Healey Z

A knee surgery put my schedule back a few months, but the time has come to drop the motor back into the Healey. I picked up the recently rebuilt motor off of a guy parting out his car, cleaned it up and built an aircleaner for my dual webers. I can't wait to get the car back on the road.

I'm with AZ on this one. I don't think it is the temperature in which the thermo is opening, but rather the rate at which the new thermo allows the fluid to go through the system. My bet is the new thermo allows more fluid to go through and it doesn't have as much time to cool while in the radiator.

I agree. A lot of $ spent on things that would need to be undone to make it to my liking.

Hey Dave, Congrats on your venture, you've done some excellent work and I hope you are rewarded for it. Once you get up and going another area you could pursue is the cobra kit car crowd. I had a FFR cobra for 9 years and installing a push button start button (S2000) was a popular mod. Yours has some added features. I would also have the RFID proximity option in hand and available before introducing your product there. Send me a PM/email if you want to discuss it further. Ken

Marco hit it on the head. I think the main item driving the value of the older Z is supply. There is a demand for these cars, because they are fundamentally great cars. However, they made a lot of these cars (more Z's in one year than all big Healeys ever made for example). That doesn't diminish the fact that Z's are great cars, it is just that the supply/demand curve keeps the prices low. So, perhaps it will take another 20 years when rust and neglect consume the weak and the strong will be worth more.

Hey Brian, Yea I doubt there are any gems in there, but most of the descriptions of the cars that I read said they were running cars. I was just looking through craigslist saw the prices in the titles, copied and pasted in a sheet. I was struck me on how low they were for how great of a car they are. It may take a year or two, but I am going to keep my eye out for that early Z gem. It most certainly will be a future collectable car. Ken

Hey HS, I think your comments on the motor are fair; the famous Ford 428 motor was regularly used in dump trucks in that era too. I just finished Donald Healey's autobiography and was a great read. He details the string of associations he had with other companies. He did note that he retained the design responsibility and approval of any changes on all the Austin Healey cars, all the way up to the very end of their association. I bet there are a number of pampered early models still out there. Officially on the look out.

As best I can tell by the receipts, the swap was done 25 years ago. I picked the car up for a song a few months ago. It would be $15K-$18K to put a rebuilt/original Austin drivetrain back in. Just not economically feasible. Compare this to the low mile/rebuilt 42/47 long block I got for $300 and had the tranny overhauled for $650. The interesting thing is Donald Healey used engines from other companies in all his cars. Donald Healey used engines, transmissions from Riley, Alvis, Nash as well as Austin and the next model was going to use a Rolls Royce engine. The Austin Healey 3000 shares the engine with another model: the Austin dump truck. The horsepower of the car with the new drive train is increased by 6.6% (136 hp vs 145 hp). While the weight of motor/trans is decreased by approximately 200 pounds! (728 lb vs 523 lb). The weight difference is equivalent to about 12 hp, making the Z drive train a 15% power improvement over the original Healey engine / trans. Certainly the cost of maintenance, reliability.....is also vastly improved. The electrical system has also been coverted from the +12v ground that came from the factory to the -12v ground as is the normal convention. I am building the car for me and when I get it all back together, hopefully next month, I will post a project summary, with a ton of pictures.

They made more mustangs in one month back in 1965 then they did in a full year of Z's. Nice examples of early mustangs regularly change hands between $20-$30K, usually of the convertible and fastback variety. I've owned a number of mustangs over the years and sold my 66 fastback late last year to fund the current project. The early 240Z is a better driving, more practical, more reliable and more sporty car than the early mustangs. I know I am trying to convince the people on my own team that we should win, but I was really surprised when I started to look into how much car you get for the $ on these Z's. Officially on the look out for a low mileage early Z.

I'm with you. I think the 240Z is a great car and for the $ an incredible buy. I've been so impressed with the motor that I'm working with and I see me getting more into these cars in the future.

I picked up a project car; Austin Healey with a Z motor/trans in it. I love the drive train and it is a perfect motor for this car. It will be back on the road shortly. I have never owned a Z, but have had some 510's and a roadster in my youth. Looking through the local Sacramento craigslist this morning, I was really surprised at how little these Z cars are selling for. I'm sure most of these cars are in need of a lot of work, but still. I may need to do an early Z after this Healey project. The average: $2,760 The average without the one $17.5k car: $2,090 note: I changed titles of the craigslist ads to make a consistent format and deleted those cars which were obvious relisted ads. 1970 240z datsun - $2000 1971 240z- $1500 1971 240Z DATSUN - $1200 1971 240Z Datsun - $1700 1972 240Z - $1000 1972 240z - $2000 1972 240z badass! - $3000 1972 240Z Project - $2500 1973 240Z Datsun - $4000 1974 260z $2200 obo 1974 260z datsun runs new tires has some probs - $1200 1975 280Z Datsun 47K orig miles - $17500 1977 280Z Toyota - $500 1978 280Z NISSAN 280Z $4000 1979 280ZX datsun - $1500 1979 280ZX Dutsan - Nissan- $1800 1981 280ZX Nissan / Datsun Clean title, Smg'd, Reg- $1800 1982 280ZX datsun coupe - $4000 1982 280ZX Datsun GAS SAVER - $1200 1982 280ZX NISSAN/DATSUN TURBO - $1700 1983 280Z Datsun Turbo 5spd T tops - $800 1983 280ZX NISSAN TURBO ENGINE - $1400 1983 280ZX Nissan/Datsun Turbo- $5000

It gave me an idea on how to create my next project: 1958 Ferrari 500 Testa Rossa replica.

The car is worth what someone will pay for it. It would be difficult, but you may be able to find the right buyer willing to pay $10K. In my market in Nor Cal I think for $6-$7K you could sell the car in a few weeks.

Thank you all for the replies. I appreciate the effort to take the measurements and post pictures. Ken

Thanks Roy. Do you have the manifold with long or short runners? Rob, I haven't spoken to Gary. I'm looking at my options now and one of them is to buy a motor with triple webers that is currently in a project car that is for sale.

I'm looking to find how far it is from the head to the end of the air cleaner. I know this will depend on a few variables, like which air cleaner you are using, but looking to see if this is 8, 10, 12 or more inches. I'm thinking a triple Z motor would look quite nice in the Healey The car is off to be painted while I get the engine figured out.

xke, 65 mustang fastback, cobra, 63 vette, older ferarris and certainly the original Z, certainly timeless classics....fun story.

Hey Travel, As a kid, I use to be in to 510's. The Rebello motors were the absolute top shelf way to go. I actually spoke to Dave the week afte I bought the car, before I started to make the current motor work. For a street perfromance rebuild on the long block (as I remember) it was $4-$5K. When you look at the cost of all the cam related parts and what you are getting, it may not be hugely out of line, but not in my budget. However, perhaps there is something I could do, like a simple piston choice that gives me a little bump in compression. Thanks for the suggestion.

Again, thank you for the replies. I will be removing and reinstalling the motor, so the $1500 is just for the machine shop work. Yes they do the standard "boil" out the head/block, chase the threads, hardened valve seats, new freeze plugs... I looked at a little bump in cam, but for $799 for the cam kit and $224 for the cam, tax and shipping...I would be at $1150....ouch, a little too much for a few more ponies. I will however be changing the pistons anyway. I've heard that by going to the flat top pistons it will raise the compression to about 10:1, but I have also heard people can have some pinging problems. Is there a piston that is somewhere between stock and the flat top? I also agree with the disti curve verification, a lot of potential can be lost there.

Thank you for the replies. I made some notes to discuss with the engine builder. Since they send the cam out to a specialist, hopefully they know what they are doing.

I'm resigned to the fact that the motor needs to be rebuilt. The car is a blast to drive and deserves a fresh motor and some new syncro's in the trans. The motor has N42 block / N47 head motor and is fed by dual 32/36 webers, pertronix disti. I met with a machine shop that has done a few small block Fords for me and have always done a great job. First question. Is this a decent motor to rebuild? I am reasonably happy with the performance of the current motor, but if there is an easy way to pick ups some performance, without trading reliability, I'm open to that. Here is a list (from my notes) talking to them about what they would do to rebuild the motor. Their cost is $1500 and would take a few weeks. Second question: Is there anything missing, is this a reasonable deal? Complete disassemble and cleaned HEAD Pressure test head Surface head Three angle valve job Cam sent out checked and reground New valves New valve guides / seals New bearings New timing chain New timing chain sprocket Reuse springs/keepers, lash pads, retainers/rockers BLOCK Magniflux block Block checked and honed, bored if required Crank checked, polished New bearings New pistons / rings New oil pump Reuse rods OTHER Resurface flywheel Resurface intake manifold if required Resurface exhaust manifold if required Reassembly, adjust valves Paint color of my choosing Spin up engine on stand verify compression and oil pressure No water pump

Hey Blakt Out, I'm actually sorry to hear you are selling the car. Money aside, I know how much time and effort you put into this car and it turned out fantastic. It is clear you are a very successful person and I enjoy your posts and the high road you have taken on all discussions. Good luck on the sale, I hope the person that eventually buys it can appreciate the thought that went into it.

One of the nicest looking Z's I have seen. I love the true to the period look with the wheels, air dam, rear scoop and the DATSUN script on the windshield. Very nice.

thx beandip, the carbs are weber down drafts

Hey Gary, thanks for the reply. I pulled the cap to see what I had in there and BINGO, I found the vacuum advance wire disconnected from the disti. I slipped back on and the stumble and lack of power is gone. I swapped the plug for another and I will see if it follows the plug or the wire. What would you recommend for a spark plug / gap? How about for spark plug wires?