Jake -
Go with a BJ8 cam or Road Rally cam. Don't go with anything hotter than that.
Put in pertronix electronic ignition on the old lucas distributor.
Put on a rear engine seal. It is easier to put on if you buy one of
the pre-cut aluminum rear engine plates (saves weight too). I got
mine from www.cape-international.com
Put on a spin on oil filter adaptor.
Get one of the lightened flywheels from bill bolton. Be sure to have
it shop-balanced and turned first before mounting on your car.
Be sure to have all of your engine components (crank, rods, pistons)
all shop-balanced individually before assembly (makes the engine run
MUCH smoother).
If you buy 5 ring pistons, use all 5 rings, don't throw some out
because you think it'll wear the engine prematurely, it won't and 5
ring pistons cut oil loss to nil.
Get low compression pistons... original pistons run at too high
compression and require octane boost to run smoothly. 8.5:1 is what
you want for compression. I think 9.3:1 is original.
have your head set up for unleaded fuel. Hardened valves and valve
guides are readily available. have your shop harden the seats on your
head, this can be done without buying hardended seats. If your shop
wants to machine in hardened seats... be sure to find someone who has
experience with healey heads to do this work. Hardened valves and
seats are the way to go if for only the reason they last a heck of
alot longer than orignal type valves and seats.
Be sure all parts in your motor are new except for the crank which can
be turned. Everything else can be sourced new, and it should be done
new. I did this 80k miles ago (20 years ago) on my BJ8 and haven't
had a problem since.
have your harmonic balancer rebuilt by a harmonic balancer rebuilder.
You don't want the thing to delaminate while driving the car.
Hope that helps,
Alan
'53 BN1 '64 BJ8
On 6/14/05, tjacobjr@aol.com <tjacobjr@aol.com> wrote:
>
> A little clarification....
>
> I have the original engine. The one that I am installing back in the car is
> the one I removed, and it is from a BJ8. I am looking for reliability and
> power with this rebuild and plan on upgrading everything that makes sense to
> improve on... I did the same thing with my bugeye, sorry for the Broad
> question, looking for broad results..... Thanks everyone for the feedback!
>
> Jake
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blue One Hundred <healey.nut@gmail.com>
> To: TJacobjr@aol.com
> Cc: healeys@autox.team.net
> Sent: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:25:01 +0800
> Subject: Re: Engine Rebuild
>
>
> Boy that's the most broad question I've ever seen on this list.
What do
> you want to do with the engine? Keep it original? make it
more reliable? Get
> more power? Is budget important?
Answer these questions first then the list
> can give you a better answer.
Alan
'53 BN1 '64 BJ8
On 6/13/05,
> TJacobjr@aol.com <TJacobjr@aol.com> wrote:
> I'm in the middle of my
> restoration (58 BN6) and I am rebuilding the engine,
> question to all is:
> what "improvements or modifications" can or should I
> make during the
> rebuild?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jake
>
> Your messages not reaching the list?
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