Jensen Healey and Toyota Echo Projects

So, yesterday was a good and busy day out in the garage. It feels really good to be able to mess around working on stuff again. While I'm still paying for it by the evening, just being able to do something it a great sanity saver!

So, we finished up the Jensen Healey Wiper Assembly restoration/refresh. While the article is published here it's not quite complete, and will be finished this week. I also managed to get the Jensen Healey Heater Assembly restoration/refresh started, so that article will be coming soon.

While doing the Jensen related stuff, we also did an oil change and spark plug replacement on my Assistant Greasemonkey's car, a 2002 Toyota Echo. I was amazed to find that there is no Chilton's or Haynes manual for the car. There is a factory service manual, but it's out of stock on Amazon. I just finished writing up the oil change process here. I'll be adding the spark plug replacement in the next day or so.

Starting the Healey effort and getting into the garage

Based on efforts to start collecting Austin Healey literature for my BT7 I figured it was a big enough effort to start documenting the Austin Healey project. Project preparation is just as important as wrench turning, and I'd say that without the proper reading ahead of time you can easily jeapordize the success of your project or greatly extend the time it takes to do the restoration. I added two new pages to the site, Project Overview and Literature research. I'm really excited about this project. The Healey is one of my "Holy Grail Cars" and it will be the first full restoration documentation on the website.

Additionally, I went out this morning to do the periodic starting of my "driveable" Jensen Healey (the blue one). I needed to make sure that the battery was still charged (it was). Today SWMBO is off at work, and my junior greasemonkey is visiting with Grandma, so, leg permitting, I should have a good day out in the garage. It's pretty overcast here today (which normally is a rarity in AZ, but this "winter" it's been the norm). Hopefully we won't get any rain. I think we might as the joints are being my weather forcast this morning.

Highland Games 2008

I did my requisite annual visit to the Highland Games in Phoenix this year. Ate my three Scottish Pies, wandered around the clan booths, and watched one of the men (masters class) set a new world record on the weight for height event. This was the first year for the better half and the munchkin, so much of my time was spent educating them about Scotland and Scottish history.

The car collection was out on display, a teaser for next weekend's Wheels of Britain event. i collected a nice set of photos, and have put them on the Car Shows page.

I also managed to get a couple good days in the garage last week, so I'll be writing up an article on windshield wiper aseemblies for the Jensen Healey. I did fall prey to not following my own advice though. I was able to immediately put my hands on everything except the clamp for the windshield motor assembly. The box I found it in (eventually) was labeled "Heater." I'll blame it on the parts gremlins.

Recent Site Updates & Upcoming Items

Most recently the following items have been added to the TheyMightBeRacing.Com site:

I've integrated Google's Picasa service into the web site. There's now a collection of photo galleries of the work on the Jensen Healey Project as well as a collection of photos of my 1960 Austin Healey 3000.

The first segments on In-Situ Project planning and effort have been started. This initial section covers Baseline Maintenance of the project.

Now, as some know the reason I started this site was due to being stir crazy from reconstructive surgery. On a good note it appears like my doctors are discovering the source of the pain issues which I have not been able to resolve to date. This has been the primary reason why I've not been able to get into my own garage. So, I'm hoping to get out and continue work on the Jensen Healey project in the coming weeks. Stay tuned in for updates and new articles on the process.

Cheers! Jody