Monthly Archives: August 2024

Fancy Battery Box and Cables

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We purchased a fiberglass battery box from Tom Colby’s Speedwell Engineering. The box is nicely made and comes with a high quality rubber strap to secure the top to the box. The strap ends connect to the original Bugeye brackets. We had the box painted in Cotswold Blue to match the car.

Fancy Box with Positive Cable

We then made our positive cable that connects to the starter switch and the negative cable that is secured to the firewall. The positive cable is just a modified NAPA red cable and the negative cable is a car stereo cable that is extremely flexible.

Negative Cable

Buseye Restoration Video Episode Eighty-four shows the installation process for the battery box:https://vimeo.com/1002028718/c25503bd0f?share=copy

0:00 – Box installtion

2:13 – Battery cables

Interior Installation

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We will be using two types of insulation in the Bugeye. Dynamite Extreme will be applied directly to the metal surfaces in the interior. Then an aluminum duct insulation material sourced from Lowes will be applied on top of the Dynamite. Aluminum tape will be used to seal any seams in the materials.

We began this process with the installation of the Dynamite Extreme on the interior of the firewall. This is a little tedious because one first needs to make a template to account for all of the holes in the firewall. The matching holes in the dynamat need to be of a larger diameter than the corresponding firewall holes to account for the rubber grommet that will fit in each hole.

Firewall Dynamite Extreme Template

A small applicator wheel was used to press and smooth the Dynamat material against the metal surface. A Gorilla Glue spray contact cement was used to glue the aluminum insulation to the Dynamat. 

We then began the installation of the Dynamat Extreme and aluminum insulation throughout the interior. The first location was the driveshaft tunnel after we installed the handbrake.

Dynamat Extreme and aluminum insulation on propshaft tunnel

Then we moved to the floorboards in the footbox.

LH footbox insulation

Both sides

We tackled the gearbox tunnel next. It isn’t very large but lots of angles and curves so it took a while to complete.

Gearbox Tunnel with Dynamat and Aluminum Insulation

Gearbox Tunnel with Dynamat and Aluminum Insulation

The next area to address was the box around the gearbox bell housing and the rear of the engine. This consists of three surfaces that are covered with upholstered panels. On these three surfaces we chose to use only Dynamat Extreme and to forgo the aluminum insulation. The concern was that we would not be able to get a tight fit with the intersection of the panels. The stainless steel finishing screws and trim cup washers were supplied by Bugeyeguys.com.

We installed the Dynamat and the upholstered panel on the front central face of the box first. The upholstered panels were sourced from BugeyeGuys.com. With the exception of the center panel over the gearbox cover, we had to remove vinyl, trim the plywood and re-glue the vinyl to obtain a proper panel fit.The door sill panels and the rear quarter panels required the most adjustment. The image below, although in black, not red, illustrates the components that come with the BugeyeGuys upholstered panel kit. Panels numbered 3,4,7 and 8 as stated required quite a bit of trimming.

BugeyeGuys upholstered Panel kit

Center Panel Install

Then we worked on the RH passenger side:

RH Dynamat Install

RH Upholstered Panel Install

The we moved to the LH driver’s side insulation and panel install:

LH driver’s side insulation install

LH driver’s side upholstered panel Install

On both of the outside kick panels in the footwells we had to do some trimming to get a nice fit to the bristleflex seal. This involves pulling back the vinyl, trimming the board and re-glueing the vinyl.

Footbox panel modification

This is a photo of the modified panel installed. Very nice abutment to the bristleflex. The upper mounting screw is a #10 machine screw mounted to a rivnut that was previously installed.This was done on both sides of the car to prevent a sharp pointed self-tapping screw from protruding into the door cavity.

LH Footbox panel installed

Rivnut for upper mount of the kick panel

Installing the RH kick panel was next. The wiring made this one a bit of a challenge but we got it in place.

RH kickpanel installed

Following the installation of the front panels we turned our attention to the installation of the carpet. A number of vendors sell carpet kits for the Bugeye. We ordered sample material from several before deciding to go with the kit provided by Prestige Autotrim Products LTD. in the U.K. Their kit provides vinyl binding on most carpet pieces and where jute pads are used under the carpet they are sewn to the carpet. We opted for the high end carpet called Premium Feintuft Velour. We were pleased with the fit, color and carpet quality. Their kit DOES NOT include carpeting for the trunk or boot space in the car.

The first task was to glue the small carpet sections that cover the chassis cross bars in front of the seats.

Carpet glued to chassis box rails

We then moved to the rear of the car. We ordered a trunk kit from Moss Motors. Their kit includes an Armacord floor mat and the two heavy cardboard side panels. We didn’t need the side panels but we could not find a vendor who sold the Hardura floor mat alone. We wanted Hardura, rather than carpet, because we believed that it would hold up better – particularly with a spare tire resting on it. The Hardura material does have a shallow jute backing. The leading front edge of the mat was glued to the floor. The hole for the fuel filler pipe was enlarged and the chalk marks locating the floor staples for the spare tire straps were cut. The mat proved to be a near perfect fit and did not require trimming. Installation of the mat is shown in the video associated with this post.

Trunk Floor Mat

Next we glued several of the rear carpet pieces in place. Carpet pieces #1 and #2 were glued first, followed by pieces #3 and #4. Carpet section #5 has a 2″ piece of vinyl along its top edge that is glued to the floor. All of this is shown in the video. We will add some floor snaps to the carpet sections #5 and #6 to keep them in position. The two pieces of carpet that cover the gearbox cover or tunnel will also be held in place with snaps.

Rear carpet installation

We then returned to fitting the upholstered door sill panels and the rear quarter panels. Again, details of this procedure are best described in the video. The rear quarter panels fit too tightly around the tube for the soft top frame, so those holes needed to be enlarged. As best we can tell, both quarter panels are also too short and consequently did not butt up against the sill panels. A half inch gap was left between the two panels. So, we decided to make our own door sill panels and included a raised portion to permit a nice fit between the quarter panel and the sill panel. In the image below, the section of the panel to the right of the blue line was added.

Modified door sill panel

We ordered a product called cowl board, which is a waterproof fiberboard material, from Automotive Interiors and Accessories. Just to add a little stiffness and additional waterproofing, we painted the material with POR-15 before glueing on the new vinyl. The vinyl was purchased from Geoff Chrysler at Rightway Heritage Trim and while it is not a perfect match to the vinyl used on the panels purchased from Bugeyeguys, it is damn close.

The photo below shows how the sill panel and the rear quarter panel now fit. Much, much better! The panels will look better once screwed into place.

Quarter Panel and Sill Panel Fit

As can be seen in the photo above, there is a door seal that is part rubber and part fabric that serves as a trim finisher as well as a weather seal for the interior. The fabric portion of the seal has “U” shaped steel-braided  “jaws” that grab the door sill lip to fit tightly in place.  The quality of available door seals has diminished over the years. In many cases the steel “jaws” have been replaced with aluminum that is not effective in gripping the door lip. Martin MacGregor, owner of MacGregor British Car Parts, has sold a product called Bristleflex that maintains the steel grip and has a beautiful fabric finish. We think we may have purchased the last set of seals in the color red that he has manufactured and he is currently ((as of October 2024) attempting to sell his business. 

At the front of the car the Bristleflex terminates behind the aluminum cowl trim with an aluminum “P” clip.

Bristleflex “P” clip attachment behind the Cowl Trim

Front Bristleflex Installation

 

At the rear, the Bristleflex door seal terminates behind the rear quarter panel. We installed the Bristleflex and secured both ends before the sill panel and rear quarter panel were attached with screws. This was done to ensure a tight meeting of the bristle flex with the edge of the panels.

Door sill panel and rear quarter panel installed

Rear Quarter Panel Installed

The last panels to cut, upholster and install were the boot side panels. We again painted the panels with POR 15 to enhance water protection and to add stiffness to the board. Each of these panels are mounted with two #6 sheet metal screws with trim cup washers. The courtesy lights we reinstalled in the panels and both were them mounted to the car.

Boot trim panels

Boot trim panel with courtesy lamp installed

Installing the carpet snaps in the car and carpet was our next step in the completion of the interior. The snap consists of three pieces, the fastening ring with three tabs, the female side of the snap and the male side of the snap as seen in the photo below:

Carpet Snap installation

Installing the snaps was complicated because we already had dynamat and aluminum heat insulation in the car. We cut away and removed the insulation where the snaps were located and we added couple of savers behind the male end of the snaps.

Insulation removal

This is what the finished product looks like:

Carpet Snaps Installed

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Eighty-three covers the work done with the interior insulation and panel installation to this point and it’s content is listed below:

https://vimeo.com/1028961169/ae3206c6d1?share=copy

0:00 – Cleaning floorboards

0:20 – RH side blanking screws

0:39 – Dynamat Extreme installed

1:01 – Aluminum insulation installed

1:30 – Insulation on gearbox tunnel installed

1:35 – Dynamat Extreme insulation on gearbox tunnel

1:52 – Aluminum insulation on gearbox tunnel

2:22 – Engine surround insulation and panel install

3:53 – Outside footbox panels installed

5:46 – Carpet installation begins

7:10 – Boot mat installed

8:49 – Rear bulkhead carpet installed

10:19 – Rear Wheel Arch carpet 

10:47 – Rear carpet installed

11:15 – Door sill panels

14:28 – Rear Quarter Panels

15:27 – Bristleflex installation

17:37 – Door Striker Installation

18:16 – Door Sill and rear quarter panel final installation

19:28 – Boot Trim panels

20:36 – Installing carpet snaps

26:36 – Adjusting the door seal to fit the soft top frame

 

Custom Wiring Harness Installation – Part One

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We sent our custom made wiring harness to Rhode Island Wiring Services to have the harness covered with a cloth braid using a royal blue double tracer. The cost was $5.25 per foot with an $8.00 machine set-up fee. We were very pleased with the results. Pardon the messy work bench – it gets that way from time to time!

Cloth Braided Wiring Harness

Previous posts cover the creation and circuit testing of the harness:

A new electrical system – https://valvechatter.com/?p=13986

Building and Testing the New Wiring Harness – https://valvechatter.com/?p=14061

JWR Bugeye Wiring Diagrams: https://valvechatter.com/?p=14067

Finally, the time has arrived to install the harness in the car. The first step was to get the end of the harness though the firewall grommet. Not easy with the Deutsch connectors attached, but we got them through.

Harness through the firewall grommet

The next step was to connect the three wires in the harness to the small power supply fuse box. One thirty amp wire feeds the Ignition bank in the fuse box, the other thirty amp wire feeds the accessory bank in the fuse box and the fifteen amp wire feeds the lights bank in the fuse box.

Power supply fuse box

Then it was a matter of connecting the wires to the four banks of fused terminal positions in the Classic Technologies relay/fuse box.

Fuse Box Wiring

We pulled all of the fuses in the two fuse boxes and will add them back one at a time as we test the circuits upon final installation.

fuse installation with ratings

Next, we turned to the group of wires that run to the front of the car along the RH valance. Wiring for the coil, the hydraulic brake switch, the radiator fan, the radiator fan thermostat, the horns and the lights are in this bundle.

Wiring harness on RH Valance

We used stainless steel clips to secure the wires to the valance. A smaller 3/8″ clip will be used to route the capillary tube for the water temperature gauge and sensor.

Stainless steel wiring clips

We made a little bracket to support an 8-pin Deutsch connector at the front of the valance. This connector will mate with an 8-pin bonnet connector to deliver power to the headlights, flashers, running lights and auxiliary driving lights if we decide to mount them.

8 pin Deutsch Connector

We then installed the twin Hella horns and made the wiring connections. This did involve using a four way bullet connector to receive and supply power to both horns. A double spade connector was used to facilitate the wiring connections for the ground wires.

Horns Wiring

Hella horns installed with wiring and custom cover

The next wiring connections to be made were for the wiper motor. Duestch connector “H” is used to connect the wires from the wiper motor to the Wiper Controller mounted behind the dash. The three wires, encased in shrink tubing, come through the firewall. The green wire connects to wiper motor terminal #2 and the green/black wire connects to terminal #1. A black ground wire connects to terminal #3.

Wiper Motor Wiring Connections

The next item to wire was the ignition coil. The yellow/green wire from the harness connects to the (-) terminal of the coil. The white wire from the harness connects to the (+) terminal of the coil.

Ignition Coil Wiring

The heater blower has two black wires from the fan motor. One of those wires is connected to a yellow wire from the harness with a spade connector. The other black wire is ground and is screwed to the chassis.

Heater blower wiring

The hydraulic brake switch is mounted on the RH engine bay valance. A teal green wire and a brown/green wire from the harness connect to the two screw terminals on the switch.

Hydraulic brake switch wiring

The brake pedal brake switch is a custom addition to the Bugeye. Details on the switch and its mounting bracket are highlighted in another post: https://valvechatter.com/?p=14351

Two wires from the harness, a green wire and a dark green/orange wire, come through the grommet in the LH footbox near the dipper switch and connect to the switch at the pedal.

Brake Pedal brake switch wiring

The Dipper switch wiring was completed next. We had a little issue on this because we cut two of the wires a little too short requiring the use of bullet connectors to add length to the wiring to the switch. However, while space was tight, we were able to make all of the necessary connections.

There are three terminals on the dipper switch. A power-in terminal, a low-beam terminal, and a high-beam terminal. One has to look closely to find it but the power-in terminal is marked with an arrow on the switch molding. The blue wire from the harness connects to this terminal via a bullet connector.

The blue/red wire is connected via a bullet connector to a blue/green wire (ran out of blue/red) and then to one of the remaining switch terminals – it doesn’t matter which one.

Three wires connect to the remaining terminal on the switch. The blue/white wire is for high beam operation, the green wire is for the high beam warning light in the speedometer, and the blue/yellow wire is routed to the toggle switch under the dash for the driving lights. These three wires connect together via a four way bullet connector, with one blue/yellow wire then connecting to the terminal on the switch. A bit confusing, but the photo helps.

Dipper switch wiring

The fuel pump wiring connections were then made. The teal/purple wire from the harness was connected to the black wire at the Facet pump with a spade connector, and the white/purple wire from the harness was connected to the SU pump with a spade connector 

Dual fuel pumps wiring connections

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Eighty shows the installation of the front and rear harnesses: https://vimeo.com/998221034/30174c4eea?share=copy

The contents of this episode include the following:

0:00 – Braided wiring harness received

0:30 – Begin wiring harness installation

0:58 – Power distribution fuse box

1:48 – Fuse ratings

1:58 – Wiring to Classic Technologies fuse box

2:33 – Wiring clips on the RH engine bay valance

2:40 – Deutsch connector for wiring the bonnet

3:30 – Wiring connections to the horns

5:08 – Horns wiring cover

5:30 – Hydraulic brake switch wiring connected

5:45 – Ignition coil wiring connections

6:05 – Heater blower wiring connections

6:26 – Alternator wires to be connected later

6:32 – Connector “F” wiring to the RH courtesy lights and brake lights

7:30 – Brake pedal brake switch wiring connections

7:55 – Dipper Switch wiring bracket

8:54 – Brake pedal switch wiring tested

9:02 – Accelerator pedal assembly temporary installation

9:20 – Wiper controller installation

9:30 – RH demister elbow and tubing installation

10:30 – Wiring harness to the rear of the car installed

11:18 – Fuel pumps wiring connections

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wiring to the Bonnet

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The wiring for the lights in the bonnet is routed through the “J” Deutsch connector that is located in the chassis next to the horns. The individual wires are connected to the bonnet harness using bullet connectors. These are seen in the Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Sixty-six

https://vimeo.com/997550566/c57d5ae6dc?share=copy

 

Odds and Ends

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Odds and Ends

This post covers a number of different and varied topics and they are presented in no particular order. 

The Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Seventy-nine covers the full range of items addressed in this post: https://vimeo.com/996056168/94d2be9bab?share=copy

The long list of subjects covered by this video is detailed below:

0:00 – Bonnet rubber buffer installation

0:12 – Firewall rubber grommet installation

0:17 – Jacking point rubber plug

0:24 – RH footbox steering shaft blanking grommet

0:45 – Brake pipes installation completed

2:25 – Power distribution fuse box installation

2:50 – Slave cylinder access rubber plug installation

3:18 – Interior footbox sill rubber plugs installation

3:40 – Windscreen spray jets installation

4:15 – Windscreen washer reservoir and holder installation

4:40 – Windscreen washer hose installation

5:30 – Wiper rack installation

5:48 – Wiper motor installed

6:18 – Firewall aluminum heat insulation installation

6:52 – Anti-rattle rubber pad for wiper rack

8:03 – Wiper motor installed again

9:40 – Fuel filler pipe seal installation

10:28 – Viper ignition coil installation

10:40 – Fan blower and heater box installation

12:59 – RH radiator brace and air duct  installation

13:25 – LH radiator brace installation

13:40 – Demister vents installation

14:18 – Heater vent hinged doors installation

14:47 – Lift-a-dot fastener installation

15:55 – Tenax and turnbuckle fastener installation

18:06 – Self-tapping lift-a-dot fastener installation 

Bits and Bobs

Demister Elbows. We installed a few more items on the car. The demister elbows were a couple of easy items to install.We also installed the demister hose on the RH passenger side of the car just to check fit with the windscreen wiper controller.

Demister elbow

The coolant overflow tank was the next item to mount on the car. It is located on the LH radiator brace. 

Coolant Overflow Tank

We were going to paint the bottle cap a color to signify that the container was for coolant and not a oil catch can, but we found this little sticker to go on the cap that will work just fine.

Coolant cap decal

Then we added the bonnet rubber buffers. These buffers sit on aluminum blocks and are secured to the car with one #10 -32 x 1/2″ machine screws with washers. There is also a steel bushing or spacer inside the rubber buffer to keep it from compressing too much.

Bonnet Rubber Buffers

We then installed our fancy battery box sourced from Speedwell Engineering. A further explanation of the box and the installation process may be seen in a post made under the “Personalizations” category: https://valvechatter.com/?p=14483.

Fancy Box with Positive Cable

It was then time to install the rear license plate body plinth and light. This was a pretty straight forward job with little difficulty with satisfying results. These are the components involved:

Plinth and Lamp

Partial assembly with LED lights:

License Plate Light with LEDs

Final Installation:

Final Installation

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Eighty-five shows the installation process:

https://vimeo.com/1002052489/b28c484815?share=copy

Our next project was the installation of the front cockpit aluminum trim. In our case the trimis not polished or anodized but instead is covered with vinyl matching the interior. We used contact cement to secure the trim piece to the vinyl and mounted the finished product to the body shell with nine oval head #10-32 x 3/4″ machine screws. The two outside screws will ultimately be used along with a “P” clip to secure the bristle flex trim for the doors openings. 

Vinyl Covered Aluminum Cockpit Trim

Sometimes adding a little chrome bling just needs to be done, so we added our chrome rear view mirror purchased from Bugeye guys. It is fastened to the body with two stainless oval head #10-32 x 1/2″ machine screws.

Rear View Mirror Installed

Continuing the theme of attaching more shiny parts to the car, we mounted the rear cockpit molding. We used chrome oval head #10-32 x 3/4″ and 5/8″ to fasten the strip of aluminum to the body. Unlock nuts were used to keep things tight and in place.

Rear cockpit molding

We want to use our AFR gauge to help with initial tuning after we get the car on the road so we added a temporary red wire parallel to the main harness from fuse position #19 in the Classic technologies relay/fuse box. We will pull out the wire once we have the car running the way we like!

Temporary Red Wire for AFR Gauge