Reducing the revolutions
1965 austinhealey 3000
On the healey’s 50th anniversary road trip in 2015 to the Hotel de France, described in Octane 146, I mentioned the joy of ‘cruising on the autoroute in overdrive at 75mph at 4500rpm’. I was subsequently informed by a letter from Kirk Rylands in issue 149 that those revolutions were impossible if my car had the standard gearing and back axle ratio.
Taking note of Mr Rylands’ comments, it was clear that the electric tachometer was faulty, which became another task on my never-ending list to keep 171 YNO in a well-maintained condition. I asked JME Healeys to recalibrate it when they next had the car in for a service and according to proprietor Chris Everard it’s a very common problem with these gauges. To service and recalibrate one, it’s a simple job to remove the dial – if you don’t mind working upside-down under the dashboard, that is.
One important issue is that Austin-Healey 3000 MkIIIs like mine were supplied new as positive-earth cars. The revcounter is polarity-sensitive and if the car has been changed to a negative-earth system the repairers will need to know, as the wiring has to be modified.
My repaired tachometer was reinstalled in the wood-veneer dashboard by technician Carl, and the BJ8’s black-and-white dials looked great. After a quick road test I headed south on the M40, cruising at 70mph with 2800rpm and hoping that Mr Rylands would approve of the figures being displayed.
Talking of which, one of the problems with driving a classic car today is that we have become used to pin-point accurate information from modern digital dashboards, rather than the flickering needles of the old Smiths dials that I can just about read in the ’Healey’s cockpit. I always carry a four-litre emergency can of fuel in the boot, as the fuel gauge is hopelessly inaccurate below a reading of a quarter-full.
Pleased to have been able to make the journey before the motorways were doused with Top and above Martyn was glad to get the Healey’s revcounter fixed before the car went into its winter quarters.
salt to combat the properly cold winter we’re experiencing this year, I reversed the car into my garage, a 1960s unit integral with the house. The Healey fits it snugly but I can’t squeeze my modern Fiat 500 into the same space without climbing out of the sunroof, an indication of how cars have grown.
To aid the Austin-Healey’s preservation, I fit a battery conditioner, cover the car with a breathable dust cover and leave a small electric heater running on a timer during the cold damp nights. The car will stay here until it comes out of hibernation in April for the next set of adventures. Roll on Spring!