JWHA - Technical Trivia Two

Headlights lose effectiveness over time. Mine were almost twenty years old. I recently changed the sealed beams in

the BJ8 to a sealed beam Halogen made by Sylvania. Halogen provides 50% more light versus a new incandescent

Brake Light Switch - replacing the brake light switch on a Healey involves removing the switch located in the brake

line which is brake fluid pressure operated. I have swapped them real fast with no need to bleed the brakes. Two tips proposed this month include covering the master cylinder reservoir with plastic and having an assistant ever so gently depress the brake pedal while swapping switches to prevent air from entering the system. (Healey Surgeons)

100-M Carbs. Doug Conway Jr. reports that they recently changed the engine on his fathers 100 over to 100-M specs

with a dramatic change in power. With 100-M carbs approaching $1000 a set the Conway's found a better alternative.

the 100-M uses the same SU as found on the TR3 and they located a set of TR3 carbs and had Joe Curto rebuild them

Two tricks for feeding the wires through your stator tube: first, before pulling the wires out, tie a heavy

string or light wire to them, so that when you're ready you can pull the new wires back down the

column. Second, when you're ready to pull the new wires down the column, place the four bullet leads in a

row and tape them so that they can slide down the column easily. HML

The wire from the distributor to the coil needs to be connected to the negative or positive coil connection

depending on the grounding method, i.e., a negative ground car should have distributor

wire to negative coil terminal. If the wires are reversed the car will run but will

The BJ8 Driver's Handbook specs the max towing capacity at 1680 LBS or 762 Kg. HML

The earliest brake fluids were made from castor oil mixed with alcohol

and were compatible with 'natural' rubber used for hydraulic seals - The Castrol brand name was derived

Checking Gas Gauge sending unit with a OHM Meter - Connect one lead of the multi-meter to the

chassis and the other to the sending unit with the gas gauge wire connected and the ignition off. Should

be somewhere between 0 ohms (empty) and 70 ohms (full) depending on fuel level. 3 gallons should be

around 20 ohms. Connect a grounding wire from the chassis to the gas tank edge. One of the little screws

holding the sending unit is a good connection point. If the sender unit is out, don't connect it to anything,

test it by itself. Put one lead of the ohm meter on the connection tab and the other lead on the housing of

the sender unit. When you move the float arm through full motion range the resistance should go from 70

ohms (full up) to 0 ohms full down). And while you're at it, check that the float actually floats. MGL

Disk Brakes- When replacing disk brakes I always use a product , Permatex Anti-squeal. Available at

any automotive store it sells for $2.49. Apply to the back of the pads and the back of the anti squeal

shims. It’s the blue stuff that is supplied in many replacement brake pad kits for American cars. Basically

an adhesive, it sticks the pad to the caliber piston and keeps the pad from chattering, a major cause of