Another few hours in the garage and I did two things.  I measured the car from front to back and side to side and decided that the bulkhead is straight after all.  I think it needs to be encouraged to move over a little and the shroud itself is a little wayward but I hope I can get there with old fashioned methods of persuasion.

I then turned to the petrol gauge (I know there is a lack of logical progression going on here but hey ho).  When I bought the car the previous owner said that the gauge was missing so I was very surprised to find it in one of the boxes when I was rummaging about one day, even if it is a little tired.

As you can see the glass is broken and the gauge itself is a tad grimy.

With the glass removed all I need to do was clean away the insects and get the blue plastic strip back into place around the edge of the fascia.

However, I couldn't get the blue strip out so decided to take it completely apart.  I realised that this was a mistake fairly quickly.  I'm a blithering idiot sometimes.  I turned two small nuts on the rear of the casing which span the coils round on the inside and snapped the wires.  Damn.  So I'm now on the hunt for the type of person who can re-wire 60 year old petrol gauges.  If you know anybody suitable would you mind putting them in touch with me please.

So, another opportunity to get in the garage taken and the last part of the chassis attached, excellent.  Put the shroud on and indeed it is starting to look like a car.

However, it is not all plain sailing as it is clear that the bulkhead is not quite in the correct position.  You can see the front chassis legs are a little covered by the shroud but the left hand leg is clearly covered more.  This is because the shroud is not parallel with the centre line of the car.  The photo below shows the bonnet hinges are out as well.

So when I go back to what I have done previously I note that the main bulkhead position came from the chassis legs that drop from the bulkhead to the suspension turrets as pictured above.  When I originally put the bulkhead on the new chassis I struggled to get the legs to sit flush against the turrets and the near side leg is already 5-6mm away from the turret and it is this leg that needs to go further back by another 5mm or so.  I am a little worried that the turret is incorrectly positioned.  On the photo one can see that the plate that the shock mounts onto is slightly further forward on the off side turret.  plenty to ponder over the coming days.

Got a day in the garage at last.  Spent the whole day listening to Talksport, cleaning up, finishing the push bike, grinding and burning things with the Oxy-Acetylene; it was excellent.  The push bike is complete with new cables and freshly adjusted gears and brakes; I'll not get too cocky about that until my wife has test driven it.  The garage is clear enough for me to be able to work on the Healey and I have made a start on the section of the chassis that supports the radiator, bonnet hinges and front shroud and is to be welded on to the foremost section of the chassis.  I took measurements of how far the top of this section is from the front bulkhead but wish I taken measurements on how high it is from the chassis cross member before I cut it off, oh well.  I am quite looking forward to fitting this section as I will then be able to get the front shroud on and then the wings should follow fairly easily (fingers crossed) which means it will start to look like a car.  I should get some time in the garage again this weekend so will have a go for it.

The new wings are safely in the garage, excellent.  Following the hectic weeks up to Christmas I didn't get into the garage at all so I am looking forward to some good Healey time over the festive holiday.  I need to set up the gears on my wife's road bike having replaced the cables and sort out the stuff that I have piled into the garage over the last month or so before I start.  I'll be putting the rear wings and the boxes of bits from Norfolk into my in-law's shed, and then onto the main event.  I have a plan and everything I need to execute it which is better still.  First of all I am going to fit the front shroud which will require welding the last part of the chassis back on, the front vertical section with the bonnet hinges.  Then the wings, then the A posts for the door hinges, then the doors, then the rear wings.  Then all I'll need to do is paint it and fit it up.  Simple.  I think I may have had too many glasses of pop over the past few weeks.

On a more serious note the wing man (thank you), suggested that I have the wings dipped rather than sand blasted as it is less damaging and I think he has a point.  So I need to find somewhere to get them dipped near London.  Dad used to get internal house doors and cast iron radiators dipped locally but I don't remember where and I'm not sure if that is the same process I require.  I'm not worried about doing this before I use the wings to fit the doors etcetera so at least I won’t be held up by it.  Having said that though it would be best to get it out of the way, urmm, food for thought.

The only other thing I would like to sort out over Christmas is the Audi's roof which stopped working whilst we were in Rome last summer.  We pulled into a supermarket on the way back from the lake at Bracciano, if you get the chance it is worth going to, beautiful, and discovered that the roof had just stopped working.  To say I was cheesed off is an understatement.  The only reason we had sold the old car and borrowed money was to have a month in the sun with the roof down and the damn thing broke.  I managed to disable the hydraulic lift mechanism and raise and lower the roof manually for the rest of the holiday which caused the panic to subside.  I discovered on the tt forum that this is most likely to be a £70 sensor, phew.  However, to find out which sensor I need to patch the car up to the Audi software which is not easy, that or I could hand it over to a dealer/specialist and pay about £400 to get it fixed and I can't be doing that now can I?  How can I be rebuilding a Healey and give up on a roof sensor on the tt, especially at an extra cost of £300 plus.  My wife and I could have a couple of nights out at the Oxo tower for that and as we haven't been there since I chucked in the sales job and became a teacher, so that is a no.  Having returned from Italy and back to the life of a teacher I decided to wait until I got the car serviced to get the reading from the software.  The specialist Audi garage,  motorcontinental.co.uk, in Crouch End did a good job and were really easy to deal with however, I didn't realise that the fact that I had disabled the hydraulics would be the first and only fault that shows up so I am none the wiser.   I have since discovered that my old pal Rob at K-Max, www.kmaxmot.co.uk, has the software required so I intend to get to Barnet and see him over the next two weeks.  I'll keep you posted.

Having had a bit of a cold I have been hiding in front of the fire for the last two weeks.  I did get back into the garage today though and continued work on replacing the brake and gear cables on my wife's road bike.  The Healey has been ignored.  However I have made a big step forward today as my wife and I took a trip north to meet a man who had some wings for sale.  He was very amusing from the start, feigning surprise at the notion that one could go Healey parts shopping with his wife.  He was also very knowledgeable having owned, restored and worked in the Healey world.  Most importantly he had a set of useable wings which he sold me, excellent.  We had a great conversation about a wide variety of things to consider whilst rebuilding a 100 and I learnt a lot in a few minutes.  We’ll be borrowing my Mother in law’s Rav4 again to collect them over the Christmas holiday which should be good. 

It feels like I needed a good turn on the motoring front as I have had an awkward couple of days.  Firstly I got a speeding ticket from Ireland following a recent visit to Limerick to see Simon.  Then I got a £65 penalty charge notice from Islington, the second in a month, for parking the scooter on a pavement.  The last one was for riding in a bus lane.  Naturally my wife was confused as to why I had been parked on Holloway Road on the way to work so I had to explain that I had a secret.  I’ve gotten into the habit of buying a little egg and bacon baguette on the way to work.  This she found amusing but not the fact that I have picked up £200 worth of fines in the last four weeks.  Oh well, I guess that kicks the breakfast into touch for a while, perhaps my tummy will be better off for it?

I am hoping that I can get the Healey some way forward over Christmas as I should be able to get a few days in the garage an d when the wings are here they will allow me to start getting the show seriously on the road.

Hello from North Norfolk on a lovely day.  Here to retrieve some of the Healey 100 parts, particularly the shroud, doors and the one wing I have.

This is the stuff, stuck in the corner of the garage where it has been for too many years.

Some of the original boxes that the car came in.

Some of the panels ready for loading.  Note the original door with the panel that the hinges bolt to still attached as the door literally fell off the car.

I'm glad that my Mother in-law won't see this until the car has been cleared out (thanks).

And ready to hit the road back to London with the shroud providing a an extra bit of down force.

I had some good finds and some not so good.  I thought for example that I had no fuel gauge but found one.  However, I thought I had a full set of windscreen components but realised that I am missing one of the brackets that fits between the shroud and the wing to take the bottom of the windscreen when it folds down flat and all that stuff looks horrifically expensive, oh well.  I had loads of bits that had no meaning to me what so ever, still I guess that is going to be part of the adventure.

Now I just have to do a bit, watch this space...

A quiet week on the Healey front.  Managed to look at the cost of hinges and found that they are about £50-£60 plus for second hand items so decided I needed to resurrect the items I had.  I looked on Ahead 4 Healeys web site and couldn't see a separate bush/pin set to decided against stripping it into its various components.  So back in the garage and despite having been soaked in lubricant for a week the hinge was locked solid.  I didn't want to go down the big hammer road because I thought it might be a tad brittle so I resorted to the Oxy-Acetylene heat it and hope method.  It worked.  Now both hinges are free and awaiting a door and an A-post to mount to.

I am getting the parts back from Norfolk this weekend which will give me plenty to do.  Although it does mean missing ths classic car show but one can't have everything. 

Well I am having trouble uploading the videos so I will post some photos while I keep trying.

Following the two days I got in the garage I managed to sort out the rear shroud and replace the footwell outer panel. 

The shroud sits much better on the inner wings after I removed the near side inner wing and shaved about 1cm off the wheel arch and replaced the inner wing.  It still needs some minor adjustment but it is much better than it was before I had a go at it.  Feel pleased about that but conscious that until I fit the wings and doors I won't know if it is the correct place, still a step in the right direction.

Here you can see the near side section of the shroud and whilst it is sitting above the inner wing it does actually fit well when encouraged to do so.

Here the off side section is shown sitting really well on the inner wing. 

I spent the second day of half term replacing the outer footwell panel.



So, Tuesday night now and I'm in the garage and doing a typical repair job on my work bike which is stopping me working on the Healey.  I'm a little on the chubby side now so need the 8 mile cycle to work every day otherwise I'll be buying new clothes to keep my belly hidden.  It is only a puncture repair which doesn't take long but is seems that it is one thing after another that keeps me away from the car.

I have got most of the parts for the Healey at Mum's house in Norfolk because I don't have much storage space in London.  The only parts I have are one of the original doors fittings and the hinges are shown.  As I plan to fit the door hinge support posts next I figure it is a good time to get these out and ready.  I note that the left hand hinge is broken but am not convinced that it won't go again.  However, the broken hinge is also locked solid.  You can see some of the Healey Blue paint on these items which is the original colour and my favourite for the rebuilt car.  So I start by freeing up the right hand hinge and cleaning them both up.

Having cleaned the hinge I can see that they have brass bushes and a solid pin holding them together.  These pins are held in place by a punch mark.  I am not sure how this is possible as the bodies look like cast metal and that I would have thought is both hard and brittle.  At the moment I don't know how much the hinges cost or if I can buy the components individually.  So I'll have a look and decide if I should have a go at removing the pin to clean it up.  The other hinge has freed after a little lubrication.  Some thought is required.

I have been able to borrow my Mother in law's car to travel to Norfolk to get some of the parts that I need to move forward.  These are the second original door, the two new doors and the single rear wing that I bought on eBay and the shroud.  I need a pair of wings for the front and one for the rear and despite looking on eBay for the past 3 years I have failed to obtain them.  I have a few contacts to try and I have posted a wanted add to the owners club so I'll have to sit and wait.  In an ideal world I would like aluminium wings as the doors, shrouds and the off-side rear wing that I have are all aluminium.  It also doesn't rust, something that really appeals.  However, they are unbelievably expensive and I am not the Bank of England so old metal ones will have to do.  Mind you, the repair panels are expensive too so even this isn't going to be cost effective route.  Still, fingers crossed.

Ok, these videos show where I am now, enjoy:

Hello,

I am a car enthusiast who has longed for an Austin Healey 100 since I went for a ride in one when I was 17, almost 30 years ago.  A chap in my road had a green 100 and I would take the dog for a walk and just stop and stare at the car, so much so that one day he came out to speak with me and took me for a ride in it with the roof off and screen laid flat.  I vividly remember feeling as if my smile was being extended from ear to ear by the wind.  I also remember us having to stop in Cockfosters because a short from one of the batteries caused a small fire.  I was in love with the 100 from that time.  Fast forward almost 30 years and I find myself rebuilding my very own 1954 100 BN1.  The only real issue is that it is taking ages.  3.5 years to date and I have got nowhere near far enough.  I bought the car in boxes from a chap in Southampton who realised he'd never get it done.




The 100 as seen in Southampton with the new chassis next to it (the guy had a garage to die for)

 

It came with a new chassis which he had galvanised and a engine that had been rebuilt.  I have no knowledge of who made the chassis or indeed if it is accurate or what had been done to the engine but couldn't resist the car and bought it.  That was 5 years ago and since then I spent a long time finishing the Luego Velocity kit car I was building so the Healey didn't actually get into my garage until April 09.



The 100 being transported to M&Ds for storage after the purchase





The 100 being transported back to London for the rebuild



 I started the work quite eagerly but I look back now and realise that I have been the master procrastinator consequently I have decided to create this blog with the aim of keeping me focused on the task in hand.