In my haste to get my Healey completed & back on the road, I never bothered to
check whether the overdrive was working. So, of course, it wasn't. Finally,
after ignoring this fact for a while, I tore things back apart this weekend,
and after some minor solenoid lever adjustments it's working like a champ.
The first time it engaged, I was shocked at how well it worked. Very smooth
engagement, and a nice big drop in the RPM's. I never knew what I was
missing.
That would conclude the mechanical portion of my restoration, leaving only the
top installation & the trunk liner to totally wrap things up. But, the other
weekend, I was out for a drive & decided to pop in at a friend's house. After
a 20 minute rest, I got back in the Healey, cranked it up and went on my way.
As soon as I got up to speed, I noticed that it was running very rough,
especially under load and at higher RPMs (above 3000). Nothing seemed to help
the situation, and I started becoming concerned whether I'd even make it home.
Well, this weekend as I was fiddling with the OD, I decided to also dig into
the rough running situation. I checked the mixture after it warmed up, and
everything seemed fine. I took it out to test the OD, and it ran perfectly.
I came home and turned it off for a while in a attempt to recreate the
scenario, and it still ran fine after I took it back out.
Should I chalk it up to a freak occurrence, or is there something specific I
should be looking for to prevent it from happening again? I'd say that
ambient temperature at the time of both drives was the same.
Also, on a totally unrelated note, does anybody happen to know how to install
a top on a Longbridge BN4? Step by step instructions or a video would be
wonderful.
Thanks,
Mick Vander Ploeg
'57 BN4
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