Bill Bolton sent the following announcement from Roger Moment:

Obtaining Concours Guidelines

Update for 2009

Roger Moment

October, 2008

There are some important changes regarding the Concours Guidelines for next year.

1.  George Marinos, who has served as the Concours Committee Treasurer and contact for purchasing copies of both the Big Healey and Sprite Guidelines, has decided to step down after many years of service in this capacity.   He has done a terrific job and we will all miss working with him.

2.  The new person to contact to purchase copies from is:

Mike Osipik

39 East 55^th Terrace

Kansas City, MO  64113 USA

mikeosipik@eartlink.net

816-333-2506

3.  The Guidelines will now be supplied on CD – no more hard copy.  This format will allow us to incorporate more color photographs, and greatly reduce the price.

4.  The new price structure for either the Big Healey or Sprite Guidelines, including postage, will be:

•   USA:  $20

•   Canada & Mexico:  $25

•   All other countries:  $27

If you wish to purchase both the Sprite and Big Healey versions at the same time, the additional cost for the second CD disk will just be $15 – no additional postage.

As in the past, Guidelines copies are for the use of the purchaser only, and not to be sold or otherwise distributed. 

Finally, many owners of Healeys, beyond just those preparing cars for Concours, might also consider obtaining copies, as they hold a wealth of information that can help you determine items that are correct, or not, for your car.  Many components often have been changed over time, and the more correct/original a car is when it is offered for sale, the better it will be received by prospective buyers, and the higher a price it should bring.  It also is easier (and thus less costly) for mechanics to trouble-shoot and repair a car where items are as-expected/original (based on shop manuals or parts lists).  And you may find things that you don’t think are correct may indeed be so, or even decide that you want to pick up for your car that odd tool or NOS bit you come across at swap meets.

I recently purchased the complete set of Austin Healey manuals (parts, workshop, owners manual) on CD from the Heritage Motor Centre in England and thought I would offer a review here.  Heritage Motor Centre is where you can also get a certified copy of the factory record on your Healey.  The CD may be purchased directly from Heritage Motor Centre, or from Victoria British Ltd and others.  I checked the currency conversion rates and decided to buy direct from Heritage.  I received the CD in about one week.

To quote the blurb from Victoria British, “Each CD-ROM, focusing on one model or family of models, has the same format: the original parts catalogs are followed by the workshop manuals and driver’s handbooks, all reproduced in an easy-to-use and easy-to-print PDF format. There’s never been before in one package anywhere near this level of detailed, comprehensive information about your Austin Healey! Also included on the CD-ROM is PDF reader software. (System requirements: Windows 98, Pentium 266 MHZ and 64 MB RAM.) If the tamper proof seal on the CD case is broken, it may be returned for an exchange for the same part number only.”

The key points here are two, first the CDs do not work on Windows Vista, and do not work on non-windows systems (ie Mac or Linux).  Second, the actual manuals are in PDF format.

What they don’t tell you is that the CDs are strongly copy protected.  You can not make a back-up copy of the CD.  While you can browse the CD and find the individual PDF files, you can not open them up yourself with a PDF reader because they are encrypted with a program called Hexalock.  You must view the content using the Flash based interface provided on the CD and it requires that you use the Adobe  Reader or Adobe Acrobat programs to view the PDFs.

They do provide the Reader program on the CD, although it is an old version (6.0).  The current version of Adobe Reader is 9.0.  All of this caused significant issues for me.  First of all, I wanted to read these manuals on my laptop.  But my laptop does not have a CD player.  It does have software that can read an image file made from a CD, but the copy protection that this product uses, requires special CDs and senses that you are not using the original CD.  So that did not work.

I also had problems because I have both Acrobat and Reader installed on my system.  The CD always launched Acrobat whch would display the first page of the PDF but then hang.  Now I don’t know if that is an issue with the copy protection software or with Acrobat.  But if the CD is in the player, and I have run the program to view the CD  (which loads a system service on your task bar), then I can browse the cd and manually open the PDFs in Reader.  Whew….

Now other people who only have Reader installed may be able to run and view the contents without any problems.  I’ll review the  interface later on.

But since I really want to read these publications on my laptop I went looking for a solution.  I finally found one, a program that would allow me to fool the copy protection software and save unencrypted PDF file copies.  That will let me load the PDF files onto my laptop, but I will not be able to view them via the CD interface.  That isn’t much of a concern for me.  If I want a pretty interface I can create one myself.  For now I’ll simply open the individual files with a free third party PDF reader (Foxit).

So enough of my rants.  What is the CD like?  Well it does have all of the original 3000 manuals and publications on it.  The publications you get are:

Parts Publications
3000 BN7, BT7 1959 to 1962 – Service Parts List
3000 BJ7, BJ8 1962 to 1968 – Mechanical Service Parts List
3000 BJ7, BJ8 1962 to 1968 – Body Service Parts List

Service Publications
100/6, 3000 1956 to 1968 – Workshop Manual

Owners’ Literature
3000 BN7, BT7, BJ7 1959 to 1963- Driver’s Handbook
3000 BJ8 1963 to 1968 – Driver’s Handbook

When you load the CD and launch the start program a Flash file begins to play.  Here is the first screen:

You click continue and go to:

From here you use the menu on the left to select the type of publication you are looking for.  For example, you can select workshop publications which takes you to a screen with only one publication on it.  Click on that one publication and you go to a screen that shows:

Click on the topic you want to view and the program launches Adobe Reader to view the PDF.  Note that the PDF is protected and you can not save a copy of it from the Reader.  You also can’t print the entire document out as a PDF file.  If you try to, you will get the following alert:

But you can print pages out.  Which is great because you can print the four or five pages out that you need for the task at hand and take those into your shop to work from.  This keeps your real workshop manual from getting torn and greasy.

Here is a sample of a portion of a page from a PDF:

Click for enlarged view

So there you go…. If you are a Windows user, pre Vista, this is a nice addition to your CD collection.  Even with the issues I found I am happy that I have this.

Bob Wallace

No matter what the name on the valve cover, so many British classics rely on the ubiquitous SU carburetor: Jaguar, Triumph, MG, Rover, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Morris, Austin, Sunbeam and so many more. And not only did almost every British manufacturer specify SU carburetors, but so did other companies. Volvo and Saab also used them, while Hitachi-built versions of the SU were used by Datsun.

Article describes how they work, what the model numbers mean, tuning information etc.

<– http://classicmotorsports.net/articles/simple-carbs/ –>

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

You have to watch a commercial before the show starts but its worth it. Check out the information on how to tell how old the tire is.

When we got to a certain point in the restoration of my BT7, I was asked by Tom and Geno if I wanted side mirrors mounted. My initial reaction was “No Way!” Too much time and effort was put into making the fenders perfect to drill holes in them. They suggested that I mount mirrors in the side curtain sockets instead. Since I don’t drive the car in inclement weather (not by choice anyway) and I don’t have side curtains (or a top for that matter) it seemed like a perfect solution.

At the last club event several participents admired my mirrors so I thought I would describe how to do this. I wish it was a difficult task, but it isn’t. They really just bolt on.

First here are some photos of the mirrors on the car.

While not a classic look, I think they look right at home. They are motorcycle mirrors. It took a while to find somewhere to buy ones that I liked. I started by looking around in the local motorcycle shops. There were some great looking mirrors, but I really did not want the words “Harley Davidson” on my Healey. Most of the mirrors I found were branded. So I went on-line to look.

I found these at http://www.bargainbikergear.com/. They had quite a selection. These were not too expensive (under $40 per mirror).

They fit either right or left hand and come with an assortment of different length mounting bolts. Here is a picture of the pieces.
There are only three pieces. The mirror, a nylon washer and an allen head bolt. You have to supply the allen wrench. So installation is a snap. Slide the bolt up through the side curtain socket, put the nylon washer over it, and then screw on the mirror.

Here is a photo that shows all the pieces installed:

Thats all there is to it.

Dated 2005

Well, I have been putting off the task of rebuilding the control head to prepare it for installation in my Moto-Lita wood rim steering wheel.

Click link to read -> http://www.acmefluid.com.au/larry/trafficator.html

Of course, if you don’t want to do this yourself, go see Geno Monaco. I suspect he can rebuild them in his sleep.

Interesting article on restoring a hardtop….

Introduction
I took my Universal Laminations hardtop apart in 1977 and, of course, intended to completely restore it to original standard at the time. This did not happen and it sat disassembled until I began to undertake the complete restoration of my car in 2001. We all know that it is best to take things apart, document the process, photograph the components, and reassemble as soon as possible. C’est la vie!

click link to view -> http://www.healey6.com/Technical/LHRose%20Hardtop%20Restoration.pdf

Last August the AHCO toured to Yachats on the Oregon coast. The Schneiders joined several other members as we caravanned down I-5 and met with a contingent of other members from the Eugene/Springfield area. We then cruised en masse through the Coast Range to Yachats. The drive that day was spectacular. The weather was wonderful and the roads seemed designed for sports cars. The Club plan for the week end called for a one night stay in the Adobe Resort Inn in Yachats.

As I packed our Healey for departure I assumed that the luggage capacity of a “Big Healey” could easily acomodate the simple necessities for a one night stay. Well guess what, Sparky, I was wrong! Apparently, the “Big” part of the Healey monicker is referring to something other than the boot. The Yachats tour convinced me that the Schneider Healey needed a luggage rack. This point was driven home on Sunday morning when I went out to the Adobe parking lot and discovered the Healey had a flat tire. Changing the tire was no problem. However, when I tried to stow the road wheel in the boot I found it would not fit. My road wheels are Dayton 72 spoke chrome wire wheels with fatty, bad boy tires that barely fit in the front wheel wells, but only if the air pressure is low.

Obviously, the solution to increase load capacity was a luggage rack. I chose the original equipment (OE) style rack (Figure 1).

This rack is somewhat unique, both in style and installation. The front mounts of the rack straddle the boot lid hinges and are integrated with them. This is done by tapping or pressing out the original hinge pins and replacing them with a longer bolts with locking nuts. The rack’s rear mounting is attached to long shaped support legs that rest on the top of the rear bumper. These legs are held in place on the bumper by brackets that are bolted to the bottom edge of the boot lid. This mounting allows boot lid and luggage rack to be lifted as a unit to provide access to, as we have already established, the not-so-spacious boot.

I couldn’t bring myself to drill holes in my Healey if there was another way to mount the rear support legs. Integrating the front of the rack with the boot hinges was acceptable and easy. However, drilling holes in the boot lid and having the support legs resting on my recently re-chromed bumpers were non-starters. Other AHCO members have mounted the rear supports by turning them around and bending them a little so they will fit into the backside of the rear bumper over-riders. I considered this approach but I thought I could develop something better. After all, even if something isn’t broken I can still probably fix it.

I started by inspecting the two rear support legs. They are hollow tubes with a bolt eye on the upper end and a 1/2” internal diameter open tube at the bottom. This gave me an idea. If i made a bracket that held a short rod vertically on the rear bumper spring irons I could lower these hollow legs over the rod until they were resting on top of the bumper spring bars. The bracket is comprised of two metal plates, a 4” section of 1/2” rod, a 3/4” thick spacer, a large washer, and four short bolts and Nyloc washers. I welded 2” of a 4” long rod to two of the mending plates. Half of the rod extends 2” beyond the end of the plate. The plates have four screw holes located one in each corner. The distance between the upper and lower screw holes in the plates is enough to straddle the bumper spring bars. i.e., two screws above and two below the bumper bars.

An important feature of the brackets is a spacer between the rod plates and the bumper spring bars so that the vertical rod would be approximately in line with the rear support rods of the luggage rack. Initially, I used a small pieces of wood of varying thicknesses until I had the best fit. I replaced the wood with blocks of high density polyethylene (HDPE) cut to the same dimensions as the trial wood block. The source of the HDPE and machining was Multi-Craft Plastics in Tualatin, OR. Telephone: 503-352-0970. One of the finished brackets is seen in Figure 2. Note in the figure a washer surrounds the rod and is welded to the top of the metal plate. The washer serves as a platform for the rack rear supports leg when lowered into position over the rod. For appearances I painted the brackets black to match the bumper springbars.

One concern I had for my bracket was whether or not the luggage rack might jump off the 3/8” bracket rod when driving. I thought the rack might be bounced off the rods when the car was driven over certain road condition, eg, a speed bump. However, three features of the bracket prevent this (so far anyway). First, the rack rear support legs over lap the 3/8” rods by 2”. It would have to be a pretty good bounce to propel the rack that high. Second, the bottom of each leg has a rubber cap attached. The bottom of the caps had a 1/4” hole drilled. The small hole allows the rubber cap to be forced over the bracket 3/8” rod. Thus, the rubber caps provide a small amount of friction to any vertical motion. It also eliminates rattles. As if you could hear them with the engine running. Finally, the rack weighs about 7 to 8 pounds. The rack’s own weight tends to keep it in place. Of course,when the luggage rack is carrying one of Marilynne’s suitcases packed for a tour it isn’t going anywhere.

One feature I like about my bracket mounting scheme is the luggage rack can be lowered to a more streamlined location when it is not in hauling luggage. To this end I purchased a second pair of shortened rear support legs. These legs have the same bend in the middle but 4-5”shorter. This allows the rack to ride an inch or two above the boot lid. I think this gives the rack and car a cleaner profile than when the rack is held in elevated position and parallel to the ground. See Figure 3.

I had dinner at Tom Monaco’s and prior to dinner we were discussing the question of what motor oil to use in your classic Healey. Tom suggested I hit the Internet and post what I come up with.

Well, here it goes. Since I own a MGA and an Austin Healey, I found the following two articles interesting. One from an MGA owner and “guru” says pretty much use what ever is cheapest as long as it is the correct weight, and the other from healey.org says look for higher viscosity oils containing ZDDP. Gee I don’t understand why people are confused.

In any case, I found both articles interesting and informative. So here are links to each.

http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/engine/of104.htm (see comment by Tom – this is an old article)

http://healey.org/content/view/269/1/

Note in the healey.org article the note: “ (Update: In February 2008, Castrol released a new formula Syntec in 20W50 which is labeled “For Classic Cars” and contains the necessary amount of ZDDP.) “

Here is a link to an additive that has some more information:  http://www.zddplus.com/

Bob Wallace