fork. Click for detail
A loose lock bolt allowed the 3rd/4th gear brass shift fork to “float” on the shift rod. A “human error” which was easily correctible once the engine & TX were removed. So easy, in fact, that half an hour after we pulled it, we were putting it back in again.
Answers to Last Week’s Questions: Back in the day, if you had reason to call the MG factory, you would have dialed Abingdon 251, and for deeply esoteric reasons, this also became the chassis starting number for every MG model built up thru the TC’s
Now if you cabled the Jaguar factory in Coventry the address would have been, logically enough, “Jaguar” Coventry. Less logically, the code was “Bentley’s 2nd”. Jean McNelly at English Imports in Kalamazoo nailed both answers, but declined the oil filter.
