Healey Sports Cars

mods & upgrades for Healey (Nash, Austin, or Jensen) cars, including engine swaps

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thiel106
Scott Thiel
Boone, IA
(6 posts)

Registered:
09/22/2015 09:38PM

Main British Car:
1963 Austin-Healey 3000 1989 Toyota 7MGE

Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: thiel106
Date: September 22, 2015 11:32PM

By way of introduction I have been stalking this site for quite some time. I have enjoyed seeing the many creative people who are passionate about British cars and the modifications they have made to them. I have long been a fan of big Healeys. I purchased my first 100-6, when I was 16 and began a ground up restoration that lasted 13 years. I sold that car after owning it 27 years. It was the right thing to do at the time. My family was young and I didn't have the time to keep it running reliably. I have since seen the same car sell on ebay several years ago and was able to speak to the buyer. The car now resides in Canada with a very knowledgeable enthusiast. So time has passed and I am now in my mid 50's, my children have moved out and it is time to scratch the Healey itch. I have owned a restored car and doing that again doesn't appeal to me. I like roll up windows, reliable power, air conditioning, modern stereo and the looks of a classic undistrubed. So with that in mind I began trolling ebay. Two years ago a suitable project presented itself. A 1963 Austin- Healey 3000 hot rod survivor. I bid 66% of the buy it now price and the seller agreed. The car had formerly had a SBC heart transplant and was being sold without an engine, at least it had roll up windows. .
ebay79656.jpg

After some stop and go arrangements for transportation the car arrived via transport from the west coast, in March of 2013. Since then I have repaired the frame, which was cut out to allow the drive shaft through, and have worked on a host of changes.The bolt on True spoke wheels have been replaced with Cobra knock off wheels. The Ford 9 inch rear end has been narrowed to allow the wheels to fit better and the rear drum brakes have been replaced with disc brakes. The car now drives with a toyota sourced straight 6, which ironically is also 3000cc displacement. I have built a mock mkIII dash board and still have to get the air conditioner completed and working. But the car has largely met the goals I am striving for. Handsome brute character with some modern conveniences.
DSCN0009.JPG
TheToyota motor fits nicely where the Austin engine once lived.
DSCN0012.JPG
The dash board looks stock except for the air conditioning vents.
DSCN0006.JPG
Bits and pieces remain to be finished in the interior and else where. But that will give me something to do over the winter.


HealeyRick
Rick Neville

(489 posts)

Registered:
12/19/2007 05:01PM

Main British Car:
1963 Austin-Healey 3000 Ford 5.0L

authors avatar
Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: HealeyRick
Date: September 23, 2015 01:56PM

Looks very nice. I like the Cobra-laced wheels. And of course, we gotta ask. What kinda of hp does the 'yota motor make?


Charles
Charles Long
McDonald, TN
(177 posts)

Registered:
09/15/2013 08:54AM

Main British Car:
1966 MGB V6 1994 Camaro 3.4L 60V6

authors avatar
Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: Charles
Date: September 23, 2015 09:49PM

How sweet it is, now go out and have fun.


thiel106
Scott Thiel
Boone, IA
(6 posts)

Registered:
09/22/2015 09:38PM

Main British Car:
1963 Austin-Healey 3000 1989 Toyota 7MGE

Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: thiel106
Date: September 23, 2015 11:35PM

Healey Rick, regarding horse power,I think the Toyota is rated 190-200. I have "Speed Hut" gps speedometer which will tell 0-60 times and 1/4 mile times, but so far I haven't found the right bit of lonely highway to test it out on. If I ever get around to testing it, I will post the times. I was little bit worried when I was putting together the dashboard and gauges how I would find gauges that looked period correct that would mate to the toyota. The "Speed Hut" gauges made it no problem.

Thanks for the thumbs up from Charles

this is the dashboard when the car arrived
DSCN0043.jpg

this is the dashboard built to look like mkIII with air conditioner vents
DSCN0001-3.jpg


88v8
Ivor Duarte
Gloucestershire UK
(1041 posts)

Registered:
02/11/2010 04:29AM

Main British Car:
1974 Land Rover Lightweight V8

Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: 88v8
Date: September 25, 2015 04:27AM

That's handsome.
And those gauges, never seen before. Thankyou.

Ivor


Orange Alpine
Bill Blue

(45 posts)

Registered:
12/20/2010 07:36AM

Main British Car:
1967 Sunbeam Alpine 2.5 Ford Duratec

Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: Orange Alpine
Date: September 26, 2015 10:04AM

Rollup windows, you just can't beat 'em!

I bet it is just a super car on the road with the enhanced power and conviences. A great looking car, it revives my old AH 3000 lust.

Damn you!

Bill


maxwedge5281
larry ingram
south carolina
(52 posts)

Registered:
09/23/2014 05:59AM

Main British Car:
59 bn6 zz4 sbc 200 4R aod, 59bn6 302 ford, tremec

Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: maxwedge5281
Date: October 02, 2015 09:57AM

i used speedhut gauges in my 63bj7 with v8 power. i especially like the gps speedometer with the built in adjustable gas gauge. it allowed me to used existing healey dash openings....and the gauges are lifetime guarantee. your car looks really nice. did you have to make any adjustments to the steering column?
!cid_0321151402-00.jpg



thiel106
Scott Thiel
Boone, IA
(6 posts)

Registered:
09/22/2015 09:38PM

Main British Car:
1963 Austin-Healey 3000 1989 Toyota 7MGE

Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: thiel106
Date: October 03, 2015 10:26PM

Larry, your dash looks really nice. I like the 5 inch gauges you used. The dash on my car should be more like yours, based on the year of production. But when the car arrived the original dash was gone and had been replaced by the wood one seen in the "before" picture. I thought about trying to find a used dash on ebay, but I thought it would be a shame to cut holes in one for A/C vents . So that left me with trying to make a dash similar to the mk III. In order to get the A/C vents in, I went with the 3 1/2 inch tach and speedo. I used the stock steering column. The original trafficator was gone when I got the car. It is ridiculous how much money they want for those. So getting an original trafficator was out of the question. The car had an old VW Beetle turn signal lever attached to the steering column, but it was not self canceling. So I bought VW Rabbit turn signal and wind shield wiper controls and adapted them to fit over the original steering column. I made a fiberglass cover to fit over the steering column. I was able to hook the horn button to a long piece of tubing that runs down the steering column, so the horn button stays stationary when the steering wheel turns.

this is a picture of the fiberglass turn signal cover
DSCN0003-3.jpg


close up of the turn signals installed
DSCN0001.jpg

another view of steering column
DSCN0003.jpg


maxwedge5281
larry ingram
south carolina
(52 posts)

Registered:
09/23/2014 05:59AM

Main British Car:
59 bn6 zz4 sbc 200 4R aod, 59bn6 302 ford, tremec

Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: maxwedge5281
Date: October 04, 2015 03:06PM

yes mine was about the same way....oddball steering wheel with an under the dash turn signal switch. extra gauges on the passenger side, etc. so i bought a used dash in original condition and recovered it. the speedhut gauges fit the original dash opening perfectly. i did add an additional indicator light on either side of the green turn signal indicator...one for brights and one as a charging indicator light. the dual speedometer gauge has the fuel gauge built into it....and the rest of the dash is stock!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2015 03:07PM by maxwedge5281.


thiel106
Scott Thiel
Boone, IA
(6 posts)

Registered:
09/22/2015 09:38PM

Main British Car:
1963 Austin-Healey 3000 1989 Toyota 7MGE

Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: thiel106
Date: October 04, 2015 11:00PM

Larry

There is no accounting for some peoples taste, i.e. previous owners. I like what you have done with your car. I would like to see more pictures of your car.


Robby.ozment@sbcglobal.net
Robert Ozment

(3 posts)

Registered:
01/01/2019 06:31PM

Main British Car:


Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: Robby.ozment@sbcglobal.net
Date: January 10, 2019 10:56AM

I am interested in you the supra engine in you Healey. I have a Austin Healey 100-4 and am thinking of using a supra engine and transmission. How did the installation go? Motors mounts? Exhaust? Electronics? Do you have any pics? I assume those came from 3rd gen Supra?


HealeyRick
Rick Neville

(489 posts)

Registered:
12/19/2007 05:01PM

Main British Car:
1963 Austin-Healey 3000 Ford 5.0L

authors avatar
Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: HealeyRick
Date: January 13, 2019 02:00PM

Putting a six-cylinder in a 100 is not without its challenges. Take a look at what the factory did: [www.healeysix.net] I'd probably be more inclined to swap a newer 4 cylinder or a V8 rather than the six


thiel106
Scott Thiel
Boone, IA
(6 posts)

Registered:
09/22/2015 09:38PM

Main British Car:
1963 Austin-Healey 3000 1989 Toyota 7MGE

Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: thiel106
Date: January 15, 2019 11:40PM

Robert
Sorry I haven't answered your inquiry sooner, my new years resolution was to spend less time on the internet, and I made it two weeks. For me it wasn't that difficult to decide on using a Toyota 7mge motor. I knew that I wanted the Toyota 5 speed transmission, because I had already used the Toyota transmission with the Smitty's bell housing and trans mount on my old 100-6. So it seemed logical to use the 7mge as well,since a complete motor was considerably less expensive than finding an Austin-Healey motor. As I mentioned in the post I bought the car without an engine. The previous owner had put a V8 in it and had already removed the original engine mounts. So using reverse engineering I got the trans mount from Pete Delaney who now sells the "Smitty's" bell housing. He was kind enough to sell me the trans mount alone. With that in place, the location of the motor, fore and aft was set. I had to make a 1'' recess in the fire wall to allow the engine to fit. I used a piece of a portable grill that had a nice radius on it to fill in the recess. With the motor roughly in position I made posts with plates on them to bolt the Toyota motor mounts to. The stock Toyota intake fouled on the steering column, so a slight relief was cut into runners #5 and #6. A friend welded aluminum plate on the reliefs to seal the runners. The Stock exhaust manifold would have emptied into the passenger foot well. So I made a header that emptied near the engine mount and was able to preserve all the passenger footwell. I used the stock Toyota wiring harness and ecu. The previous owner had modified the radiator with a thicker core and had changed the inlet and outlet which worked perfectly with stock Toyota radiator hoses. All of the cold air intake are simple Toyota after market pieces. The gas pedal was purchased on ebay, from a Toyota Camry, the throttle cable is from a Toyota Tacoma. Both these items were picked because the photos on ebay looked like they would work for my application. I think Toyota uses a design philosophy were parts from disparate cars will fit together and in this case they fit perfectly. The only problem I would try to avoid would be to get as many parts as you can from the car that the motor comes out of. I didn't get my wiring harness with my engine and it made for some headaches getting the right ecu. I have tried multiple times to post photos that would illustrate what I am talking about, all without any luck. Maybe I will have to get one of my children to post them for me. Good luck with your project. I have been very happy with mine.

I


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: January 16, 2019 11:11AM

My new year's resolution was to be in the 80th percentile. You know, the ones that fail in their new year's resolution? I think I made it. But, that means I didn't...but...

Jim


healey100jedi
Dan Wolters
Tucson
(22 posts)

Registered:
07/20/2008 10:56PM

Main British Car:
1956 100GT Supra 7MGTE

Re: Toyota-Healey; aka "Austin-Harlot"
Posted by: healey100jedi
Date: April 18, 2019 10:02PM

Robby, The 7mgte and R154 fits in the 100. Please have a look at the 1956 Austin Healey 100 GT on this webpage. Thanks. Dan



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