I spent a few days painting and absolutely loved it.  I even like the colour now.

Naturally I have started to procrastinate.  I spent a lot of the week working on the Triumph (I have attempted to make the spoked wheel tubeless by sealing the spokes, I fired the tyres today and am awaiting a proper test but so far so good) when really I should have done more on the Healey.  I have the engine mounts fitted and have replaced the flywheel.  Next job is the clutch and then to connect the gearbox.  Once done it is time to fit the engine.


The reason for procrastinating is that I don't really want to take the car off the trolley but I don't think I will be able to get the engine in if I don't.  Oh damn, time to procrastinate some more.

On Sunday I managed to get the car out and access the engine, I removed the sum and fitted the oil pump.

I decided to grind the sump down and paint it.  I had bought POR15 in Austin Healey engine green some time ago.  It reminds me of the colour of my Action Man clothes and tanks from childhood days.

Now you may wonder why I have two oil pumps in pieces.

Well, when I went looking for the green paint I opened this plastic bag in the boot of the car and discovered a complete oil pump with a drive shaft.  I couldn't believe it.  I had been hounding John for ages to pick up the oil pump drive shaft and I had one all along.   I sent him an email asking if I can send it back, he was remarkably cool about it.  It means I have a spare oil pump housing which I will sell when the funds get painfully tight.

Today I turned my attention to the core plugs whilst waiting for the sump paint to dry.  Now I have been watching YouTube videos for ages on doing this as I have never done it before and it felt a little daunting.  At one point a few months back I saw an American fitting core plugs to a tractor and he used a funky looking sealer in addition to the plugs themselves; I liked the look of it and found via eBay that I could get some for not too much money and did so.

First one in.

Hammered with a punch to secure.





























One side completed and looking good.  This was a satisfying job.





























This was the American sealer, it is very mean if you get it on your skin.

I took the Triumph to see John this morning and it was a lovely ride to Hitchen from London via lots of country roads.  It was, as it always is, a please to be with John.  I collected the oil pump drive shaft and some bolts to connect the gearbox and engine together then headed back.

In the garage I built up the oil pump but didn't fit it as it was raining (August in London) so I couldn't take the car out of the garage to get at the engine.  I turned my attention to the fuel pump.  I couldn't get it going at all at first so forced the points with a screw driver to get it working.  Having established that it did work I then spent a lot of time working on the various settings to try and make it better.  I discovered that if I loosened the bolts that hold the base of the pump to the diaphragm then it worked really well.  I'm leaving it at this stage for now and will investigate it a bit more later on.

Back in London and in the garage at last.  It should be noted that the schools GCSE results were good so I can spend a week in the garage in peace.

I get in the garage  today and empty the stuff that had been stored there such as the dogs bed and so on.  Then I sort the bike out; this is very important.

OK, so I am fat following a long period of eating and drinking too much so I need to do some exercise in addition to going on a diet.  I haven't used the bike for ages, easily over a year.  So I needed to clean it and service it.

Job done then onto the Healey.

I started with the exhaust manifold for some strange reason.  I have no idea why but I modified the plate that John had given me and then painted it.  I also cleaned up the threads of the studs on the manifold.

I then looked at the petrol pump.  I needed to get my computer into the garage and study in detail the various files I have on the pump.  I eventually got it sorted.

Once completed I tried to test it only to find that the battery was flat, blast.

Tomorrow I am off to see John which should be good.

Being a teacher makes this a difficult time of year to work on the car.  At the end of June and into July there are several events that occur that mean that I am away from the garage at weekends.  And then comes the holiday itself which entails at least 4 weeks away.  This is, naturally, very enjoyable but absolutely useless for the Healey.  I have made myself useful though by bringing the manual with me and scouring the internet for research on all things Healey.  Healey6.com has an amazing amount of information for example and I am about half way through the 480 pages of Don Hardies Healey 100 information articles.

The other thing I have done is see John about some of the parts I need and agreed to see him again when I get back to England in a few weeks.  I have also ordered a load of odds and sods from AH4H so that when I get back I can get on with the engine clean up and install.  The order includes a set of core plugs which is somewhat frustrating as I know I have them but cannot locate them anywhere.  What troubles me about that is the likelihood that other parts exist with them wherever they are; I haven't exactly got a lot of storage space though so I am foxed by it.

On my last post I mention that there is a hole in the bock that looks like something should be placed there and indeed something should.  I discovered from the AH-Exp site that a tube goes there and I do have it, so that is good.

I ordered about £150 worth of bits from AH4H and have about £300 worth of stuff on my shopping list for future orders but I have no more money as I still owe John some for the bits he has supplied.  I guess I'll be ordering stuff every month for ages now.

The plan is:

Fit the oil pump and get the sump back on
Paint the engine
Install the engine
Finish the dashboard and fit that
Finish the fuel system (i.e. the feed from the tank and the fuel pump)
Fit the gauges
Fit the wiring
start the engine

Simple plan.  How long will that take I wonder?  On the basis that I need at least 3 months to save up for the bits I know I need I guess I could set a target of Christmas for it.  Perhaps I can have a stainless steel exhaust for Christmas?

But for now it is back to the research and the dreaming, happy days.