Austin Healey 3000 Mk III BJ8 Overdrive Hydraulics by Mark Schneider

The heart of the Laycock de Normanville overdrive is the hydraulic system.  Inside the overdrive case is a small pump that is driven by a cam on the main shaft.  The pump produces 450-500 psi of hydraulic pressure.   If the system is not maintained properly or contaminants or dirt are introduced during a rebuild the car owner is asking for trouble.  Small dirt particles can foul and block tiny hydraulic passages in the system.

An important component in the hydraulic system is the accumulator piston and its housing (Figure 1). The piston and housing in the photograph were removed from  my BJ8 overdrive after 118,400 faithful miles.

I have owned the car for 39 years and in all those years   the overdrive has never failed.  It has always has engaged and disengaged smartly when the OD switch was thrown or when I depressed the accelerator to pass a slower Ferrari or Jag.  However, close inspection of these critical overdrive components during a recent tear down and rebuild of the driveline components revealed significant damage.  In Figure 1 the scoring of the inner housing bore and similar damage done to the piston are obvious.   Although I have routinely changed the oil and was careful to avoid introducing contaminants the accumulator items were badly worn.  It was clear that new units were required.

Note that the piston seen in Figure 1 has a series of metal rings located in a groove near the bottom of the piston.  The piston and rings were purchased from Moss Motors as separate pieces and require assembly.  There are a total of 6 rings cast iron rings.  The rings are brittle and can break easily.  Therefore the installation of the rings requires some care and finesse.  The ring set consists of two wide rings that are installed on the piston first and line the bottom of the groove.  These are followed by four narrower rings which rest on top of the two inner rings.  The next step requires great care and patience, that is, inserting the ringed piston in the near zero tolerance of the accumulator housing bore.  It is necessary to compress the rings so the outside diameter exactly matches the inner diameter of the housing bore.  It is also necessary to align the piston precisely in line with the longitudinal axis of the housing as the piston is inserted into the bore.  Failing this will ensure a binding situation that can put stress on the fragile rings and may result in breakage.  Trust me on this one.   Although the top of the housing bore is chamfered as an aid to compressing the rings and guiding the piston into the housing, it didn’t work for me.

When my gearbox/OD project arrived at this juncture I conducted a little research.  I read the workshop manual and studied the overdrive material on John Sims’ excellent website, www.healey6.com.  Unfortunately, there was no description of a technique for the installation of the ringed piston into the accumulator housing.  However, some automatic transmissions contain similar piston/housing components and face a like challenge during a rebuild.  A visit to a transmission shop produced the small piece of tubing seem in the lower left corner of  Figure 1.

The metal ring in the figure has an ID of   28.65 mm, slightly large than the 28.45 mm bore of the housing.   I used the ring to compress the piston rings and then to insert the piston and rings into the accumulator housing.  The following process works well and minimizes stressing the fragile rings.  First, I chamfered the inner and outer edges of one end of the metal ring.   Then I inserted the piston into the metal ring until the first ring touched the chamfer. Using two long needles I compressed the first ring until the gap in the ring was closed, then I applied a small amount of  finger pressure  to the bottom of the piston causing the first ring to slide into the metal ring.  I repeated this ring compression three more times and left a small portion of the piston bottom protruding from the metal ring.  The protruding piston bottom served to center the package directly over the center line of the housing bore and provided a visual clue to the alignment of the piston relative the housing.  Finally, pressure was applied to the piston as it slipped from the ring and into the housing without any of the rings being allowed to re-open and interfere with a smooth insertion.

Found this a www.healey6.com. Link is to the pdf. If you visit the site there is a lot of other technical articles. But turn off your speakers. The site is full of obnoxious sound effects (imho).

AUSTIN HEALEY BJ8 SMITHS
ELECTRONIC TACHOMETER
INSTRUCTIONS FOR REBUILDING THE
ELECTRONICS

http://www.healey6.com/Technical/Rebuild%20BJ8%20Tach.pdf

Here are some more parts for sale: Rear crankshaft oil seal conversion for 6 cylinder Healeys – $90. Moss sells for $114.95; 100-6 engine block with main caps $60; ACL engine bearings. OEM quality. I have sizes in .010 and .020 for both rods and mains. Rod bearings – $63 per set. Main bearings – $68 per set.

Call Richard @ home 503.224.1260 or office @ 503.282.1596

The Cascade Austin Healey Club lost a valuable member and friend yesterday, Tuesday April 14.   Our long time member and friend, Jim Slostad passed away in recovery after open heart surgery to replace a valve. Arlene is surrounded by family and we all want to wish her well and to let her know she is in our hearts and prayers. Please refrain from calling her for now as she has much to handle right now. Arlene is consulting with family on funeral arrangements and we will let you know what is decided as soon as it is available.

In the meantime, please remember Jim as we all knew him as a very outgoing friend who was always there for us when ever there was anything he could help us with. It is our turn now to help Arlene and to give her all the support we can.

Phil Daniels
President, CAHC

Hi everyone,
I’ve pulled together some photos of Jim from over the last 3 years, and they’re in one set at the link below. To help us remember the good times… The shots in the tuxedo are from our daughter’s wedding in Sept ’06, when he borrowed his brother’s car and drove the newlyweds to their hotel, in character for the 1930s theme.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tesla314mom/sets/72157616820469358/

In sorrow,
Beckie Daniels

Here are some things Richard Mayor has for sale. A 100-4 rear shroud, completely stripped, in very good condition. – $500; a Sprite rib-case transmission, becoming very difficult to find, has a bad 3rd gear – $90.

Call Richard, home 503-224-1260 or office 503-282-1596

Click “read more” to view photos.

I have updated the login process.  The login form now is displayed in the site’s theme (instead of a “wordpress” theme.)  I have added text to the login reminding members that if they have forgotten their account username, they can email me and ask that I send it to them.  Remember, in order to see all of the site content you must log in. Click the read more link for more information on changes to the login process and how to make it easier.

Once you log in, you will be sent to the home page of the site, instead of your ‘dashboard”.  If you want to go to your “dashboard”, for example to update your profile, or change your password, you can get there by going to the home page of the site and click the “dashboard” link that is after your account name.

Some members have commented that it is too difficult to remember how to log in.  Most internet browsers have a feature called “auto complete” that will remember the username and password on the login form.  By enabling this feature, once  you have logged in, the browser will automatically fill in the username and password on the form so you will not have to remember it.  Below are some links that explain how to turn on this feature.

Internet Explorer 6

Internet Explorer 7

For Firefox 3, click the “Edit” – “Preferences” menu. Go to the “security” tab and check the “Remember passwords for sites”

Glen and Jan did an outstanding job of organizing the tour.  Jan even provided muffins and fruit for the drive out to Ken Austin’s “Hot Rod” collection in Newberg.

The tour of the collection was fascinating.  Ken Austin founded ADEC, a dental supply company.  Along the way he has collected cars ranging from early Model Fords (A, K, S, T) to Jaguar and Austin Healey.  Actually the Healey his is son’s.

You can view some photos from the outing at http://www.flickr.com/photos/37338386@N04/sets/72157616582954239/show/. I’ll also be posting a video of Ken talking about the cars soon.

In addition, there was a hard copy “history” of the Museum that I have scanned and reproduced below, for those club members who did not make the outing.

A Bit of History

Some call this a museum, but it’s actually my personal story on display. It’s a collection of cars that I once owned or cars that I only dreamed of owning when I was just a kid who liked to tinker. Some of the cars played a significant role in shaping my life and setting the course for where I am today. I have also added cars and trucks of historical value, feeling that it rounds out the exhibit, adds interest, and preserves a bit of American history.

Gasoline engines have always held a special interest for me, and even as a young boy I wanted to have a model engine or a gas powered engine. Some of our neighbors had small engines on old machinery, but we never did. When I was about seven years old, Dad gave me an old Maytag washing machine engine. We had a lot of trouble starting it, but when it ran I had  great visions of building a go-cart. That never happened, but it did teach me enough about gasoline, carburetion, and ignition that my dad let me fix up an old Fairbanks Morse 3 HP model Z engine with a buzz saw attached that he bought from a neighbor. I was about nine years old at the time, and what a thrill it was to finally get it running.

After the Pearl Harbor bombing, farmers went to repair schools to learn how to keep their equipment going during the war. Dad attended a repair school at the International Tractor dealer (Manage Implement Co.) in St. Paul, Oregon, and he let me go along with him. We had an old outboard motor that wouldn’t run, and I wanted to take it to the workshop. I’ll never forget the excitement of getting that engine to start. That experience helped teach me how to work on two cycle engines. Later we used the engine on our small boat, which I still have. Recently I found an engine like the one I fixed in 1943; I’m anxious to put the boat and motor on the river again, 63 years later.
Mr. Bennett, my freshman agriculture teacher, greatly influenced my life. He was a skilled welder and taught all of his students how to weld. Because of the war effort there wasn’t any new equipment available, so it was important to leam to weld and repair the machinery.

Mr. Bennett encouraged me because I had some success in my welding. He helped me build a rotary lawn mower in the ag shop. I talked my folks into a new Briggs and Stratton motor. I have a motor on display that reminds me of the one on the lawn mower. I am not sure whether I was more excited by the welding or the new engine.

As soon as I was 14 I got my permit to drive to school. By now I realized that I needed some money for tools and a shop, so my father purchased from me the 12 cows I had raised as a 4-H project. I bought a ’28 Chev coupe from a neighbor for $80, and with a little tinkering I had it running so I could  drive it to school. I had enough money left over from the sale of the cows to buy a gas welding set up, chain hoist, hydraulic jack, and a war surplus electric welder from the Oregon shipyard. I made an air compressor from an old refrigerator compressor and bought a paint gun. I was able to do minor repairs and some welding thanks to Mr. Bennett’s class. I charged $1 an hour plus material at cost plus 10%. That was the beginning of the Rod Shop. The original Rod Shop sign is above the door in the display room.

I kept the ’28 Chev long enough to fix it up and trade it for a 1930 Model A Ford roadster. Most of my cars were open cars because they were more fun. This was the beginning of my love for Fords.
In 1948 I built a chamieled ’31 Model A with a ’4l Ford V-8 engine in it for a classmate, Dwight Robbins. His dad was in real estate in Newberg and had money to help Dwight get a hot rod. I agreed to build the car for nothing except the understanding that we would be 50/50 owners. What a dumb idea——we never could agree on who would use the car on Saturday nights. Finally, Mr. Robbins gave me some money equal to what he had spent on parts for Dwight’s car, and Dwight and I remained friends./p>

By 1949 I had honed my painting skills and painted my ’36 Ford sedan. Again, this car came from a neighbor and it was basically a farmer’s car in fair condition. I leaded in the trunk and put in a Nash grill, which was the thing to do back in those days. That summer I painted a neighbor’s ’37 Ford roadster. This car is now part of my collection. Joan bought the car for me as a coming home present from my tour of duty in Korea.

Later I sold my ’36 Ford to help pay my way through college. I then bought a ’28 Model A roadster pickup for college and to use at the shop. This worked until spring term when I figured out it was not a girl magnet and knew I needed something that would make more of an impression. That “something” tumed out to be a white ’39 Ford convertible and it worked like a charm—Joan is proof of that!

For some strange reason, my grades in college were poor and I was always in trouble at the fraternity house. I needed to prove that I was better than I appeared, so during the summer of 1950 I set out to build my own hot rod. I  was also working a summer job at Tektronix. I used mostly parts of cars that were in the junk piles around our farm or neighbors’ farms: a Model A frame, a ’27 Model T coupe body, a ’37 Ford V-8 engine, a ’34 Plymouth front axle, a Jeep radiator, a Chevrolet steering gear, ’40 Ford rear axle and hydraulic brakes, and a ’32 Ford truck grill. The parts cost less than $200! In 1952 I took a first place engineering award at the Seattle Motor  Show. In 1953 I put in a Ford 6 OHV engine with my own fuel injection system and g ran the car at the Bonneville Salt Flats. I did not get a time on the car because of mechanical failure in the magnesium pistons I had made. However, a week later I turned 106 in drags at the Aurora airstrip.

I stayed in school, by the skin of my teeth, and took advanced pattem making and foundry classes. I was now making my own car parts. By 1954, my fifth year in college, I had four different kinds of intake manifolds, a fuel injection system, a quick—change rear end, pistons, and numerous hot rod club plaques.

So even though others may have seen my interest in cars, motors, and all things mechanical as a waste of time, all those experiences paved the way for the first dental unit, the Dec—Et, and the Tray-Cart. I made the patterns for the castings, did the welding and the machining.

Joan Zernke Austin plays a role in this history as well. I gave her a ride home from work one day in my ’27 T hot rod—the beginning of a 48-year relationship. She helped me get ready for the 1952 Bonneville speed trials at Wendover, Utah, working alongside me on the big ’51 F-8 truck engine (same as the ’51 Lincoln engine) that I put in the once-beautiful stock ’39 Ford. While I was in the Air Force serving a tour of duty in Korea, Joan bought the 1937 Ford roadster I had first painted maroon for a neighbor. (Remember my mentioning I had painted this neighbor’s car back in the days of my Rod Shop?) We painted it China Gold. We later restored it in 1974 and then painted it apple red to resemble the old car I remembered from high school.

Joan really surprised me in 1976. She tracked down our old love buggy, the ’39 Ford that we worked on together in 1952, and gave it to me as a Christmas present. An interesting piece of history about this car——it was originally owned by the Rose Festival Association and driven in the Rose Festival Parade. I was the third owner of this white convertible.

Joan and I spent 1977 and 1978 putting the ’39 back in stock condition. When I owned it previously I had installed a l95l Ford truck engine, which was a large 337 cu. in. Flathead and it was a reg hot rod. I turned  115.86 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1952. This was really a thrill.

Ken Austin
October I3, 2005

Before the Northwest Classic Rally caps off the season, the Columbia Gorge MGA club is
offering a pair of exciting rallies this spring that make a perfect tune-up for your classic car rally
skills.

Coming up on Saturday, April 25, the Columbia Gorge Spring Rally is a light half-day event
open to cars of any year. This rally begins at 8:45 AM at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville, Oregon
and takes participants through the spring countryside at a moderate pace.
Then on Saturday, June 20, the Columbia Gorge Classic is a day-long rally for classic and
vintage sports and touring cars made before 1981. The rally begins at Gran Prix Imports in
Wilsonville and runs on back roads to Astoria. Participants are invited to stay the night in Astoria
and participate in a non-competitive tour back to Portland the following day.
“Both of these events are run under the same rules as August’s Northwest Classic Rally,” says
rally chairman Reid Trummel, adding “there’s no better way to get ready for the big event than
to practice on these rallies.”
Both MGA club events and the Northwest Classic Rally are traditional format Time-Speed-
Distance rallies. The Northwest Classic is among the premier sports/touring rallies in North
America. All of these events are run at or under the posted speed limit – a rally is not a race!
Rather, they are primarily social events designed to celebrate affection for special-interest
automobiles. All you need is a reliable classic car, a clipboard, and a stopwatch to participate.
Entry fees are $15 per car for the Spring Rally, and $75 for the Columbia Gorge Classic. Walkup
entries are welcome at the Spring Rally, but the Columbia Gorge Classic entry includes event
regalia clothing, so pre-entries are encouraged.
You can find out all about the Columbia Gorge MGA Club rallies and download an entry form
for the Columbia Gorge Classic at www.columbiagorgemgaclub.org, or call rally chairman
Reid Trummel at 503-753-3700.

http://www.austin-healey.fr/Galerie%20images%20BN1/gallerieimages07.html

Owner Didier Mongin

From “Paris – France”
Healey 100 Series BN1
Car N° 225443 Year 1955