Austin Healey 3000 Engine Build

[Excaliber]

My son, Dusty and myself are rebuilding a 1962 Austin Healey 3000 engine and trans (4 speed with Over Drive). I'm posting some pics and 'blogging the build' for the owner, Bob and my family and friends.

Machine shop work came to about $1100, parts have added another $2500 plus at this point. Bore, mains and rod journals are all .020 resized. The new 'slugs' are FIVE ring! Three compression and TWO oil control. The original slugs were only four, I have no clue why 5 is better than 4 and why not 3? Go figure!

Crank, rods/pistons are now installed in the block. The trans was good, only the synchros were replaced for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. No synchros on 1st gear. Installation has been pretty straight forward with no problems so far.

Ernie

[Excaliber]

Interesting note on the rear main seal for this engine (and MGA's were the same). There is no 'rear main seal' per se. Dusty is trimming the SIDE seals of the rear main cap. The 'oil seal' method at the crankshaft is simply a threaded type groove on the crank that runs really close to the block and rear main cap and 'throws' the oil forward back into the engine. When the motor is stopped residual oil slowly seeps out the rear main and 'leaks', as per specs! It is designed to leak, what a concept!! The Healey manual notes care should be taken to make sure the hole in the bottom of the bell housing is open so the oil can 'drain' (you know, onto the garage floor)!

[Excaliber]

..and the trans..

[strictlypersonl]

Just think. That engine (136 or 150 bhp, as I remember it) weighs about the same as an FE.

The 100-4s used a similar "labyrinth" crankshaft seal. When we raced one, we used to fasten a sponge underneath the bell housing to avoid getting blackflagged for oil leaks.

[blykins]

Are those lock nuts on the mains?

[strictlypersonl]

Originally Posted by blykins

Are those lock nuts on the mains?

Nylocks. No such thing as tightening to a stretch spec back then.

[Excaliber]

Those Nylock nuts are also on the connecting rod caps. Leaves me wondering how a guy is supposed to get an accurate reading with the torque wrench when you tighten down everything!

Heavy as an FE? Makes the FE 427's look like a 'light weight' in comparison. I'll post some pics of the 'extra heavy duty' auxillary parts found all over the engine. Like the distributor adapter piece, BIG, SOLID hunk of cast iron, man this thing is built like a tank! And the HEAD, oh my, it would easily double as a boat anchor by itself.

Parts I wanted (but Bob the owner wouldn't go for ):
The 'Works Rally' camshaft, $1240, had to settle for stock, a mere $700 or so PLUS more cubic dollars for the tappets, rocker arms and shaft. The original 'bump stick' had four flat lobes on it. The alloy head (so I wouldn't injure my back picking up that bad boy), $5,000.00. Had to settle for a rebuild. $2,700 for a set of Webers.

Makes my '427 side oiler' parts cost look 'cheap'!

[lineslinger]

Here you go Ernie, feel free to give me a yell when needed.

[lineslinger]

couple more....I have extensive pictoral documentation of the entire restoration including the engine. If you need a looksee at some point.







I

[Excaliber]

Well I see I'm in good company Lineslinger! I'll post some pics of the body later, which is in really good shape. The engine smoked and the trans was hard to shift without double clutching (bad synchro's). I suspect the smoking engine was mostly a result of the completly worn out rocker arm shaft/bushings dumping oil onto the valve guides. A good 'freshen up' should set things right. The suspension and brakes also require work though.

[Traveller]

My dad had a 3000. Of course, he wishes he still had it.

Are you sticking with the Strombergs or going with Weber side drafts?

[Excaliber]

Strombergs, rebuilding them too. Gotta keep the costs within reason, oh yeah, wouldn't some Webers be nice! I picked up this car for the present owner about 10 years ago in Calif, been working on it off and on ever since. Heck it's like 'family' now. This was the first stick shift car my boy (Dusty) ever drove, had to prop him up with pillows to reach the pedals and see over the steering wheel.

[Bill Kesner]

Looking good Ernie!

When's the turn-key date?

- Bill -

[Excaliber]

Well Dusty is off to college early Sept, so were hustling to get it running before then!

Can't wait to get the back end to break loose, uh, I mean test drive it carefully and break it in right. Yeah, thats the ticket!

No worries Bob, the local Cobra clan and myself are looking forward to you and Betsy coming out to a cruise in with us!

[Ron61]

Ernie,

Looking good and that should be quite a car when you are finished.

Lineslinger,

Now that car of yours is impressive. It is amazing at what people ability can do with a pile of pieces.

Ron

[Excaliber]

Well we've run into a couple of setbacks. The valve stem seals are incorrectly installed from the machine shop, I'm considering just redoing the job myself as it's a pain to return it to the machine shop. Second is the oiling system. The oil pump is driven directly off the cam so there is no way to 'prime' the engine without spinning it over or starting it. Of course we'll fill the oil filter first no matter what. One consideration is to remove the timing chain and spin the camshaft by itself to prime the oil system before startup. Man, what a pain in the butt thats going to be, it's all ready assembled! How about an Accu Sump modification! The top end on these motors really seem to suffer loss of oil pressure on initial startup even after their broke in. Accu Sump may offer critical protection for the life of the motor down the road as well as break in. Expensive to buy and install, carefully weighing the options...

The darn overdrive just REFUSES to mate up with the trans output shaft. That last half inch, the tail shaft bushing! Arrrggggghhhhh, still struggling with that major issue!

[lineslinger]

I had to have an alignment bore done on the tail shaft bushings in the overdrive to get a proper fit Ernie, it will drive you crazy trying to get that OD unit to slip on properly.
The Normanville Delaycock overdrives are beast to get a proper fit, but once they are installed and functioning that little toggle switch sure is fun.

[strictlypersonl]

When we did rebuilds like this, we simply left the "sparking" plugs out for the initial crank until the oil pressure came up. Very little stress on the bearings. Just use pre-lube on the cam.

[Jac Mac]

Excaliber,

Remove the oil pressure sender unit, screw in a hose fitting and about 3 or 4 feet of plastic hose line. Fit a similar hose end to the cap of a quart oil container or reasonable size funnel. Hang the container/funnel from the roof or hoist overnite with some oil in it to drain into the motor [ The higher the better-You may have to puncture a bleed hole in the base of the container- a block drain tap fitted here would be ideal- you could go to some trouble to make a permanent one of these if you do a bit of british stuff ]
When you arrive back in the morning you should be able to see how much has gone into the pressure side of the system- now wind the motor back a couple of turns to pull some lube back into the oil pump gears to help prime the them, leave connected for another 1/2 hour, then remove and you should be good to GO!

Jac Mac

[mylesdw]

Why not just remove the pushrods and spark plugs and prime by spinning on the starter; no load on the cam lobes at all then.