Category Archives: Bugeye Restoration

Engine/Gearbox Installation

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John and Molly came over to assist in the “Big Lift,” the installation of the engine and gearbox into the car. This has been a long time coming. As a reminder, we are installing the 1275 engine along with a Datsun 210 5-speed gearbox. The following image shows the same procedure twenty years go!

Engine Install 2005

Unfortunately, many have reported that the heater plenum needs to be “bashed” upward to provide clearance for the entry of the gearbox. We had hoped that we could avoid this step if we were very careful and took our time, but it was not to be. In the end we had to “adjust” the plenum to make room. That process is shown in the accompanying video. 

We put together a check list of items that combines preparation steps along with necessary connections to get the engine in and then make it ready to start.

Remove Bonnet – struts and hinges.take the strut off first. before removing the bonnet hinges disconnect the Deutsch connector and the spade connector at the horn.

Jack Stands – place the car on jack stands.

Engine Hoist Leveler – Remove rocker cover and install leveler on engine.

Engine Mounts – Move rubber buffer from engine stand to the car mount.

Starter – Attach the power cable to the starter that will connect to the starter switch later in the process.

Battery Ground cable to firewall – disconnect during engine install.

Engine fan –  install six blade fan and spacer. Install fan belt and check tension.

Crossbar protector – put the custom-made sheet metal protector over the steering rack crossbar to avoid damaging the paint.

Remove fluids –  from engine, radiator and transmission

Timing marks – make sure these are visible on the pulley before installing the engine.

Driveshaft Prop – Grease the yoke and the transmission splines.

Slave cylinder – check threads of the two mounting bolts, should be metric. The threads of the push rod extend beyond the arm by approximately one half inch (6-8 threads showing). The excess on the spacing shim goes to the front of the engine. Find the slightly shortened Allen key for the new cap screws.

Engine Mounts – Install the left-hand engine mount onto the chassis and leave it loose. Install the right hand engine mount onto the engine and leave it loose.

Header – Set the exhaust header in place so that it will be positioned to install once the engine is in place.

Engine/transmission install with engine hoist – Check to see if the heater plenum will require modification. Before the assembly is all the way home push the driveshaft yoke into the rear of the transmission.

Transmission mount – install the ⅜” – 24 x 3 ½” bolts through the chassis and into the mount and tighten. Next, tighten the front engine mounts. Now center the transmission in the rear mount and tighten the transmission pad mounts. Install the bolts in the sides of the rear mounts from the inside of the car with the self locking nuts inside the tunnel. It may be helpful to tape the nuts in the wrench to make starting the threads easier.

Radiator – It is a little tricky to install. It works best to begin with the upper right (passenger side of the car) mounting point first, then the lower right, followed by the upper left mount and finally the lower left mount. 

Radiator hoses – connect and clamp

Overflow coolant tank – determine right place for the overflow tank drain line and install a fitting in hose. Connect the radiator overflow to the tank.

Alternator – connect the wiring for the alternator.

Vacuum Pipe – connect the vacuum hose from the distributor to the carburetor.

Starter – attach the power cable from the starter to the starter switch.

Ignition Coil – attach the wiring to the coil and distributor. Connect the high tension line from the distributor.

Oil pressure gauge pipe/hose – connect to engine.

Water temperature gauge – connect capillary tube two cylinder head.

Rocker Cover – install the rocker cover.

Breather hose – connect the hoses and clamp

Driveshaft – connect and tighten bolts/nuts.

Refill fluids in engine, radiator and transmission – transmission requires 2 ¼ pints of Redline MT-90.

Clutch – Bleed the clutch master and then the slave cylinder. To eliminate all air, the slave cylinder piston should be held in the fully retracted position while bleeding. Do this by running out the adjustable push rod until it is pushing firmly on the clutch fork. Keep the master cylinder reservoir topped up while slowly and gently pumping the clutch size cylinder Into operating position. A power bleeder works well here.

Adjust the push rod length to give some free travel at the clutch pedal. Assure clutch is releasing fully while the vehicle is still up on jack stands. Confirm free play assuring that you can move the clutch operating lever away from the clutch slave cylinder push rod. Finger pressure against the lever should be able to move it against the pressure of the spring inside the Bell housing. Generally 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch of free play measured at the fork will be adequate. Be aware that the clutch pressure plate can be over traveled. If the clutch releases when the pedal is partway down, but then seems to reengage at full pedal down. It is being over traveled. Add free play until this condition disappears.

https://youtu.be/k11eIyfErMY?si=YUO94N5qavN61VFl

Battery ground cable to firewall – reattach.

Ground Strap – Attach engine to frame

Intake and Exhaust Manifolds with gasket – brass long nuts

Carburetor –  install heat shield, phenolic spacer, choke and accelerator cable. Connect fuel hose from pipe to carb. Connect vacuum hose to distributor. Put ATF in the carb piston. Connect carb drain hose.

K&N Air Cleaner – Install and spray with special oil.

Heater hoses – attach both and clamp

Exhaust system – install, exhaust header, exhaust pipes, and muffler.

AFR gauge – connect gauge to the O2 sensor and power.

Gasoline – partially fill fuel tank with gasoline.

Battery – reconnect the battery ground cable to the firewall.

Start engine!

 

These things always take longer than expected, or at least hoped! However, at the end of the day, all that is important is that you got the “thing” in. Well, it was about the end of the day and we did get it in!

We did install the new slave cylinder sourced from Will Perry at Rivergate before the engine went into the car. Once the engine is installed there is not much room between the gearbox and the frame making it a tight squeeze to install the slave cylinder. We are also using a remote bleeder with a flexible hose.

Slave cylinder install

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode One Hundred-One shows the process involved in the installation of the engine and gearbox as well as the short-throw gear shifter sourced from Gerard Chateauvieux at Gerard’s Garage.

https://vimeo.com/1076516667/7bc5103b4c?share=copy

Additional information about Gerard’s shifter is provided in another post: https://valvechatter.com/?p=13520

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode One Hundred-Three shows the process involved in making the various connections required to prepare the engine to start and the gearbox to operate properly. This video will be posted when complete. 

Windscreen Installation

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We purchased the laminated windscreen and rubber glazing from AH Spares. It is made by Pilkington and is their premier product. https://www.ahspares.co.uk/austin-healey/sprite/windscreen-glass/screen-glass-triplex-pilkington.aspx 

We decided to have the stanchions and the frame ceramic coated because the car is kept near the Florida coast and we wanted the extra protection. Cerakote was used and was applied by C2 Coatings in Sarasota. Often it is the case that the rubber seal between the windscreen and the body does not fit properly,. We purchased the one we used from Martin McGregor at McGregor’s Upholstery and it fit perfectly.

Many Bugeyes do not have their windscreen seal installed correctly. Often, the seal between the body and the windscreen is simply cut off at the windscreen post or stanchion. Proper installation involves modifying the seal to permit it to fold under the stanchion rubber seal. This will minimize leaks and certainly looks better.

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode One Hundred is a short video that illustrates the installation of the seal that fits between the body and the windscreen and then the installation of the assembly to the car. Our seal was sourced from MCGregor’s in Canada and is supposed to be an accurate representation of the original seal. 

https://vimeo.com/1075349533/bfe9ed4530?share=copy

Aston Fuel Filler Pipe Cap

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We wanted to “upgrade” the fuel filler pipe cap in favor of an “Aston” cap sold by Sports and Classics https://www.sportsandclassics.com/parts/austin-healey/austin-healey-100-6/fuel-system-austin-healey-100-6/le-mans-aston-gas-cap-austin-healey-mgb-mgc-midget/

Aston Fuel Filler Pipe cap

It is a nice looking cap and from a practical standpoint its installation does eliminate the fear that one might drive away from the pump without installing the filler cap. The cap is polished cast aluminum. To make the installation work we purchased a used fuel filler pipe from an Austin-Healey 3000, cut the lower end off so that the modified pipe was 9 1/4″ long and epoxied the brass screw collar for the cap to the top of the pipe.

Filler Pipe Cap with Brass Collar

Fuel Filler pipe with brass collar

We were then painted our new pipe with POR 15 and fit it through the rubber body seal and into the rubber 2 1/4″ elbow hose to link it to the fuel tank. The elbow hose is used in later Sprites and MG Midgets and was available from Moss Motors. https://mossmotors.com/282-945-hose-filler-to-tank

Two hose clamps were then used to secure the hose to the pipes.

Aston Cap Installed

The components and the installation of the cap is detailed in Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Ninety-six: 

https://vimeo.com/1050923286/e891e27912?share=copy

 

 

Loose Ends

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This post covers several items added to the car as we begin to near the completion of this restoration.

Rear Tie down brackets (tow hooks)

In an earlier post the front tie down brackets, or tow hooks, were mounted to the car. We also purchased rear tie down brackets or tow hooks from Q1 Classic Engineering. These are heavy duty and very nicely made. We painted them black with POR 15 and easily installed them.

Rear Tie Down Brackets

Battery management quick connect cables

We then added some wiring to the battery so that we would have a quick connect system for the battery management charger. This is particularly useful given that we have a cover on the battery.

Battery Management Quick Connect Wiring

Horns revisited

We discovered, with the installation of the bonnet gas struts, that the operation of the RH strut hit the interior horn. So, we decided to forgo the second horn and just use one. The single horn,  by the way, seemed plenty loud.

Dropping the Interior Horn

Painting the exhaust

We are not ready to install the exhaust but this was a good time to go ahead and paint it. It came from Maniflow with their familiar metallic green paint. We simply roughed it up with a little sand paper and sprayed it with Rustoleum black BBQ high temperature paint.

Maniflow Metallic Green

Exhaust painted high temperature semi-gloss black

Installing the anti-sway bar

We then installed the anti-sway bar that we purchased from BugeyeGuys.com. We had previously painted the components so this turned out to be a quick job.

Anti-sway bar bits

Installing the motor mounts

The motor mounts were then installed. However, when we are ready to install the motor we will remove the RH motor mount and fix it to the motor. The LH mount will remain in the car because it is easier to leave it due to the steering column.

Heater control cable

We then connected the heater flap control cable that comes through the firewall from the heater switch to the bracket on the heater blower. 

Machining a starter cable connector

For some reason the standard connector that joins the starter cable and the starter switch is too short to do the job on the car. We know that the battery tray was replaced and perhaps the starter switch mounting bracket that is attached to the tray was slightly off? At any rate we solved this problem by machining a new connector made from a 3/8″ stainless steel bolt. Our friend Randy Forbes did the mill work for us. Thank you Randy! The new piece – almost identical but about a 1/4″ longer worked beautifully.

A new stainless starter cable connector

The new and the old

Repainting the Sprite Flash

The flash emblem or badge as mounted on the rear deck of the car was gold with red lettering. Unfortunately, the replicas of the badge available from the usual suppliers is copper in color with the red lettering. So, we stripped the paint from the badge and then repainted the badge with Rustoleum metallic gold spray paint, followed by painting the red letters and finally coating the badge with Rustoleum Krystal Clear. We were pleased with the results. We are going to mount the badge later and will be using a 3M adhesive rather than mounting it through holes in the car.

The gold paint first

Followed by Red in the letters and Clear

Re-chroming the grille

The grille is an important feature of the design of the Bugeye as it is what defines the ever-popular “smile” of the car. Modern replicas apparently do not fit very well so we decided to re-chrome the original because we knew it fit. We sent it to Dallas Plating https://dallasplatingga.com  in Dallas, Georgia and we were very pleased with the quality of the work and the delivery time.  It took only 3 weeks from the time we put the grille in the mail until we unpacked it. The charge for the plating was $440 and that seemed very reasonable compared to other businesses we checked.

Re-chromed Grille

Re-chromed grille sitting in place

 

 

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Ninety-five covers the installation of the items mentioned in this post:

https://vimeo.com/1046168116/36c5ceb74e?share=copy

0:00 – Rear tie down brackets – tow hooks

0:39 – Quick connect battery management cables

1:28 – Revisiting the horns

2:33 – Painting the exhaust

3:18 – Anti-sway bar installation

4:46 – Motor mounts installation

5:11 – Heater control cable attached

5:24 – Machining a new starter cable connector

6:40 – Heater and starter cable covers

6:54 – Repainting the rear deck “Flash” badge

7:30 – Re-chroming the grille

 

 

 

Bonnet Headlights and Flashers

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Headlights

After some initial work on the installation of the hinge kit on the bonnet, we turned our attention to the headlights. The assembly of the headlight components, mounting the headlights to the bonnet, and the switch to LEDs from halogen bulbs has been previously addressed in two separate posts, so we won’t go into much detail on the process as we mount the headlights to the painted bonnet. See the headlight fitting post here: https://valvechatter.com/?p=14074

Information about the conversion to LED lights throughout the car may be found here: https://valvechatter.com/?p=14188

Front Flashers/Turn Indicators

Mounting the flasher units to the bonnet is pretty straightforward although installing the beehive glass and the chrome trim ring into the rubber boot can be a test of one’s patience, but that is what it takes – lots of patience. Before installing the light assembly we installed three spire nuts at each light mounting point. We used new nuts and they pushed on easily. Three stainless steel #6 Phillips sheet metal screws are used for each light.

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Eighty-eight shows the installation of the headlights and flashers/turn indicators:

https://vimeo.com/1043298584/6820215ce0?share=copy

Bonnet Fixings – Hinges, Gas Struts and Tie-down Brackets

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The Front-tilt Bonnet Hinges

The Bugyeye has had a front tilt hinge mechanism installed for some time. We originally used the kit sold by Mini-Mania.

Mini-Mania Hinge Kit

The front hinge concept has become very popular because it provides much better access to the engine bay than the original rear hinge set-up. Today, front hinge kits are sold by many of the usual vendors such as BugeyeGuys, and Speedwell Engineering. Most are based on the innovation and work done by Gerard Chateauvieux who sold his kit through Gerard’s Garage. There have also been many approaches to latching or anchoring the bonnet to the chassis. Some have also installed gas struts to assist and control the process of opening and closing the bonnet. 

In anticipation of using both a front hinge kit and gas struts, we made a few modifications to the Bugeye front bonnet to strengthen the stress points, particularly around the radiator air box. We wanted to accomplish these changes prior to paint and we were successful. We first fashioned a couple of gussets, drilled them for plug welds, primed them with weld-through primer and welded them in place on both sides of the bonnet. 

Gas Strut Gusset

Primered Gusset

Gusset welded in place on bonnet

We also used the little brackets that came with the Mini-Mania hinge kit to strengthen the air box by riveting the bracket to the side of the headlight bucket rim. Four rivets were used with each bracket. As an added bonus, these brackets have holes that can be used to attach a range-of-motion limiter cable.

Mini-Mania bracket

After considering various front hinge kits for the Bugeye bonnet we decided to go with the hinges made by Erick Moser of Q1 Classic Engineering. Erick makes his hinges from high grade aluminum and supplies delrin washers/fittings and fasteners with his kit. What really appealed about Erick’s kit is that the hinges mount without having to drill additional mounting holes in the body or cutting the threaded bushings on the frame rails. We powder coated the components in satin black and substituted stainless hardware.

Q1 Classic Engineering Bonnet Hinge Kit

We decided to make some small reinforcing plates of 1/8″ steel to add support at the upper mounting point of the hinge. At that point the securing bolt only goes through the radiator shroud sheet metal so the extra “beef” should be helpful. We painted these black and installed them with the kit.

Getting the bonnet hinges to work effectively involved some trial and error. We ended up having to modify the hinge plates and the sliders, but Erick was great and assisted in making the necessary modifications.

Template for Modified Hinge Plate

We ended up with a very functional and good looking bit of kit. We will paint or powder coat the modified hinges when we remove the bonnet to install the motor.

Q1 Classic Engineering Bonnet Hinges

Hinge Spacer Block 1″ Wide

We also added gas struts purchased from Amazon. The struts we installed are 16″ long. We tried both 28 lb. and 35 lb. struts and found the 28 lb. units to work the best. The heavier struts tended to pull the rear edge of the bonnet way from the cowl.

Gas Struts 16″ 28 Lbs

The front tie-down brackets/tow hooks were also purchased from Q1 Classic Engineering. Nicely made and heavy duty. We painted them and installed between the hinge plates and the chassis rails.

Q1 Classic Engineering Tie Down Brackets

Q1 Classic Engineering Tie Down Brackets Installed

Mounting of the bonnet hinges, gas struts and the toe down brackets is shown in Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Ninety-four:

https://vimeo.com/1043279717/37ec3901e6?share=copy

 

Bonnet Wiring Harness – Front Lights and Horns

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The wiring harness for the bonnet lighting (headlights, flashers, side lights and driving lights) was created previously. The harness utilizes Deutsch connectors where possible but also incorporates a number of bullet connectors. Once completed the harness was taped and sent to Rhode Island Wiring for cloth braiding. The creation of the harness was detailed in Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Sixty-six: https://vimeo.com/997550566/c57d5ae6dc?share=copy

After installing the lighting harness in the bonnet we then created the harness linking the bonnet lighting wiring to the “J” Deutsch connector on the RH chassis valance. The horns and the air duct flange were also installed. All connections were tested and functioned properly. This connector harness will be removed, taped with Tessa tape and also sent to Rhode Island Wiring to be cloth braided.

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Ninety-three covers the final installation of the bonnet lighting harness and the creation of the connecting harness: https://vimeo.com/1042084864/5e7d7f87bf?share=copy

 

 

 

Bugeye Aluminum Cylinder Head

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When we purchased the rebuilt 1275 engine from Rivergate Restorations about twenty years ago, we opted to go with an aluminum cylinder head. Described by Bill Perry (Rivergate owner) in this way: Improved flow and performance, Stellite valve seats, 19 pounds lighter than stock, ready for no-lead fuel, bronze valve guides – a beautiful, functional addition to Sprite/Midget – $725 price only applies to a cylinder head purchased with a rebuilt motor. 

We believe that the cylinder head is the one sold by Moss Motors. Part number 451-875. This is how Moss describes the head:

“These light-weight (9 lbs.) high strength aluminum alloy cylinder heads run cooler, allow higher compression ratios, and have a greater than 35% increase in flow rate over stock heads. Heads come with silicon-bronze valve guides and hardened valve seats. These require 1275 valves, springs, and retainers, 12mm spark plugs (our 451-890 NGK plugs are recommended), all of which must be purchased separately. These heads do not have air injection ports, and therefore should not be used for street use on cars originally fitted with air pumps.”

 

Compatible with: Exhaust Valve 423-335, Intake Valve 423-190, Upper Valve Spring Collars 460-556, Valve Spring Cotters 460-535, Double Valve Spring Set 423-470

Fitting the head to smaller bore engines will require machining of the block to ensure adequate valve to block clearance.

 

Requires coarse thread manifold studs 328-765 x 6

 

Note: The rocker oil feed design requires that if a Payen composite head gasket with rubber oil seal is used, the gasket must be reversed. “FRONT” should be to the back of the engine so that the original type copper oil passage seal is over the oil feed passage.

Rear Axle Hub/Brake Problems Again!

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We don’t seem to be able to escape our problems with the fitment of the rear axle hubs and brake drums. A thorough accounting of the issues we faced were first documented in several videos included in an earlier post:https://valvechatter.com/?p=13569

We thought we had conquered the problems we had encountered with the hub rubbing the axle flange and with the brake drum rubbing against the brake backplate, but upon installing the road wheels and tires we discovered that all had not been corrected! 

The wheel on the left side of the car turned freely but on the right side we found that despite the hub nuts being tightened and torqued to 38 ft. lbs. as directed in the maintenance manual, the wheel and tire wobbled back and forth. It is a little hard to tell but it can be seen in the beginning of the Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Ninety-two. We then tried a pair of brand new Moss Classic Gold brake drums that we had on hand.

Unfortunately, the new drums rubbed against the backplates just ever so slightly. We visited our friend, Randy Forbes, and he graciously set up his milling machine to remove .0075″ from the back side of each brake drum. We then mounted them on the car and found that we had eliminated the rubbing against the brake back plates, but we still had the dreaded wobble on the RH wheel.

We removed the RH axle half-shaft, bent back the locking tab washer and tightened the hub nut to 145 ft lbs. This actually turned the nut very little but it was sufficient to eliminate the wheel wobble. Not really sure about the mechanics of all of this but we will take it and move on!

All of this trial and error is shown in the Bugeye Restoration Episode Ninety-two video. 

https://vimeo.com/1050905261/b7432414cf?share=copy

We will now machine the edges of the drums and see if we can end up with a fully operational axle assembly. Stay tuned….

 

 

 

 

 

Flywheel and Clutch

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In 2022 when we pulled the engine from the car to begin the restoration, the clutch was working just fine. However, with the engine out of the car and the gearbox already separated from the engine, It seemed the perfect time to go ahead and replace the clutch disc and pressure plate (cover) with new components. We have learned on multiple occasions that just because a part is new doesn’t mean it is better, but the clutch is definitely a wear item so we decided to buy a new disc from Rivergate and a new Borg & Beck pressure plate from A.H. Spares. We had already observed that the ring gear was pretty chewed up so we ordered a new one from A.H. Spares as well.

Upon removing the clutch and flywheel from the engine we noticed that we did have wear on the flywheel surface so we decided to go ahead and have it resurfaced. That was work was done by Southwest Hydraulic, 177 Jackson Rd, Venice, FL 34292 (941) 786-8530. We then took the flywheel, new ring gear and clutch assembly to VAMI – Venice Auto Marine Engine Machine Shop 331 Camion St. Venice Fl. 34285 (941) 484-2474 to have the ring gear replaced and the complete assembly dynamically balanced.

One VERY POSITIVE by-product of removing the flywheel was the discovery that not only had the crank rear seal, installed at the time we purchased the rebuilt 1275 engine from Rivergate, not leaked at all, the entire backplate was still pristine.

No leaks – Rear Crank Seal

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Sixty-five https://vimeo.com/952645430/164949ac19 provides documentation of the removal of the clutch and flywheel as well as the installation of the new clutch.

These are the Borg & Beck installation instructions:

Borg & Beck Clutch Installation