1963 Austin Healey 3000 - the little beast

So this weekend I made a terrible and wonderful decision; I bought someone's project car.

It's (mostly, I think...) a 1963 Austin Healey 3000. The entire front and rear ends of the car, save the hood and trunk, are fiberglass and flared. The door skins are original, but the interior is custom. The car has what the previous owner suspects is a Chevy 307 w/327 heads, long tube headers, a Rochester Quadrajet, and some generic header mufflers that dump right before the rear tires. That's all connected to what I believe to be a Muncie 4 speed that's hooked up to the stock AH rear end.

I bought it without being able to really test drive it, since the brake master cylinder is toast. The furthest I've gone is getting it on/off the trailer, and down the block to my driveway. From that 600 feet or so, I'm smitten. It's super tight, so I suspect it's had some serious suspension work done. It's running 245s in the rear, and 225s up front.

I ordered a rebuild kit for the master cylinder, and I'll get started on that so I can take the wife out for a cruise without worrying about it stopping (there are still plenty of other things to worry about, it's a 52 year old British car...). I already had to take the door panel off on the drivers side to fix the door latch and handle. So far, so good.

Long term plans include some suspension/brake refreshing, a little love for the SBC (or a replacement down the line), a new top, and maybe paint if I can get around to budgeting for it.

Pictures on the way.

Updates as I have them.

We want pictures ! You cant say healey and flares without posting pictures... its cruel... :D

Congratulations,God help you.

Why the flares to the fenders?

I would say stick to the basics if you can. Get it running and if you can enjoy as-is, then bonus.

Paint looks nice, try not to get into that.

Looking forward to more pics about what was involved in the swap and how it was done. I am pretty familiar with the stock version of these cars.

In reply to NOHOME:

The fenders/flares are all once piece - the entire front end is tied into the stock frame, firewall, and fender support. The rear is similar, all one piece. No clue why it was done, but I'm not much of a purist and it floats my boat.

It runs like a scalded rat from what I can tell, just doesn't stop too well right now

The paint is ok from 15-20 feet. There are a good few stress cracks in the glasswork - something I'll deal with 3-5 years down the line when I get too tired of looking at it. As of now, the view over the hood is pretty slick.

I'll get some better shots of the engine and undercarriage once I get it up off the ground. The engine isn't as tight as some might imagine, seems easy enough to get to most components.

This makes my tingley bits tingle.

Lbc with a sbc and flares. Please tell me it is challenge budget. ...

In reply to Dusterbd13:

I'm gonna have to live a lot longer for it to be challenge budget That said, I got it for what I felt was a fair price.

I fired it up today to show a friend, and my wife (who was inside the house) thought we were having an earthquake. I'm pretty sure that's a win.

Datsun1500 wrote: Looks like a Sebring 5000 kit. Are you sure it's not?

That is what I thought also, but the flares are not right

In reply to Datsun1500:

Honestly... no? The vin comes back as a 1963 Austin Healey 3000 - PO only had it for 5 years or so, he'd bought it from another SF bay area owner (who'd had it 29 years or so I think, and was responsible for the modifications). It'd be nice to know if it's not what I was sold, not that I think I'd get rid of it, just to really know what I'm working with.

I snapped a few more photos when I got back this evening, please pardon the messy garage. Any help with ID would be greatly appreciated.

Can you get a close up of the dash plaque?

In reply to jr02518:

Pretty sure it says something along the lines of sit down, shut up, and hold on... I'll verify tomorrow, but I don't think it's much of an original piece.

Hard to tell since the body is obviosly a full custom.

The bumpers are not Healey.

The rad does look like a healey.

The front inner fenders look like they are fiberglass and that would not be healey.

At the core of every healey is this unique subframe structure that is half unibody. It would be difficult to integrate fiberglass panels into this structure.

The frame rails on a healey are quite distinctive with the ridge down the middle.

I was looking for the distinctive frame section around the brake and clutch master. The diagonal has a series of holes in it and runs from the firewall to the front suspension.

Looks like a fun toy regardless of DNA

Didn't street beast or someone like that sell kits to wide body the 3000 in addition to their kit cars?

Looks like a BLAST regardless!

In reply to NOHOME:

I'll get it in the air this afternoon to check. The diagonals inside of the master cylinders has (purposeful) holes in it. I'll see if I can get a closeup of that as well.

Here is what makes me think that this is based on a factory Healey:

Look at the chrome trim. No way that a Kit car manufacturer is going to replicate that feature. Just too expensive. The second picture is a Seebring kit car.

I wonder if this is a Seebring kit assembled on a stock car?

Whatever this car is, it's friggin sweet I love how the Healeys always look so pleased with themselves.

If you've not been to BritishV8.org yet, you should check it out.

Whatever it is that thing is sweet. Looks like a fun project.

Figure I'd get a small update here, it's been 5 years.

I still have it... though it came close to being sold to finance a camper van dream.

I haven't done much other than fluids and basic maintenance. Shockingly reliable really, only thing that's gone wrong was the fuel level sending unit. I swapped out the low-backed seats with some first gen Miata units, only mod so far other than new mufflers.

My dad and I scored a 400 block for free on CL, and dropped it off at Gromm in San Jose to see if it was a viable candidate to be rebuilt. It was, and I've got a deposit down on a 377, which should have a bit more poke than the 307 does (which falls flat on it's face at 4500rpm). Planning on going EFI for the swap with one of the Holley Terminator X Stealth units (though I'm open to hear other options).

With that done I went hunting for some other associated parts that would help, and bought a 10 bolt GM rear end that had been narrowed to fit a 3000 in a previous life.

The plan at this point is to get some updated suspension from Putzke, some bigger discs up front from a BJ8, a posi and disks for the rear end, and probably some chassis bracing. I'm also hoping to get an updated exhaust run so that I can send it out the back of the car - as it sits now, earplugs are almost mandatory for longer drives.

The piece I'm struggling with now is the transmission. I'm pretty sure I'd like to ditch the 4 speed, which has proven a bit clunky and prone to popping out of gear on deceleration, and move towards an automatic transmission. This is not a car that will see a lot of freeway time, so I'm not super concerned with getting an overdrive. I can probably get a 350/400 in there, and I'm also openly wondering if I can get away with a powerglide to try and keep weight down.

Just got a quickjack set up in the garage, which should make getting under this thing to work on it a bit easier. I'm hopeful I'll have some more updates (and pictures) soon.

(edit... I need to update the photos from the ealier posts too, looks like those are all borked).

In reply to bwaynep :

Post your photos direct from your computer to here. This feature is new since your (Photobucket?) previous posts. And, for entertainment, two pics of V8 Healeys from the Pennsylvania Hillclimb Association 1969 at Topton PA. Both Ford powered, blue car 4 speed. red car automatic.