May I
call your attention to the part number index section of your BMC Mechanical Service
Parts List. (If you do not own your very own copy for your specific Healey, give
your regalia person no rest until they stock these publications locally-they are
available, moderately-priced, and indispensable for any even slightly serious owner
of a Healey, any style or model.) The parts numbers are a combination of factory
numbers and industry standards.
In trying
to decipher the factory parts numbers, I have spent many hours, days, even months(!)
trying to understand the manufacturing process, amalgamation of British automobile
companies, and the utterly unintelligible vocabulary that our ancestral escapees
promptly and permanently forbade the further use of, among themselves or by the
native Americans pre-occupying our newly discovered/ acquired homelands. While it
defies interpretation, nonetheless, I will give it a shot (or a ruddy try).
The part
numbers designating fasteners are particularly useful, since they provide information
on the fastener type, version, finish, size and strengthonce you break the code.
Geoff Healey gave me some clues to the code when he said that the first three letters
describe the type of fastener, and the last three or four numbers designate dimensions
and other characteristics. However, the British being British, some fasteners were
given parts numbers that defy this standard identification, perhaps to reduce the
possibility of going around the parts department and just buying from the local
iron-monger (hardware store, in the colonies).
As you
flip through the index to the parts list, you will notice that it is arranged in
an alpha/numeric sequence. We will be looking for the fasteners, and I will try
to take them in the same order. In the table with this article I have explained
the type code, then have interpreted examples to help you understand the size code
.
One item
might be noted from this information. In the conventional wisdom of concours, we
have been referring to fasteners as being "cadmium-plated" or "cad-plated"
to disttngutsh shiny fasteners from painted or natural-finish. In fact, as·noted
here, if fasteners on Healeys were plated for protection or appearance, they were
zinc-, nlckel-, or chrome-plated. Today, cadmium plating is more often available
than zinc or nickel plating because of environmental restrictions, but it is an
expensive process, used most often for aviationgrade hardware, and would not likely
have been used on Healeys durtng their production period.
