Hi Alan,
I wouldn't presume to speak for Larry - only my personal experience.
My first encounter with a Healey was to put a well built Chevy small
block into a three year old BN2. I adapted the BN2 transmission to the
Chevy & used the BN2 rear end also. The adaptor was the rear section of
the BN2 bell housing machined to correct thickness & welded to a Chevy
to Packard transmission adapter plate. It was very fast & I drove it
hard, very hard. No drive line failures. The OD was wired directly to a
switch, no safety relays or such & always worked perfectly. Used a Chevy
hydraulic clutch slave cylinder powered by a second BN2 brake master
cylinder mounted next to the existing brake cylinder with longer bolts.
I did put in a considerably larger radiator core. IMO, the Healey
gearbox & rear axle (BN1 excepted) are among the strongest you can find.
Regards,
Dave Russell
BN2
Blue One Hundred wrote:
> Larry -
>
> Without question I have always been interested in the
> work that DMD has been doing, and it is exciting for
> me to see that they finally have their 3.8 prototype
> up and running.
>
> This brings up two very important questions however.
> Assuming a guy like me running a stock BJ8 wants to
> keep it pretty much stock but is very keen to consider
> making a "sleeper" on the road.... my questions are:
>
> 1) Cooling. Obviously the OEM set up is stretched as
> it is... would I have a problem here? Does the motor
> us the stock water pump or is there some other set up?
>
> 2) Gearbox - I doubt the BJ8 gearbox is up to handling
> 300BHP / 300 Ft lbs torque. Would the smitty/Toyota
> Supra conversion work or is there something that can
> be done with the stock gearbox & clutch?
>
> Your thoughts are, as always , appreciated.
>
> Regards,
>
> Alan
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