Those who’ve dropped by the shop will notice that the open stairway is now enclosed. The crew has been in this week hanging plywood and extending sheetrock all the way to the ceiling. Upstairs…
… the sheetrock is covering the walls in what will eventually be a meeting place for shop discussions and club meetings. Here at UK Motorsports, we desire to maintain a respectable appearance.
The Healey in the shop at this time needs some repair to the control head that contains the turn signal switch and the horn. 3000’s use an arrangement in which a stator tube runs through the center of the steering column and carries the wiring for the turn signals and horn. It makes a pretty steering column and an arduous fix. Take a look at the below pictures for more information…
Here is our patient. It’s a looker.
Here is the front of the control head that mounts in the center of the steering wheel. The wire running out the bottom goes through the tube that runs through the steering column.
View from the back.
Here is the stator tube lying on the workbench. It’s the silver tube that goes all the way from the left of the picture to the right of the picture in the middle of the page. Double click any of these images for a larger view. I will try to get a photograph of the assembly once it’s back on the car.
We finished up the green Healey so we could bring in the next one. Here is another 3000 on which Chip will wield the UK Motorsports tools. The car is in good shape, so the list is mainly on-going maintenance. We’ll fill in the specifics once the wrenches start turning.
We were glad to get this rocker arm assembly for the TR4 motor Dean is putting together, as the assembly was lost in shipping. It took a while for Chip to track them to an errant address, but he did it. Now, Dean can bolt them on the top end. We’ll keep you updated.
Dean has added some accessories to the TR4 engine rebuild we’re doing. He’s just waiting on rockers at this point. Once those are in place, the engine is complete.
If you’ve been keeping up with the incremental improvements to the TR6, the new cylinder head is on with everything else and it’s back under power. Now, we have to reschedule an appointment with the dyno to see the improvement.
Chip has installed the new cylinder head on the TR6 in preparation for another dyno run. He also painted it black to match the rest of the motor. Once he gets the new numbers, we’ll report back.
When we last left the Healey, Chip was mired under the dash fooling with the Heater Control Valve. That task is all complete and the interior is all back together. Once we get the distributor back from Jeff Schlemmer’s Advanced Distributors, we’ll bolt it on and it will be ready to go. As a recap, we have done the following for the Healey: adjust the tappets and replace the valve cover gasket, check the compression and replace the plugs, install a spin-on oil filter adapter, change the oil and filter, replace the battery and terminals, replace the shifter boot, replace the transmission fluid with MTL, replace missing intake manifold nuts, install missing fender hardware to eliminate a fender squeak, the aforementioned heater control valve and new coolant, remove and replace speedo cable and clean the angle drive, fix a seized door striker and replace some missing door hardware, new tie rods, and replace the transmission check cover. Pictures? Glad you asked.
New Block Water Coolant Outlet Valve
Spin-On Oil Filter Adapter
Old Tie Rods (Seals were Dry-Rotted)
New Battery Terminal
New Fender Hardware
As part of the TR6 tuning process, Chip has sent an old TR6 head out to be cut down slightly and flowed. Once he swaps the head onto the motor, he can report the difference on the dyno between the old and new. We’ll have the exact specs for the new head so everyone can evaluate it to see if it’s worth it for their particular situation. Pics of the head as it came back from the machine shop.
The machine shop reported some nice improvement on the flow bench, so we’ll see what it gets us at the wheels.
We are in process on a TR4 that is in the shop. The latest order of business was to check out the extent of some rot in the battery box area. As you can see from the photo below, some new metal will be necessary.
After we converse with the owner, we’ll commence cutting out the old to put in the new. The front suspension on this car has already been rebuilt, and the motor is almost ready to go as well.