Modifying the Rear Leaf Springs

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The rear suspension in the Bugeye is comprised of the quarter elliptical leaf springs, the shock absorbers, the radius arms and their mounting boxes, the rebound straps, the rubber bump stops, and of course, the axle. Video Episode Thirteen shows the removal of the original fifteen leaf springs: https://vimeo.com/769992972/c923375ecc

We chose to replace the original springs. The only springs readily available at this time are the 10 leaf “Rally” springs. We ordered a pair from BugeyeGuy.com along with five degree shims that will lower the car to give it a proper ride height. We disassembled these springs, removed the poor paint, cleaned them and repainted with POR-15 and installed teflon tape between each leaf to reduce friction and squeaking. That process is shown in Video Episode Fourteen: https://vimeo.com/754389824/9ab8550b67

Most of what we have read on the various forums is that the rally spec springs are a bit stiff and don’t give the ride that the original springs provided. Tom Colby of Speedwell Engineering has suggested the removal of three of the leaves to offer an improved ride and we decided to try his suggestion. We can always back up and reinsert the leaves we take out.

Tom Colby’s Spring Modification

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Sixty-four shows the deconstruction of the springs.https://vimeo.com/989814778/55abef9a4c

It wasn’t quite as easy as just pulling out a few spring leaves. Because the remaining collection of seven springs isn’t as high as the ten leaves, the bolts and springs clasps need to be modified as well. The two 3/8″ hex head bolts (per spring) that are 3 1/4″ long were replaced with two bolts that are 2 1/2″ long. The 5/16″ compressing pins that are 2 1/2″ long were replaced with 5/16″ socket head screws. Socket head screws were used because the compressing pins have round heads that also serve to locate the spring in the chassis spring plate. Rather than rounding the edges off of a hex head bolt the socket head should work just fine.   

Two of the spring clips or brackets are of sufficient size to permit drilling an additional hole in the arms of the bracket to fit the new spring height. There isn’t room on the other two so we will try them as they are or modify at a later date.

The true test will be the ride and that is still months away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Doors

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Prior to installing the doors on the car, we decided to assemble the door trim. Hopefully this is the best route to take. our first step was to install the rubber door liner that we purchased from Bugeyeguys. This liner is heavy and in addition to providing a solid feel when the door is opened and closed, it should afford a certain degree of sound insulation as well. The liner was glued to the door using contact cement. The photo below shows the finished product:

Rubber door liner installed

That is where the factory stopped. However, we have decided to glue carpet to the rubber liner to give a more finished and coordinated appearance.

Glueing the carpet to the rubber door liner

Carpet installed

We then installed the upholstered door pockets. These also came from Bugeyeguys and they are an upgrade over the originals. These pockets simply slide over the door lip (as can be seen in the photo above) and push down into place. Screws are not required to secure the pockets.

Upholstered Door Pocket

Next came the installation of the polished aluminum cockpit molding. Rubber washers sourced from Bugeyeguys are installed under the thumb screws for the side curtain brackets. They minimize any scuffing that might result from taking the side curtains on and off the car.

Polished aluminum cockpit molding

It was then time to install the door latch mechanism to the door. Four pan head #10-32 x 1/2″ stainless machine screws with internal tooth washers are used to mount the latch to the door.

Door Latch Installation

The final step in the completion of the doors is the installation of the upholstered check straps. These fit through a slot in the door and are then secured to the inside of the “A” pillar of the car. The end of the strap has two metal finishing plates.

Door check strap

With the doors assembly complete it was time to install the door hinges to the car’s “A” pillar. There are two hinges per door. The hinges had been stamped with markings to signify whether the hinge was top or bottom and left door or right door. Each hinge uses three pan head 1/4″-28 x 1/2″ screws and internal tooth lock washers to mount to the car.

Unfortunately, after we mounted the four hinges we decided that there was just too much play in each hinge so we pulled them all from the car and sent them to a hinge repair specialist to install new bushings, washers, and pins so they will be as good as new.

Door hinges

Episode Ninety-one of the Bugeye Restoration Videos shows the installation of the various door components and the mounting of the door hinges.

https://vimeo.com/1034610967/b9737f276b?share=copy

0:00 – Rubber door liner installation

0:44 – Carpet door liner installation

0:56 – Upholstered door pocket installation

1:08 – Door check strap installation

1:16 – Aluminum cockpit molding installation

2:04 – Door latch installation

2:43 – Door check strap finishers

3:05 – Door hinges installed

When the restored door hinges are received we will install them and update this post.

 

 

Seating

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The Bugeye seats were the subject of an earlier post in the restoration section: https://valvechatter.com/?p=14315  This post explains our decision process on the type of seat cover we would use and also reviews the refurbishment of the seat frames and backs.

Geoff Chrysler, owner of Rightway Heritage Trim did a beautiful job with the seat upholstery. We could not have been happier with the leather color or his craftsmanship.

MK2 Seat with inserts and horizontal stitch

The seat tracks were originally screwed to the lower seat frame with 1/4″-28 x 5/8″ flat-head screws, but before long in the production cycle the screws and nuts were replaced with rivets. Several of the rivets in the Bugeye seat tracks were loose and resulted in sloppy seat travel. We decided to drill out the rivets and return to the use of screws and nuts to hold the pieces together. We also sent the seat tracks and rails to Jartex in Forth Worth, TX to have the pieces cleaned and zinc plated. They did a very nice job. We are now ready to assemble the components.

As produced at the time, only the driver’s seat had an adjustable slider track. The passenger seat was bolted in place with four brackets to the floor. However, we also have the adjuster for the passenger seat and will be installing it. It is hard to imagine ever adjusting the seats given how little room there is in the Sprite. They will probably be pushed all the way to the rear and then never moved!

We installed three-point retractable shoulder harnesses and seat belts sourced from Bugeyeguys.com. The belts and their installation were covered in an earlier post which includes a video showing the modifications to the chassis to accommodate the fixing points.https://valvechatter.com/?p=14383

This is the finished product:

The Finished Product

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Ninety covers the installation of the seat tracks, the retractable seat belts and the seats: https://vimeo.com/1032472964/0a8578978f?share=copy

 

Accelerator pedal

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The accelerator pedal in the Bugeye was mounted on the floor board as seen in the illustration below:

Sprite Accelerator Pedal

We have decided to hang the pedal from the shaft rather than mounting it on the floor and we purchased a kit from Speedwell Engineering that has a throttle return spring so that the mechanism is not dependent upon the throttle plate return spring on the carburetor. 

Episode Eighty-nine of the Bugeye Restoration Videos shows the new pedal arrangement installed in the car:

https://vimeo.com/1029000934/d39495fc82?share=copy

Lighting

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Sidelights/Flashers and Tail Lights – We had previously switched the incandescent bulbs in the flasher/side lights and tail lights in favor of LEDs. These are much brighter, consume lower amperage, and produce less heat. This requires replacing the flasher relay can with a substitute suited for LEDs. In our case, the LED flasher relay is incorporated in the Classic Technologies Fuse Box.

License Plate Lights – the original light fixture used two small incandescent bulbs.We converted these to LEDs sourced from Moss Motors.

Headlights – We ordered new headlights from The Bus Depot. Their web site states: “Essentially generic knockoffs of the old Cibie Z-beams, these are tested and certified to meet stringent E-Code and TUV standards.  This means better light distribution and visibility than the cheapo knockoffs sold on Ebay, etc. (which are not E-code and often don’t even come with protective boots on the back). These are direct bolt-on replacements for your stock 7″ sealed-beam headlights; just pop them in and you’re ready to go. They also have curved glass similar to how the sealed-beams looked, whereas most other E-codes have flatter glass that is more common in Europe. (The difference does not affect performance and is just a matter of personal taste, if you care at all.) They also feature a special anti-fogging coating on the insides of the lenses.”

Cibie Headlights

Then we needed to find some LED lights to put in the headlight bodies. After some research we decided on these units from Classic Car LEDs. These were very reasonably priced for what appears to be high quality units.

Classic Car LEDs H4 Mini

Classic Car LEDs

Driving Lights – We have considered, but not decided on, installing Lucas driving lights. Since it is a possibility for the future, the wiring harness has incorporated the wiring for the lights should we desire to add them at a later date. This image shows what they look like once installed.

Lucas Driving Lights

 

Steering Installation

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The steering installation story in the Bugeye has been characterized by fits and starts. This often happens in restorations because systems frequently interfere with the installation of other systems. The new steering rack was first discussed in Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Thirty-five: https://vimeo.com/810655660/46123c8339?share=copy The steering rack is a new one purchased from AH Spares. Information related to the steering rack begins at the 5:00 minute point of the video.

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Eighty-seven shows the installation of the steering components of the car.

Bugeye Steering Components

We almost missed the shim that fits between the chassis crossmember and the passenger side of the steering rack bracket, part number 44 in the diagram above. This shim aligns the steering column through the dash at the correct angle. We sourced a new one from AH Spares.

The trickiest part of installing the steering system was the coordination required with the installation of the dash. We installed the column through the firewall and let it hang loose. We then positioned it through the hole in the dash and gradually moved both the column and dash upward and into position on the car. Only then did we begin to connect the various components of the steering system. The horn cone was installed with its three mounting screws, but with plenty of room to move around as the column shifted position. All parts were loosely fitted to ensure that we didn’t have any binding of the parts as they were assembled.

Dash with zip ties to the body and column in position

In our final installation we had already centered the steering rack and had also threaded the new tie rod ends to the proper location to hopefully result in a rough alignment of the wheels permitting us to roll the car around in the garage. We will find out later if we were successful! Of course, we will align the steering professionally when all is done.

The following points are covered in Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Eighty-seven:

https://vimeo.com/1010637487/a43c135b98?share=copy

0:00 – Steering column bracket, grommet, and bushings

1:56 – Steering column firewall corrugated grommet

2:18 – Stering rack shims

2:49 – Steering column to steering rack locking bolt

3:00 – Steering rack to chassis brackets installed

3:22 – Steering rack to chassis shim

4:12 – Steering rack bracket bolt torque values

4:22 – Coordinating the dash and steering column installation

4:40 – Final steering components installation sequence

6:19 – Horn cone positioned and secured

7:22 – Testing the steering column connection to the rack

8:20 – Connecting the tie rod ends

9:00 – Steering wheel installed

9:30 – Horn test

 

 

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Dash and Custom Wiring Harness – Part Two

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We connected the rear license plate plinth and light.

Final Installation of license plat plinth and Light

This procedure is detailed in Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Eighty-five shows the installation process:

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

This is just a matter of connecting the black ground wire to the appropriate terminal in the fixture and connecting the red wire to its terminal in the fixture. This is seen in the image below.

License Plate Light with LEDs

Next we turned to installing the front interior courtesy lights. The front courtesy lights are located in the two footboxes on the outside walls and use the original bonnet prop fixed nuts as mounting points. Small brackets to house the lights were fabricated and painted Cotswold Blue. The lights were sourced from Better Car Lighting in the UK. https://www.bettercarlighting.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=171

A purple wire provides power to the LED lights and each is grounded with a black wire next to the light assembly. Operation of the lights is through a remote key fob switch in which case the lights turn on for forty seconds, or via a toggle switch under the dash to leave on until toggled off.

RH Front Courtesy Light

LH Front Courtesy Light

 

Before installing the dash we wanted to complete the installation of the front courtesy lights as they are not easy to access without the dash, much less with dash in place. We also completed the wiring and testing for the pedal brake switch that can also be seen in the photo below.

LH front courtesy light

We then covered the front aluminum cockpit molding with our red vinyl and installed it on the body. It looks quite handsome.

front cockpit molding vinyl covered

Just to add a touch of bling to our work the chrome rear view mirror went on next. Two chrome oval head #10-32 x 5/8″ machine screws secure the mirror to the captured nuts in the body.

Rear View Mirror

We then added the rear cockpit molding:

Rear cockpit molding

We then installed the LH demister hose to the elbow and nozzle vent. We will be using an AFR gauge to assist with tuning but do not plan to leave it in the car permanently so we ran a red wire from fuse position #19 in our fuse box, through the firewall an into the interior. This wire can be easily removed after we finish tuning.

We then began the actual installation of the dash with all of its wiring, gauges, switches and etc. in place. We had seen a tip on the internet to make this task easier. That is to use large zip ties to support the corners of the dash. This allows easy access from above for mating Deutsch connectors, finishing up with a few loose wires and for running cables through the dash and the firewall. As it turned out, it was a great tip and made the job quite a bit easier than it might have otherwise been.

Dash with zip ties to the body

We could then gradually tighten the zip ties and move the dash closer to the body. Ultimately, we cut the zip ties and inserted the 1/4″-28 – 1″ hex head bolts and tightened each corner.

Care must be taken with three items 1. one must keep an eye on the steering shaft so that it remains free in the column bezel. 2. There are two braces under the dash that secure the dash to the firewall. The braces must be above the lip that they mount to on the firewall before the dash to body bolts go in on the corners, otherwise they are difficult to properly position. This is especially true in our case since the braces serve as the platform for our supplementary switch panel behind the dash. 3. Routing the capillary tube for the water temperature gauge and the copper pipe for the oil pressure must be approached cautiously to avoid damage to either.

The installation of the individual items associated with the dash is covered in the attached video. Once we had the dash in place we began testing all of our circuits. Everything seems to functioning properly! A major achievement in the process toward assembling the Bugeye.

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Eighty-six:

https://vimeo.com/1006256130/a0a01395e3?share=copy

0:00 – Front courtesy lights connected

0:21 – Brake light wiring

1:11 – Covering and installing the aluminum cockpit molding

2:56 – Rear view mirror installed

3:18 – Rear cockpit molding installed

3:50 – LH demister hose installed

4:00 – Temporary AFR gauge wiring installed

4:22- Dash wiring and installation

8:00 – Zip tying the dash to the car

8:47 – Wiper controller rheostat installed

9:07 – Water temperature & oil pressure gauge & pipes installed

10:00 – Windscreen washer pump hoses and wiring connected

10:19 – Brake wiring connected

10:48 – Started cable installed

11:05 – Heater switch installed & wires connected

11:12 – Choke cable installed

11:24 – RH ground bus bar wiring

11:39 – Dash to body mounting bolts and braces

12:08 – Electrical circuit testing begins

 

 

 

 

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