Healey Sports Cars

Hello, I'm Kevin. I'm new to this forum and have been real impressed with the knowledge and great looking British V8s. I have a '55 BN1 that I'm getting back into driving shape. I bought the car in 1991 from a gent that did a nice job with the initial V8 conversion. I drove the car for several years, blew a head gasket and parked it for the last 10 years. I've almost completed a rolling restoration with new paint. Installed a 350 custom crate motor from Jon Barrett Hot Rod engines in Ok City. It's matched up to a 350 turbo trany w/shift kit. Suspension and rear end are original. I am looking for suggestions on replacing original transaxle with a posi rear end / disc brakes and conventional shocks. my goal is to end up with a car that is comfortable to drive at highway speeds, not really looking to set any 1/4 mile records. Thanks in advance







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2009 12:12AM by vaknight.

If you find a rear out of a S series Bravada, they should have posi and disc brakes. I think it was only one or two years though. If you want a Ford 5 lug pattern you would want a Explorer rear, not sure of years. You would have to narrow both to fit. I know some of the Mustangs came with 4 lug if you want to go that route but I am not sure of the years that would have the disc brakes and 4 lug patterns.

I really like that paint job! We need to get your car written up and added to our photo gallery.

(Info about how to do that is here: How-It-Was-Done template, plus photo submission tips.)

There have been several BritishV8 articles specifically about axle options... Here's one example: GM 10-bolt axle options

If you read through the "How It Was Done" articles, you'll see that just about every axle has been tried. I have a Ford 8.8 and it's good: it was easy to find locally with low mileage, it came with a limited slip diff, and the stock gear ratio suited me. However, if I were doing it over I'd use a Ford 8" axle instead because they're lighter... especially if you install an aluminum carrier. (A lighter axle will provide slightly better ride quality, besides contributing to a quicker car.) The 8" would've cost more than the 8.8 because most likely I would have needed to purchase a new limited slip diff. Most any of the American axles can be easily updated to disc brakes...

The Ford 8" axle with aluminum carrier, Auburn LSD, Currie driveshafts, and disc brakes under Dan Masters' MGB GT:

Thanks for the info, I'll take a look at a few more of the "How It Was Done" articles and see what makes sense for my set up.

I spent a considerable amount of time looking for a paint scheme, wanted to get close to Old English White with Healey Blue.

Impressive.

Here is a completely different way to think outside of the MG box... If and only if your rear axle is wider than the MG axle, you can probably find a stock axle that is aproximately the width you need. Stock GM axles start at 54" wide and go up from there. Figure out how wide your rear axle is and report back here. Maybe we can find something that you can just install with simple spring perches and skip the expense that MG guys have to go through to narrow an axle. Maybe??

-BMC.

BMC,
Thanks for the post, I haven't had the chance to pull the wheels to get an accurae measurment, but it's close to 50" - 51" from the Brake drum faces.
Kevin

Do you care about bolt pattern? What kind of HP will you be putting to it?

J Man,
I currently have 245/60x15 rear, 195/60x15 front all on a 5 bolt 4.5" patten. I have considered new wheels, but if I go down that road might be better off getting custum rear end. It has 330hp .

I have a Toyota PU rear I can measure and a '55 Plymouth rear I can check. The HP ight be an issue with both though. I will measure then and let you know Sat night.

Maybe I am wrong. For some odd reason, I thought you would have a wider differential. If yours is only 51" wide, you can either get a different wheel offset for the rear and thus Possibly skip the differential narrowing otherwise your going to have to go for a narrowed rear axle.

-BMC.