Chapter 35 Restoration Assembly, Week Two 12/24/2006

Because of family schedules we celebrated Christmas (gift giving) on Christmas Eve this year, so Monday, Christmas afternoon was devoted to garage work on the Healey. I continued with the installation of the Dynamat Extreme and finished the right side pedal assembly box. I will wait until a little later to finish the dynamat in the interior. The blanking plates were next: one plate with screw clip nuts for the right side master cylinders, 2 plates to cover the steering shaft holes for RHD (one in engine compartment and one in the interior), and finally two plates with the hole for the steering shaft grommet on the left side of the car for LHD cars (again one in the engine compartment and one in the interior). I painted all the flat washers and screw heads for the plate installations.

Blanking Plate 1

I then fastened each of the hot air outlet interior door assemblies and thebulkhead flange bezel. Followed by the fuse block, the double clip for the clutch and brake lines from the masters to the fluid reservoir, the flasher canister and the new flasher relay.

Bulkhead Flange Bezel

 

Vent Doors

Fuse Block and Oil Gauge Line

Well, it is a new day and I am ready for some new challenges. I will get started on the battery cable from British Car Specialists and the wiring harness from British Wiring, Inc. I pushed the harness through the firewall grommet from the interior and separated the strands. I decided to focus on the under car runs first, so after jacking up the car on stands I installed the harness wire that goes to the boot for the fuel pump, fuel sender and rear lights. I skipped the clip attachment to the bump box until I have the rear axle in place.

Wiring Harness 4

Wiring Harness 5

Next I shifted my attention to the battery cable. I got it in place and quit for the day. Tomorrow will be dedicated to connecting the harness under the bonnet and in the boot.

Battery Cable 1

Battery Cable to Starter Solenoid

Harness left side

Wednesday was a good day. I started with the harness on the left side of the car. I secured the harness in the engine compartment with the appropriate zinc fastening clips and connected the wires to the fuse block, the flasher canister, connected and then threaded the dip switch mini-harness through the firewall, connected and threaded the mini-harness for the wiper motor through the firewall, connected the eight wires to the flasher relay box, and connected the front lamp pigtails and routed the harness through the front of the car.

Fuse Block & flasher

Flasher relay

Then I shifted to the right side of the wiring harness. I modified the voltage regulator box to accommodate wiring for an alternator. This is done by cutting out the connectors in the back of the box and then connecting the three brown wires to the same post, and the two yellow wires together to another post.

Harness front view

I then connected the harness to the starter solenoid, and routed the wire down the right side support. Feeders to the ignition, alternator, brake switch, and heater blower route off of the primary harness.

Voltage Box

Harness Right Side

Solenoid Wiring_2

I finished the afternoon installing the battery master switch in the boot. I heard complaints from too many about the original switch so I changed to a modern variant and modified it to fit in the original housing.

Battery Master Switch

Boot Battery Cables

Boot Wiring

I then connected the ground strap, added a few rubber grommets, and routed the wiring to the back of the carwhere a rear lighting harness was connected and fastened with two zinc clips. All-in-all it was a productive day!

Back to the garage the next day, I installed my modified horn brackets and the horns. These are not the proper horns, but at least I got them painted the right color. I used Duplicolor E8800957 “Seattle Silver,” a Honda color, I believe.

horn brackets red LH

horn brackets red RH

Horn painted

They used metric 7mm bolts. Then I installed the little bracket for the bonnet release, the remote control rod support bracket as well as the hydraulic fluid reservoir bracket.

bonnet release rod bracket

fluid reservoir bracket

The bonnet hinges were the next items to install. I greased the clevis pins and used stainless split pins.

Bonnet Hinge

Two big items in my storage bins were the Smiths heater blower and the Cape International interior heater I will be using to upgrade the heating system in the car. The Cape unit, in addition to improved heating efficiency also has a two speed fan. More details are available in the Heating/Cooling section of the website. I went ahead and installed these two items just to make a dent in my storage container!

heater blower 1

Cape heater 2

One thing I wanted to get done early in assembly before tiny spaces got crowded was the installation of the wiper motor assembly rubber grommets. These are a pain to get in, but a little liquid dish soap and muscle did the trick.

Wiper Motor grommets

Chapter 10 – Disassembly

August 17, 2002

Brake and Clutch Master Cylinders –  Loosened lines from cylinders. The brake line from the master cylinder to the 4 way junction has 3 clips and fasteners to the union facing the master cylinder (left side of the car). The clutch line also has three clips: 1 by the solenoid, and 2 on the firewall (high). 

Loosen the 1/2” bolts securing the clutch master cylinder. Pull the cotter pin on the master cylinder shaft to the pedal. Remove the master cylinder. Same procedure for the brake master cylinder. There are aluminum spacers on the top of each master cylinder between the cylinder and the body.

Master Cylinders

Brake Pipe Junction 1

Pedal Box Connections

Pedal Box Bolts

Pedal Box (Pedal Lever Bracket) 

Loosen two 1/2” bolts to remove pedal box mechanism. The box is painted black. Unit will then drop out.

Pedal Box 1

Pedal Box 2

Headlamp Dip Switch Wiring – Pulled the wiring through the pedal box with rubber grommet.

Dipper switch wiring

Dip Switch Wiring

Bulkhead Fresh Air Flange – Removed three phillips head screws securing the fresh air hose flange. Removed flange.

Air Tube Mounting

Brake Lines

The Brake Lines – fittings were loosened at the 4 way brake union to left front wheel – 2 clips at front cross bar to the front bottom union facing front of car at the junction.  Removed right front brake line from junction to right wheel – top union on junction facing front of the car.

LF Brake Lines

Front Center Brake Lines

Brake Junction

Brake Junction connections

Brake Junction Fitting

Brake Junction 3

Brake 4 Way Union & Pressure Switch – Removed the Union by loosening one 7/16” bolt to frame. Two wires must be disconnected. Green goes to terminal closest to the engine. The green with pink stripe wire goes to the terminal closest to the frame. One clip holds wiring harness extension to the brake junction located just above the junction mounting post.

Brake Pressure Switch Wiring

Master Cylinder Sealing Plate (blanking) –  Removed the Plate on the right side of the car. Four Phillips head sheet metal screws. The plate had tar paper on back to seal it. Four clip nuts are used to hold the screws.

Right Sealing Plate

Right Sealing Plate 3

Right Sealing Plate 2

Starter Solenoid. 

Disconnected the wiring for the starter solenoid. The terminal closest to the engine is for the high tension line from the battery. The terminal closest to the body is or the cable to the starter and the brown ignition wire. The white wire with the red stripe goes to the terminal on top.

Starter Solenoid Wiring

Starter Solenoid 2

Starter Solenoid connections 2 & Clutch Pipe Clip

Blanking Bolts – Removed 2 blanking bolts in upper right footwell. Remove two blanking bolts in engine compartment to frame.

Right blanking bolts

Right footwell Blanking Bolts

Steering Wheel Blanking Plate – Removed the blanking plate on right side of car. Located behind the asbestos insulation. Four sheet metal screws.

Slave Cylinder

Loosened one nut where hydraulic hose joins frame.

Slave Cylinder connection to Frame Clip

Slave Cylinder Mounting with Clip and shake proof washer

Fuel Line – Loosened the fuel line from the carb feed line and the fuel pump. Three to four clips run along the frame rail from carbs to fuel pump.

Wiring Harness – Carefully pulled the wiring harness from front firewall to the rear of the car. Approximately 10 screws through clips on frame. Also two screws and clips through asbestos insulation securing the harness.

Right wiring clamp

Voltage Box wiring

Wiring Clamps on Insulation 3

Firewall wiring clamp

Overdrive switch – Wiring connections: Left terminal – white/purple stripe. Middle terminal – 2 white/green stripe wires. Right terminal – 2 solid white wires. Bottom terminal – black wire from harness.

Firewall wiring harness

Overdrive relay

Relay wiring

Throttle Switch – Bottom terminal – white/ purple stripe wire. Top terminal – White/green stripe wire. See above.

Fuse Block – After disconnecting the wiring to the block, two #10 machine screws were loosened to release the block from the firewall. 

Fuse Block wiring

Fuse Block and relay

Voltage Regulator – Five terminals. Far left form driver’s perspective, labeled #1 with far left #5. 1 – black ground from adjacent screw. 2 – 2 solid yellow wires. 3 – 1 yellow/green stripe wire. 4 – 2 solid brown wires. 5 – 1 large brown/blue stripe wire. Note that there are three black ground wires to the adjacent firewall screw.

Voltage Box wiring

Voltage Box

Voltage Box (2)

Number Identification Plates – from the firewall. Both are secured with small chrome sheet metal screws.

ID Plates 3

ID Plate 1

ID Plate 2

Throttle Linkage – Four 7/16” bolts holding shaft under tunnel. Very hard to get to. Disconnect at pedal linkage. Remove accelerator pedal – two large pozi-drive screws. Remove throttle shaft locator collar from engine compartment wall, two screws and nuts.

Throttle Linkage 1

Throttle Linkage 2

Throttle Linkage 3

Throttle Linkage 6

Throttle Linkage 5

Throttle Linkage 4

Throttle Linkage 7

Accelerator collar

Accelerator pedal to firewall

 

 

Chapter 5 – Disassembly

June 29, 2002

Final Interior Dismantling

Gearbox tunnel and extension cover. Both were rusted badly and were discarded. I learned later as I was fitting new parts that I should not have violated the restorer’s rule: Never throw anything away until the project is complete!

Gearbox tunnel and extension cover

Fresh Air cover plate and screen on left (driver’s) side. Three self threading screws.

Parcel tray on passenger side. Four self tapping screws on the firewall. Three self tapping screws on the right side wall. One screw and nut into left side to hanging support bar. Then removed the parcel support bar with one screw and nut at top.

Parcel Tray Support brace.

Steering Wheel Shaft Blanking Plate on the right side. Note larger “painted washers” and self tapping screws. Felt gasket found on reverse side of the plate.

Steering Wheel Blanking Plate

Steering Wheel Shaft Blanking Plate Felt Gasket

Two Blanking Screws into captive nuts in firewall on passenger side that just fill holes similar to the driver’s side. These were not painted.

Large Wiring Harness Rubber Grommet in center of firewall. Then removed firewall tarpaper in center of firewall. Note the rubber insulation around the heater box hole and along the seam that would otherwise leak air.

Heat Insulation (tar paper) on firewall

Firewall Grommet

Heater Channel Opening

Center Panel Firewall “Tarpaper.” After removing the firewall “tarpaper” that is in three pieces I numbered the holes:

#1 – Bonnet release rod grommet

#2 – Blank Cover grommet

#3 – Grommet

#4 – Brake Line clip

#5 – Grommet

#6 – Grommet

#7 – Nut

#8 – Nut

#9 – Brake Line Clip

#10 – 1 Nut, 2 grommets Wiper motor

#11 – 2 Nuts

#12 – Nut

#13 – Nut

#14 – Nut

#15 – Nut

#16 – Main wiring harness to dash

#17 – Blank Cover Grommet

#18 – Nut

#19 – Nut

#20 – Nut

#21 – Grommet 

Left Panel Firewall “tarpaper”:

#22 – H2O temp. line

#23 – Oil line

#24 – Nut

Small Blanking Rubber Grommets under the heater opening in firewall. 

Blanking Rubber Grommets

Right Bonnet Hinge cotter pin and 4 washers. The thin washers go closest to the hinge. The nuts go to the inside of the bonnet.

Bonnet Hinge Fixing

Bonnet Hinge

Speedometer Cable at “L” junction to the gearbox.

Speedometer Cable to Gearbox

Clutch Pedal from pedal bar – two nuts. The nuts go to the right side. Removed the Brake pedal from pedal bar – two nuts with nuts to the right side. I noticed at this point that some primatively cut spacers had been added to the pedals for a short-legged driver!

Clutch Pedal

Clutch Pedal Spacer

Pedal Spacers

Floor Dip Switch with two bolts to the fixed nuts in floor. 3 wires: red/blue, blue/white, all blue.

Dip Switch Wiring and Bracket

Dip Switch

Heater Vents on both driver and passenger side below dash. Four self tapping screws in each

Heater Fresh Air Vent Door

July 2, 2002

Engine

Fan and fan belt – Loosened 4 bolts and washers and removed the fan and fan belt.

Fan and Fan Belt

Wiring to the coil –  CB Terminal – White with black stripe from/to the distributor body and white with black stripe from harness that goes to the generator. SW Terminal – Large solid white wire from harness to generator.

Coil Wiring

Generator – Removed 2 bolts and nuts and adjusting bracket with self-locking nut. F Terminal – yellow/green stripe wire from harness. D Terminal – Large solid yellow wire connected to large spade.

Dynamo – Generator

Generator Adjustable Mounting Bracket

Generator Wiring

Distributor –  Removed two 7/16” bolts – note position of distributor and vacuum advance. Numbered each wire to the correct cylinder. Disconnect vacuum line and oil feed line to the tachometer drive.

Distributor Wiring

Distributor

Distributor Cap

Distributor Mounting Clamp

Oil Filter –  Removed two large bolts to the engine block.

Oil Filter Mount

Oil Filter

Starter and Solenoid  Disconnected solenoid to starter lead cable. Loosen two 9/16” bolts accessed through the interior bulkhead and under car.

Starter

Starter Solenoid

Starter Solenoid Wiring

Starter Cover

Engine mounts – Removed 4 bolts from right front to frame. Then removed left side.

Engine to frame Mount

Ground strap –  Disconnected the strap from the frame.

Oil pressure line –  Disconnected the line at top union near intake manifold.

Oil Pressure Line Disconnect

Breather pipe –  Disconnected the pipe at the “T” junction on the rocker cover.

Breather Pipe Disconnect