Technical Trivia Three
Compiled by Jim Werner
From the Healey Internet Mailing List (HML), referenced sources and the cobwebs of my mind.
One of the things I saw at Conclave was placing an aftermarket fuel pump in line after the SU pump as an auxiliary. Doug Conway Sr. tried it on his 100 and reports it works fine. The aftermarket pumps ($27) offer a good backup in case of fuel pump failure. Scott Brown had one and when his SU became clogged he just removed it and ran the auxiliary pump. I run two on the BN4 and never had any problems. JW
Oil Pressure Lines. A recent thread on the internet recommended carrying one as a necessary spare. Never heard of one breaking before but it sounded like a good idea so I threw one in the spares kit. Sure enough it happened to Bill Fryrear. Luckily Bill Richey was behind him and offered his off his trailered Concours car. Remember the oil pressure and fuel lines are just rubber lines that deteriorate with age. The
braided line just offers abrasion resistance and they don't last forever. In Bill’s case the line was only four years old. On my BJ8 I installed an in line gas filter on a set of four year old Petroflex fuel lines and the lines crumbled when I cut them. The BJ8 now sports regular fuel lines in rubber, not as pretty, but they will be changed at tune up time on a regular basis. JW
The Internet thread on spares to carry included a set of generator brushes and a front outer wheel bearing. Sure enough Harry could have used the generator brushes and we have seen cases of wheel bearing failure before so I’ll be adding those to my spares kit.
JW
Mike Schneider insulated the air tube from his fresh air intake and reported a significant heat reduction in the cockpit by removing the transference of heat generated by the engine compartment. Mike Schneider
Be a passenger in your own car. I came up with a lot of good ideas for heat reduction and cockpit cooling just by riding as a passenger in my own car for the first time. First time I saw the car from the other side of the cockpit. JW
When traveling in a group, limit the CB channels to 1 thru 5. That way you can signal another car using just one hand and if anyone does miss the call to switch you can find the new channel from one of four choices. Mike Schneider
"After the recent discussions about jumping fuel gauges needles, it got me thinking, particularly the point about a bad earth I looked at all the possible earth connections, glued in screws (sender to tank), tank straps with rubber strips underneath and the other was the fuel take off and line, neither of these providing a strong earth connection. I have to report that after making up an black earth cable and fitting it to the sender unit base all is ok. At least I get a much less flickering needle and one that moves more progressively when detecting differences. The difference was amazing. (MGL)
