1960 Hillman Husky Series I
The picture up above is what got me hooked on Hillman Huskys. I called Norm Miler who used to own Rootes Group Depot and he informed me he had sold the car to Terry Taylor. A quick phone call to Terry and he informed me he didn't want to sell the Husky. I was persistent and called 6 months later and he said he had talked it over with his wife Maria and he was now willing to sell me the car. A little cash and some rebuilt 260 heads and the car was mine. I fired it up and drove it 30 miles home...at 50 mph.
Realizing I needed a little more top speed my first upgrade was to swap in 3.89 gears. I then added an overdrive. This put a bit of a strain on the original 1390 CC motor so I swapped in a cast iron head 1725. The next upgrade was to add a Weber 34/36 carburetor. This was a great driving combination in town and on the freeways. After about 10,000 miles I blew the head gasket so I decided to put an aluminum cylinder head on it. I found a NOS Holbay head, changed the cam, and added stainless steel exhaust. I was never really satisfied with this set-up because the Holbay seemed to want to make its power in the higher RPM'S. After about 100 miles I yanked the motor and started collecting parts to swap in a V8. I bought a a 340 horsepower 302 Ford crate motor. It will be backed by a Ford C4 by Performance Automatic. So far I have already installed the following parts from a Sunbeam Tiger: leaf springs, 2.88 rear end, and a front cross member with disc brakes.
Realizing I needed a little more top speed my first upgrade was to swap in 3.89 gears. I then added an overdrive. This put a bit of a strain on the original 1390 CC motor so I swapped in a cast iron head 1725. The next upgrade was to add a Weber 34/36 carburetor. This was a great driving combination in town and on the freeways. After about 10,000 miles I blew the head gasket so I decided to put an aluminum cylinder head on it. I found a NOS Holbay head, changed the cam, and added stainless steel exhaust. I was never really satisfied with this set-up because the Holbay seemed to want to make its power in the higher RPM'S. After about 100 miles I yanked the motor and started collecting parts to swap in a V8. I bought a a 340 horsepower 302 Ford crate motor. It will be backed by a Ford C4 by Performance Automatic. So far I have already installed the following parts from a Sunbeam Tiger: leaf springs, 2.88 rear end, and a front cross member with disc brakes.
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Currently I have a 260 block and heads and a C4 in there to see what kind of cutting will need to be done. The firewall has been cut out and I have a Tiger firewall and tranny tunnel to fit the larger engine. About the only really complex modifications are the firewall, tunnel, and steering. The rear cross member for the C4 was a generic tube with a 2" drop. I have a Tiger steering column and will use the original steering wheel if possible.
Believe it or not I'm actually a purist at heart so the car will appear as close to stock as possible. The interior has been redone in its original red and I even found the correct pinpoint material to make a new headliner. It looks great with the red piping. I managed to find lots of NOS parts to finish off the interior including window cranks, escutcheons, rear view mirror, ignition and lighting switch, heater control levers, windshield, and vent handles. In the future I'll repaint the car in the original antelope color.
Below is a picture of the Hillman on the way to the body shop for firewall/tranny tunnel modification.
This is what the modified firewall looks like. Now that the dummy engine is out I need to figure out where the steering goes. As soon as I do that it goes back to the body shop so they can finish welding the whole thing together. They will also add a rear upper shock mount so I can use normal shocks instead of the old lever types.
Here is how the Tiger transmission tunnel fits. The only modification was to eliminate the shifter hole and to add a few inches at the front. There's still plenty of leg room and the seats retain their original mounting positions.
This is how we had to notch the fender support to make room for the steering u-joints. You can also see the material added to bridge the gap between the Tiger firewall and the Hillman Firewall. Looks like we'll need to add a little more sheet metal to house the steering column, otherwise it would have to be located too far to the left.
Above is a shot of the material added to connect the Tiger firewall to the Hillman firewall.
This is a shot showing the clearance with the dummy engine in. The passenger side has enough room to take the head off while the engine is in. The right side seems to be a little tight so I think I'll have them redo the firewall a little in these areas.
Here's how we had to notch the frame rail to make room for the headers. It's still too close so when it goes back to the body shop I'll have them pound it some more. The header fit on the driver's side without any modification. It only had about an eighth of an inch clearance so it will get notched too.
This is the transmission cross member. A simple bolt on piece that just needed to be narrowed to fit.
