Ernie Vicencio's Rover V8 powered 1974 Jensen Healey
as published in BritishV8 Magazine, Volume XXI Issue 1, July 2013Owner: Ernie Vicencio
BritishV8 UserID: Chico
City: Whittier, California
Model: 1974 Jensen Healey
Engine: Rover 3.5L V8
Conversion performed by: Limeworks Speedshop
Features and Specifications
| Engine: | Rover 3.5L V8, rebuilt by Engine Parts Service of Whittier California.
Stock camshaft.
Ported cylinder heads.
Offenhauser "John Woolf Racing" intake manifold, part# 7001-DP.
Holley 390cfm carburetor.
Edelbrock air cleaner.
Lucas distributor.
Pertronix Ignitor breakerless ignition.
MSD Digital 6AL controller, part# 6425.
MSD Blaster 2 ignition coil.
Taylor 7mm spark plug wires.
Wix oil filter. |
| Cooling: | Griffin crossflow aluminum radiator.
Electric fan. |
| Exhaust: | D&D Fabrications four-into-one block-hugger headers.
Magnaflow mufflers (two, in series). |
| Transmission: | Borg-Warner T5 manual transmission.
Chevy bellhousing.
Steel bellhousing adapter plate.
Hydraulic throw-out bearing. |
| Rear Axle: | stock. (3.73:1 gears.) |
| Front Suspension: | stock, except lowered. |
| Rear Suspension: | stock, except with coilover-style springs and adjustable mounts. |
| Brakes: | (master) stock tandem master cylinder, with booster. (front) stock. (rear) stock. |
| Wheels/Tires: | Dunlop direct bolt-on wire wheels, powdercoated black.
Maxxis Radial 185/70/13 tires. |
| Body: | rear bumper moved closer to body. |
| Interior: | new (aftermarket) steering wheel. |
| Instruments: | stock. |
| Electrical: | Nippondenso alternator.
IMI Performance Products gear reduction starter. |
| Completed: | mid-March 2013.
|
Engine Installation
Rover 3.5L V8 rebuilt by Engine Parts Service of Whittier California.
Offenhauser "John Woolf Racing" intake manifold, part# 7001-DP. Holley 390cfm carburetor.
Griffin crossflow aluminum radiator. Electric fan.
Wix oil filter.
IMI Performance Products "Hi-Torque" gear reduction starter.
Underneath all that black paint this is a shiny aluminum engine.
Before it was painted black, it was painted green.
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An adapter plate permits bolting a Chevy bellhousing to the Buick-style bolt pattern.
Note also that this particular Borg Warner T5 transmission has a short bellhousing-
to-shifter dimension: it probably came out of a Chevy S10 pickup truck.
Modified D&D block hugger headers: flanges added and then ceramic coated.
MSD Digital 6AL controller, part# 6425.
Edelbrock air cleaner.
Brake booster and tandem master cylinder.
Polished aluminum Rover valve covers.
Front Suspension
Stock Jensen Healey independent front suspension.
Telescoping shock absorbers.
Rear Suspension
The Jensen Healey rear suspension features a wishbone upper link and two trailing lower links.
The wishbone keeps the rear suspension centered, so no Watts linkage or Panhard bar is required.
The suspension's roll center is rather high by design: it's at the point where the wishbone
connects to the top of the axle housing. Note also the two Magnaflow mufflers in series.
Original Jensen Healeys have larger diameter rear springs mounted on simple non-adjustable perchs.
Smaller, lighter coilover-style springs and threaded perchs to facilitate fine-tuning ride height.
(Shock absorbers are mounted in the usual Jensen Healey position: outboard, behind the axle.)
Interior
Limeworks Speedshop installed a "Sprint Car Style" steering wheel.
This handsome, understated interior is original to Ernie's Jensen Healey.
Ernie and his wife have owned the car since it was new.
Exterior
Introduced in 1972, the Jensen Healey model was conceived as a successor to the Austin Healey
model line which had been discontinued in 1967 by the financially troubled British Motor Holdings
Limited company. Jensen had supplied BMH with bodies for Austin Healey production. Featuring
unit body construction, the Jensen Healey body is a more modern and sophisticated design.
The new model was long, low, and sleek. It handled well, and its engine promised race-bred technology.
Jensen Healeys came from the factory with Lotus "Type 907" engines featuring dual overhead cams and
four valves per cylinder. Rebuilt to original standards they can produce about 144bhp, but they don't
produce much torque unless you turbocharge them. That didn't impress "big Healey" enthusiasts.
The people who conceived and planned the Jensen Healey, including Kjell Qvale and Donald Healey,
anticipated it would be offered with a V8 engine, but a suitable engine wasn't available.
Colin Chapman of Lotus offered his brand new Type 907 engine. However, he didn't agree to cover
warrantee expenses. The Lotus engine wasn't "bad" by design, it just wasn't fully developed yet.
Meanwhile, Rover was selling their excellent, lightweight aluminum V8 engine to several
sports car builders including Morgan. Rover didn't offer the aluminum V8 to Jensen.
The Rover 3.5 V8 fits nicely under a Jensen Healey's low, low hoodline. This is the car Jensen
should have built in the first place. It's the car they would have built if they could have.
Oil leaks, especially from poorly designed camshaft cover gaskets, plagued many Jensen Healeys.
Dunlop direct bolt-on wire wheels, powdercoated black. Maxxis Radial 185/70/13 tires.
The Type 907 is an "interference engine", meaning that its valves will contact its pistons if its
timing belt jumps a cog. That was a big problem because the timing belts stretched. They were
supposed to be changed every 40,000 miles, and sometimes they didn't even last that long.
Jensen's other engine supplier was Chrysler. Jensen used Chrysler big block V8 engines in the Interceptor.
Chrysler's 318cid small block V8 isn't lightweight by any standard, but it's an uncommonly
rugged engine. If the Jensen Healey had been built around it, the car may have been
far more commercially successful (but don't tell that to a Jensen Healey purist!)
German automotive aerodynamicist Wunibald Kamm (1893-1966) discovered that abruptly curtailed
car bodies produce less turbulence. Result: "Kammback" (a.k.a. "Kamm tail") cars of the 60s & 70s.
Photos by Ernie Vicencio for BritishV8. Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
