Front conversion of Austin Healey

Today, Ady has carried out a front conversion, also known as a lip seal conversion.

The lip seal conversion takes out the existing felt seal.

Working on the Austin Healey Dash and Dials

The dashboard of our 1955 Austin Healey has now been stripped so that the dials can be sent away to Speedy Cables to be fully overhauled.

Speedy Cables is an independent small company located in South Wales employing around 20 people with a variety of professional, engineering and craft skills engaged in the customisation and repair of instrumentation and the manufacture of custom control cables and custom drive cables.

Speedometer repair and restoration is a highly specialised skill and their technicians have many years experience to provide this service to a quality standard of the highest level.

They are able to manufacture replacement parts for many older speedometers which are now out of production as they have access to the original drawings and tooling of the Smiths Ranges of Instruments and a fully equipped workshop.

Their skilled instrument mechanics have the capability to re-calibrate speedometers utilising specialised equipment.

Each Speedometer needs to be individually assessed by the technicians in advance and you will be advised on the best options for restoring it to full working order.

We have decided to look at refurbishing the switches and knobs ourselves in house. These are readily available brand new but we felt it would be a nice touch to clean down and repaint the existing components to keep as close to originality as possible.

Rebuilding the Austin Healey BN1 engine

With all of the parts now either restored or newly purchased Ady can get to work rebuilding the BN1 Austin Healey engine.

To start everything will be fitted up to ensure accuracy and fit before being secured into position. The nuts and bolts will all be renewed during this process to give a lovely, fresh looking engine to refit.

Austin Healey Sound Deadening

Our 1955 Austin Healey project is a very important and special restoration for our customer. With a lot of the restoration work having already been carried out by her late husband it is especially important to not undo a lot of the hard work that he had put into it. For instance, the inside of the shell has already been completed so a lot of the work has been done for us which is fantastic. Brian has therefore concentrated his efforts on methodically applying the sound deadening to the internal shell.

Using heat, Brian has been able to manipulated the sound deadening matting to cover all areas, moulds and challenges that the shell throws at him. The sound deadening does exactly what it says on the tin, it’s a material that can be applied to the hidden areas of your car to help reduce the  noise levels from outside in.

Rebuilding the rocker shaft

As part of the full engine rebuild within our engine shop, Ady has successfully completed the rebuild of our 1955 Austin Healey’s rocker shaft and fingers.

Now this is complete we can wrap up and store safely until such time as we are ready to refit.

Our Austin Healey 100 has arrived

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Preparing for our next restoration, we’ve now arrived back to our workshops with the shell of our 1955 Austin Healey 100.

The engine will be next to arrive ready for rebuild.

For now, the body can be stripped fully and the body preparation can begin.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”22925,22924,22923,22922,22921,22920,22919,22918,22917,22916,22915,22914,22913,22912,22911,22910,22909,22908,22907,22906,22905,22904,22903″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

1955 Austin Healey 100 Restoration Project

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Our 1955 Austin Healey 100 will be the latest addition to the Bridge Classic Cars family.

Due for collection later this month our Healey will be scheduled for a full restoration very soon.

The current owner has owned the car for many many years and a lot of the preparation has been carried out already. The engine, interior, hood, frame and lots of parts are all out of the car but stored with the car.

We are very much looking forward to getting this rare Healey back on the road in the not too distant future.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”22824,22825,22826,22827,22828,22829,22830,22831,22832,22833,22834,22835,22836,22837,22838,22839,22840,22841,22842,22843,22844″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Source: Wikipedia

The Austin-Healey 100 is a sports car that was built by Austin-Healey from 1953 until 1956.

It was developed by Donald Healey to be produced in-house by his small Healey car company in Warwick and based on Austin A90 Atlantic mechanicals. Healey built a single Healey Hundred for the 1952 London Motor Show, and the design impressed Leonard Lord, managing director of Austin, who was looking for a replacement to the unsuccessful A90. Body styling was by Gerry Coker, the chassis was designed by Barry Bilbie with longitudinal members and cross bracing producing a comparatively stiff structure upon which to mount the body, innovatively welding the the front bulkhead to the frame for additional strength. In order to keep the overall vehicle height low the rear axle was underslung, the chassis frame passing under the rear axle assembly.

Lord struck a deal with Healey to build it in quantity, bodies made by Jensen Motors were given Austin mechanical components at Austin’s Longbridge factory. The car was renamed the Austin-Healey 100.

The “100” was named by Healey for the car’s ability to reach 100 mph (160 km/h); its successor, the better known Austin-Healey 3000, was named for the 3000 cc displacement of its engine.

Apart from the first twenty cars, production Austin-Healey 100s were finished at Austin’s Longbridge plant alongside the A90 and based on fully trimmed and painted body/chassis units produced by Jensen in West Bromwich—in an arrangement the two companies previously had explored with the Austin A40 Sports. 14,634 Austin-Healey 100s were produced.

The 100 was the first of three models later called the Big Healeys to distinguish them from the much smaller Austin-Healey Sprite. The Big Healeys are often referred to by their three-character model designators rather than by their models, as the model names do not reflect the mechanical differences and similarities well.

BN1

The first 100s (series “BN1”) were equipped with the same undersquare 87.3 mm (3.4 in) bore and 111.1 mm (4.4 in) stroke 90 bhp (67 kW) 2660 cc I4 engines and manual transmission as the standard production A90, but the transmission was modified to be a three-speed unit with overdrive on second and top.

Girling 11 in (279.4 mm) drum brakes were fitted all round. The suspension used modified Austin A90 components in order to be as cost effective as possible, steering was by Austin’s worm and peg system. Front suspension was independent, double wishbone using coil springs and at the rear a rigid axle with semi elliptic leaf springs.

A BN1 tested by The Motor magazine in 1953 had a top speed of 106 mph (171 km/h) and could accelerate from 0–60 mph (97 km/h) in 11.2 seconds. A fuel consumption of 22.5 miles per imperial gallon (12.6 L/100 km; 18.7 mpg‑US) was recorded. The test car cost £1063 including taxes.

A total of 10030 BN1s were built from May 1953 until replaced by the BN2 model in August 1955. A 1954 BN1 (chassis #446766*4) is on permanent display in the Bonneville Salt Flats exhibit at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, PA, USA.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]