This is the story of the (ever ongoing) restoration of my 1966 Austin Healey Sprite MkIII:
Quick Links:
- The Previous Owner’s Story
- First Impressions
- Work Begins
- Engine and Gearbox
- First Drive
- The Little Details
- The Future
The Previous Owner’s Story
He bought the car from the original owner sometime in the 70s. When the clutch started giving him trouble, he removed the engine and gearbox (necessary in these cars) to replace it. While it was out, he decided to do a little restoration, including rebuilding the front end, restoring the interior (in ‘biscuit’) and repainting the exterior (in British Racing Green). One thing led to another, and he clearly didn’t get very far! As far as I can tell, the shocks are rebuilt and the seats have been recovered. Oh, and he did replace the clutch too! I have yet to investigate the condition of the front suspension, and he couldn’t remember how much he had done in that area before his project became a shelf for garage junk and a leaning post for his kids’ bikes!
First Impressions
This is how the car looked (right) when I first towed it home in February of 1997. Doesn’t look too bad
in this shot, apart from the condition of the top. I later discovered that this was nothing more than a thick layer of dust. The previous owner couldn’t remember exactly how long the car had been sitting in his garage, but he estimated that it was about 15 years (borne out by the 1982 emissions sticker on the windscreen). So that’s what 15 years of dust looks like!
Here’s the interior (left) – or lack of one! The trim panels that were left were warped and mouldy. The steering wheel is cracked and the dash is shabby. There is mainly surface rust on the floor panels, but nothing serious, apart from a hole where the accelerator pedal bolts to the driver’s footwell. The seats look good, though! There’s an interesting radio console of a style that I haven’t seen before.
In this shot (right) you can just about see the nicely creased A-post which was most likely caused by the wind catching the driver’s door while the door check-strap was missing. Also visible is the dented left front wing, and you can just make out the rust spots on the sill at the front.
This view (left) shows a couple of rust spots on the left lower A-post and the front of the sill. Those are areas that are typically susceptible to rust on these cars, as the construction creates some nice mud traps. Also (typically) rusty were the double skinned panels at the bottom of the rear wings, just behind the wheels. All in all, though, the car was very solid. As I understand it, it spent most of its life in California and Arizona, so it was subjected to pretty favourable weather.
Sitting on a dolly is the engine, more or less as I received it. The head was on, but I removed it to check the condition of the valves and cylinders. The rest of the car was contained within 3 or 4 cardboard boxes.
From the owner’s description, before I saw the car, I didn’t expect it to be quite so much of the set of ‘boxes of bits’ that it was, but for the princely sum of $600, it wasn’t too bad. With hindsight, if I’d known how long it would take to get the thing back together, I would probably have looked around for something in driveable condition instead. Maybe next time !
Work Begins
I’m glad I had the foresight to take these pictures before I started stripping the engine bay! They became invaluable when, two years later, I started to put things back together. Even with the pictures, it took some time to identify the purpose of each of those holes in the bulkhead. You can just make out the tatty wiring harness, and the labels that the previous owner had thoughtfully attached to the terminals before removing the engine electrical components:
With the engine bay stripped of all components and all the front panels removed, here is a shot (left) of the paint and surface rust stripping in progress….
…and another (right) showing it primed.
A few months later, the car went off to
Dan Dougherty of Global Restorations for replacement of the outer front sill sections, outer A-posts, lower rear wing sections and battery tray. Here (left) is the car just back from Dan, with the front end panels trial-fitted.
Engine and Gearbox
Not many pictures here, I’m afraid. I was a little busy with a new addition to the family, but I did manage to rebuild the cylinder head (the bottom end looked fine from the top of the cylinders and from inside one of the mains, so I left it alone) and put the engine together, complete with a nice coat of paint, a new oil pump, an alloy rocker cover and a spin-on filter kit from Moss Motors. (By the way, I buy all my Moss parts through George Merryweather of Classic Restorations, who offers a 15% discount on Moss’ prices and free shipping.)
I also purchased a 5-speed gearbox adapter kit from Rivergate Restorations which uses the gearbox from a Datsun 210 (”Sunny” in the UK). The kit, plus the cost of a used gearbox and rebuilding, is not particularly cheap, but by all accounts is a very worthwhile conversion, as it adds synchromesh on first gear, and an overdrive gear which helps keep the engine revs down at high (!) speeds. As I never drove the car in its standard form, I can’t comment on the difference that the transplant makes, but I do like it the way it is.
New year’s eve in 1998, and a friend and I finally drop the engine and gearbox into the newly painted engine bay (left). (I painted it myself with a borrowed spray gun and compressor. As you can see, I continued with the previous owner’s plan to change from blue to British Racing Green.) This relatively straightforward task was complicated slightly by some stupidity on our part. Did you know that it’s possible to install the engine mounting pedestals upside down and on the wrong side of the car? The bolt holes line up perfectly this way, and they look right, until you try to lower the engine in, only to perceive that the mounts are about an inch too close together for the engine to fit between them. Some cursing and levering with a crowbar only drove us to give up and go get a beer. It was only later (evidence that beer is indeed good for your brain) that the simple solution dawned on me. Swap them over and flip them around and, voila, drops in as easy as pie!
A few months later, with some makeshift wiring in place, and the generator bolted on to tension the fan belt (right), the engine started remarkably easily with just the static timing set. In this picture, you can also see the thick aluminium engine back-plate that is the adapter for the Datsun gearbox.
First Drive
Eight months later, and the car now sports a full set of new copper brake pipes, braided flexible hoses, new rear wheel brake cylinders, new seals on the front calipers (now that job is a real pain, I can tell you for nothing), a rebuilt brake/clutch master cylinder, a new fuel tank and sender, and a new radiator (it was cheaper to buy a new one than to have the original re-cored). There is, theoretically, enough there to make it driveable (left), so a quick bolt in of the driver’s seat and we’re away!
I just took it around the neighbourhood and everything seemed fine, apart from an intermittent clattering from somewhere in the vicinity of the bellhousing. “Oh crap, the clutch has fallen apart, or something”, I thought. Not quite, but with the use of a flexible retrieval tool with a magnet on the end, I extracted a 1/2? socket from the depths of the bellhousing! The version of the 5-speed kit that I have requires you to cut out a large section of the bellhousing to clear the starter motor pinion. With the starter motor out, this leaves a nice hole for two not-so-careful mechanics to drop a socket into while they’re installing the engine! As far as I can tell, no damage was caused, as the magnet didn’t retrieve any pieces of flywheel starter gear, or anything like that!
The Little Details
The first drive was in November 1999, but it took until September of 2000 before everything else was in place to the extent that the car could be insured and tagged and driven (legally) on the road. Here are all the little things that needed to be done to get it to that stage:
Wiring
The ‘66 Sprite was originally wired positive earth, with only two fuses, a generator with an external regulator box, and headlights wired directly through the switch on the dashboard. I wanted to change all of these things, so I modified the wiring harness (you can see the resulting wiring diagram here, if you’re interested) to convert to negative earth, incorporate a six-fuse (blade type) fuse box, eliminate the generator and regulator in favour of an alternator, and wire relays between the headlight switch and the (halogen) lights.
Conversion from positive to negative earth is a simple procedure, and is described here. Notice that the starter motor does not appear to care which way around it is connected (and nor does the fuel gauge – although I wasn’t so sure at first, as I explain below!)
Instructions for converting to an alternator can be found here courtesy of Frank Clarici. The alternator I used is from a 1986 Mazda RX7 (left). The alternator has one large screw on type terminal, which is the one that the wire to the battery connects to, and a pair of male spade terminals arranged in a ‘T’ and recessed. The one to use for the field wire is the one that forms the vertical ‘leg’ of the ‘T’. The remaining terminal (the ‘top’ of the ‘T’) is left unused. One thing Frank does not mention in his article is that a little over 1/8″, or so, must be ground off the front face of the generator mounting ear that is part of the waterpump casing, to ensure that the alternator pulley will line up correctly with those on the waterpump and crankshaft. Neglecting to do this would most likely result in the early failure of the fan belt, or in it slipping off. It took a bit of trial and error before I determined the optimal fan belt length (for my setup, at least) to prevent the alternator adjusting bracket from banging against the shock absorber bolt. I ended up with a 35.5″ belt, which is long enough to allow the bracket to clear the shock absorber by about 1/2″, while allowing for more adjustment to the belt tension. I also had to add some spacers to the stud that attaches the lower end of the bracket to the engine front plate, to ensure that everything lined up just right. Of course, depending on the alternator and bracket that you use, you may get different results.
The addition of a relay in each of the dipped and main headlight circuits was straightforward enough. Instructions can be found here. One thing I found useful was to buy relay sockets, complete with a short harness. This saves on having to wire up multiple spade connectors. It also means that, should a relay fail, it can be easily unplugged and replaced. I intercepted the headlight wiring just before it leaves the engine bay through the right splashguard, and installed the relays and a couple of inline fuses there (if I’d worked this out in advance, I could have incorporated these into the fuse box – oh well, maybe next time!).
Another modification that I made was to dispense with the distributor points and convert to optical sensor electronic ignition. The unit I used is from Newtronic in the UK. It requires modifications to the wiring, and has a module that must be mounted externally to the distributor, so it’s probably not for those who are concerned with originality (which I am clearly not). The reason I decided on this one is that my brother used it successfully for about 10 years on his GT6 convertible (it’s a long story), with no problems. I bought it from Moss in the UK. You can see the unit here (right) together with the new fuse box and the plastic wrapped wiring harness. The wrapping tape is the non-sticky kind, that adheres to itself electrostatically. I finished the ends with heat-shrink insulation.
Electric Fan
For no particular reason, other than that I was buying some other parts from Moss in the UK anyway, I bought a Kenlowe electric cooling fan to replace the original engine driven one. It fits in front of the radiator, where there is plenty of room for it, and is easily mounted using the adjustable mounting system that Kenlowe uses. The only thing I don’t like about it is the sensor for the thermostat, which is a bulb attached to a long capillary tube that must be inserted into the radiator top hose. As I relocated the temperature gauge sender to the cylinder head (don’t forget the spacer if you do this), there is an available threaded hole in the radiator (currently stopped with the plug from the cylinder head), for which I think I’ll try to find a thermostatic switch from a modern car, to replace the Kenlowe setup (see alternator picture).
Fuel Sender
When I removed the original fuel tank from the car, it was about half full of some foul smelling sludge and scale, that must be the result of leaving fuel to stand for 15 years! I didn’t think I would be able to get all of this stuff out easily, so a new tank was purchased. Submersion in this stuff had also taken its toll on the fuel sender float, which was made of tin, or some other light metal. It was full of holes, and a quick check of the resistance across the fuel sender terminals showed that there were a number of dead spots, so I opted for a new sender unit. The unit that is correct for the ‘66 is almost 3 times the price of the later type, which a parts guy in the UK (no names!) assured me was electrically identical to the earlier one, so I bought it, bolted it on, installed the tank and forgot about it.
It was almost a year later before I got around to the wiring harness and the instruments. I knew the tank was almost empty, but the first time I connected the fuel gauge to the harness, the needle just banged against the upper stop. My first suspicion was that it was related to my conversion from positive to negative earth, but the sender is a simple potentiometer, and resistance doesn’t care about polarity, so that didn’t make any sense. Some further investigation (why didn’t I do this the first time around?) revealed that the different senders and gauges are not compatible:
| Original Type Sender | Later Type Sender | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full | 100 Ohms | Full | 14 Ohms |
| Half | 60 Ohms | Half | 90 Ohms |
| Empty | 10 Ohms | Empty | 258 Ohms |
So, of course, with the later sender and the early gauge, an almost empty tank will yield about 200 Ohms, which the gauge will read as very full!. My solution was to cut the arm and float off the later sender and attach it to the original one, which actually worked fine after cleaning and lubricating the potentiometer windings and the wiper arm.
Exhaust
The exhaust and ‘long centre branch’ manifold (header) are Maniflow units from Advanced Performance Technology.
The exhaust is their ‘ESO31T’ unit, which is a twin box system in the style of the later Sprites and Midgets. I really wanted a single box system, as the box crossing behind the fuel tank is a little ugly (right), but the Maniflow systems are supposedly the best (from a performance viewpoint) that are available in the US, and APT assured me that their ‘ESO31′ (single box) is intended for racing only and would be far too loud for road use.
I experimented with the system a little, by removing the rear box and driving it around like that for a while. It’s extremely loud like that, so I went back to using both boxes.
It’s a little too quiet now, for my liking. I may experiment with some different rear boxes in the future to see if I can muffle it enough to be bearable, but not too much as to be inconspicuous! Another downside of the Maniflow system is that the tailpipe leaves the back of the car at a weird 60 degree angle. A trip to an exhaust place to have them bend it to 90 degrees should fix that.
Wheels and Tyres
Wheels are 13×5″ Minators made by KN in the UK. A 175 section tyre is the widest that is generally recommended for a 5″ wide wheel (and there is not a lot of lateral clearance under the rear wheel arches), so I ended up with Falken ZIEX ZE-502 tyres in the 175/60 R13 size.
Tyres in this size are hard to come by here in the States, as are Falkens in general (they’re very popular and easily obtainable in the UK), but I contacted Falken and they gave me a list of local suppliers (one of whom denied the existence of any such tyre in this size!). With these tyres, the wheel and tyre combination has a diameter that is almost an inch smaller than with those that came from the factory (145SR13 – 80 profile – tyres), and they look a little small for my taste. I don’t really like tyres with a 70 or 80 profile, so perhaps a better solution would be 14″ wheels with 60 or 65 profile tyres. I don’t know what sizes exist in this range, but going up to 185 section tyres would potentially lead to clearance problems. Wheel offset would be very important here to obtain the optimal tyre position to clear the springs and to minimise any body modifications that would be necessary to clear the inner wheel arches.
The Future
Clearly, I have some work still to do! These are my plans for the future:
Suspension
I had heard that some owners have experienced rubbing of the tyres against the wheel arches when using the 175/60R13 size tyres. I experienced no such rubbing when bouncing the car while stationary, but a short drive revealed that some paint was being scuffed just inside the lip of the right rear wheel arch. With a sturdy scissor jack (from my XJ6), a 2×4 and some courage, I gently pushed out the wheel arch to give a little more clearance. The result was a slight curving of the previously straight panel, but nothing too drastic. It’s hard enough to see if you know what to look for, and I’m sure that anyone not extremely familiar with the lines of the car wouldn’t even notice. Clearance on the left hand side was fine, but I pushed the wheel arch out on that side too, to even things up. Just to be sure that the axle will stay located in its resting position, I will be fitting a Panhard rod from The Winner’s Circle. This mounts to the rear axle where the right side spring attaches, and then to the car body at the left, to prevent the axle from moving laterally (which, unfettered, it would, under cornering forces), but allowing it to move vertically (which, of course, it should).
At the front of the car, I will be fitting slightly lower and harder (340 lbs) springs. With the smaller wheel and tyre combination, some additional lowering may be required to close up the gap above the tyre a little. I decided on the harder springs to offset some of the front end softness a little. Once I have evaluated the setup by driving around a little, I may opt to install an anti-roll bar (none was fitted on this car – I believe it was offered as an option when the car was new).
Interior
So far, the interior consists of the newly painted dashboard (I had good results with the wrinkle finish paint from Eastwood), and a Mountney 13″ steering wheel (bought in the UK last time I was home – it’s a lot cheaper that way). Missing from the dash is the oil pressure warning light (can’t be used with the spin-on filter conversion – not needed anyway), the manual windscreen washer pump, which I will be replacing with an electric one at some point, and the “Sprite” badge (left). Obviously I have a lot of work to do before the interior is complete, as I need all the interior panels and the carpets. My plan is to make all of this myself, so don’t expect any results too soon!
Exterior
The car needs some bumpers, but those that it came with look a little too bulky for my tastes, so I will be looking into acquiring a pair of Frogeye (”Bugeye”) overriders for the back, and may even try to use a pair of these at the front too.
To match the engine bay paint job, the exterior will be painted in British Racing Green. Some bodywork will be necessary before I can get to that point (the existing paint is covered in hairline cracks, so will have to be stripped, the left front wing is dented and there are numerous dings all over the car), so maybe we’ll see some results in that direction sometime in the distant future!
Here (on the left) is the car as it is now, together with (right) the result of some wishful thinking (and the help of Adobe Photoshop!). While I’m waiting to get around to the real paint job, I’ll be driving it around a bit to iron out any mechanical problems that may crop up.
The Saga Continues Here (13th Aug 2001)
