Press Release! To read the 1957 press release with details of the specification upgrades of the 6-Port Head click here

Joe Jarrick  (Australia) mentions that he was told by Geoff Healey that there were 40 cars produced with 4-wheel disc brakes to homolgate them for competion. (rarer than a 100S!). Its not clear if these were seperately classified or not ........ anybody got one?

......the 6 port head was first installed in BN4's from # 48863 .... ......all BN6's have the six port head.

Period photo of the new style BN4 interior which lasted until to the introduction of the BJ8

Morris Green Engine Paint The first batch of the six port models had an unusual and unique feature in the Morris Green paint used on the engines and gearboxs. It appears that only some of the "first series" of six port BN4's produced at both Longbridge and Abingdon until the spring of 1958 had the Morris Green engines, possibly due to an error.

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In September 1958  after car C.E.68959 a new style interior was introduced for the BN4, the seats and armrests of which were the same as those of the BN6. This interior is the same as that found on the 3000s right through until the BJ8. These cars have two windscreen washers, thin frame seat bases, a detachable hood frame and an armrest pad on top of the transmission tunnel, plus they have diferent quarter pannels and other minor trim differences, such as the door seals and furlex

BN4 - 6 Port Head (from car # 48863) ______________________________________________

...all engines were painted at Coventry.......

Roy Salvadori tested the new model and said: ........"the new 6-port induction system gives her an impressive increase in punch, particularly in top from 50 to 80 mph....the Austin-Healey always had plenty of dig but now its outstanding..." Road and Track recorded a 0-60 mph time of 10.4 seconds

In late 1957 production moved from Longbridge to Abingdon with a short overlap period of production at both locations. At the same time a new head and separate six port cast aluminium inlet manifold was fitted to the BN4.

Photo: William Taylor from: The Healey Book, Bill Emerson

3 types of BN4 There are are actually three types of BN4 - the original 2-port car - the 6-port car with the  "Longbridge" interior and - the 6-port car with the later interior plus ....

The new carbs together with bigger valves and a higher compression ratio of 8.7:1 increased power to 117 bhp at 4,700 rpm. The new six port head had been developped  on the 1956 record breaker cars as well as the 1957 Sebring racers. The 0 to 60 mph time was reduced to around 11 seconds and top speed increased to 112 mph. For those who think the 100-Six has insufficient performance it should be noted that these figures are virtually the same as the 3,000.

Car # BN4L 49069 (J Soderling) is a six port car built at Longbridge November 1957 and it has the Morris Green paint. Car #BN4L 53878 (Ruud Gubbels)  built at Abingdon.in December 1957  has Morris Green paint Car #BN4L 54367 (Colin Watts)  built at Abingdon.in early January 1958  has Morris Green paint Car #BN4L 56053 (my car) built at Abingdon.in January 1958  has Morris Green paint Car # BN4L 58563 (R. Lees) was built on March 6 1958  but has the standard metallic green engine paint. This would indicate that the Morris Green engine cars are rarer than thought and perhaps only lasted  until February 1958 before the "error" was corrected. All engines were painted at the Morris plant in Coventry prior to dispatch to either Longbridge or Abingdon so it is logical that cars produced at both locations had the same colour engines. It is not known why it happened. It first appeared with the introduction of the six port engine, perhaps to differentiate it, or perhaps due to an error, it may even have been because they ran out of metallic green paint!! At some point between mid January and early March the error was corrected and the normal paint was re-introduced.

Morris Green engine paint -  Car 54367 Colin Watts

100-Six

The cars had Dunlop disc brakes not Girling, which were used on the front of the 3000s

Breathing was through two semi-downdraft     1 3/4" SU HD6 carburetors.

Interiors and Fittings When the six port model was first introduced it had  the same "Longbridge"  features as the two port car. These included the single windscreen washer, the same deep rim seat bases as the 100, saddle type arm rest and a sliding hood  frame mechanism that remained permantly attached to the body. (see Longbridge features) This first batch of six port cars made from November 1957 until April 1958 was a 'transition model" still using the interior style and body fittings from Longbridge. BN6's were then produced from April to September 1958

Since I wrote the above Bill Piggott has published "Austin Healey" as part of the Haynes Great Cars series. In it Bill explains that he once owned XNX 56 which was one of the 40 (or 50) cars produced at Warwick with four wheel Dunlop disc brakes. The car was a 6-port model built in late 1957 at Longbridge

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...some early 3000's still had 100-Six fitiings such as the horn push sign.....and conical reflectors........

Greg Bankin owns the BN4 above... It has original 4-wheel disc brakes which were an option.