Moss Motors, Ltd

So long story short, An aquaintance is giving me a 1960 Austin Healey 3000 which has been in storage for quite some time.  It's supposed to be in pretty good shape overall (no, I haven't seen it yet.  Its buried in his garage), except for "a bad gear or driveshaft in the transmission".

 I've always like the old Austin Healeys, but know next to nothing about them.  Most of my british car experience consists of helping my father with his MG midget when i was a kid.  

 I'd like to see if anybody has any insight on common culprits for transmission failures, and if there are any other things I should know to look for right off the bat.

Thanks

Right off the bat, you are one VERY lucky guy! That car is very valuable!

I can't claim expertise with the gearbox, but there are several on this forum whom can. I'm sure that you'll be hearing from them soon. On the other hand, If you have any electrical questions, I'd be glad to help.

Good luck with the car, and congratulations.

---

On their death bed, nobody ever said, "Gee I wish I'd spent more time at work!"

'68 Sprite 1275
'76 Midget 1500

davey:

Right off the bat, you are one VERY lucky guy! That car is very valuable!.

 Yeah, I just about wet myself when I figured out what was on offer.  I'm not counting my chickens till I get it in my driveway (I've gotta help clean out the garage that it and the other car I'm getting are in).  The way I see it, something can still go wrong until the cars are home.

 

Somebody is going to ask I'm sure... The other car is a mini.

I had two 1960 Healey 3000's from new  (two seater and a "four" seater). In time, I rebult the transmissions in each. They failed in the same way, broken tooth on the first gear of the cluster gear. Never had taken apart or rebuilt a transmission before however it was a great learning experience. Also seems the early 3000's had a mainshaft located in the fore/aft direction by a circlip, this was fragile and broke. When I rebuilt the transmissions I installed the "modified mainshaft" (a factory part). This cured that particular problem, But be warned, the tranmission is the weak point in the car. I put 130,000 miles between the two cars when the were new back min the 60's. The Toyota Supra transmission conversions seem like a nice idea if your not locked into originality.