MAIN

Restoration

 1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |  21  |  22  |  23  |  24  |  25  |  26  |  27  |  28  |  29  |  30  |  31  |  32  |  33  |  34  |  35  |  36  |  37  |  38  |  39  |  40  |  41  |  42  |  43  |  44  |  45  |  46  |  47  |  48  |  49  |  50  |  51  |  52  |  53  |  54  |  55  |  56  |  57  |  58  |  59  |  60  |  61  |  62  |  63  |  64  |  65  |  66  |  67  |  68  |  69  |  70  |  71  |  72  |  73  |  74  |  75  |  76  |  77  |  78  |  79  |  80  |  81  |  82  |  83  |  84  |  85  |  86 

Previous Page | Next Page

Hi all, I just got my 59 bugeye on the road today and had a problem I've not experienced before. Within driving 3 or 4 miles the front brakes pretty much locked up. It took about 20 minutes to cool down enough to get the car moving again. I used the emergency brake while going home and the brakes didn't lock up. I have rebuilt/replaced all the wheel cylinders (I have disks up front and a 3/4" bore on the master cyl. While the brakes were locked, the brake lights were on solid without the brake pedal pressed. I... MORE

Wow, what a healthy discussion. Firslty, yes there should be a piece of thick wall reinforced rubber tubing in the oil pressure gauge line. It is specific for this purpose, in as much as oil will not disolve it (as it does with most rubber parts) and it will handle 100 psi and more. So it's expensive. In Oz dollars, approx $25 per foot. But don't use just any old rubber tubing unless you want the problem to recurr. Next, the oil warning light on all cars comes on when the ignition is turned on, and goes out when... MORE

I am starting to work on a '60 bugeye retreived from 15 years of storage in Kansas. It is a solid car, with worthless mechanicals and a half finished prep of the body for paint. I plan to chemical strip the chassis and was wondering if anyone had build plans for a rolling carriage? You know, a steel frame on casters to carry the chassis. Any ideas? "schicmg" 11055... MORE

Sorry about the off topic, just couldn't help pass it along. The Guys' Rules At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down Finally, the guys' side of the story. (I must admit, it's pretty good.) We always hear "the rules" from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. 1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down. 2. Sunday sports. It's like the... MORE

I saw several bonnets at a car show last year for around $250. Two were in really good shape the other had major rust and some dents but as I recall it was $150. "Paul Seesman" 11022... MORE

What is a fair price for a bonnet with rust only at the bottom corner near the fire wall? I am cleaning out my garage and a prospective buyer is coming tomorrow night. Thanks Phil "buggman111" 11016... MORE

All: I've been out and away from Bugeyes for awhile, but back trying to get AN5L9499 on the road. Paint is complete, rear axel is in, front end with steering is in, and upholstry is complete and ready for installation. I'm trying to get the fuel tank back in the car and have not yet found the correct combination. I've tried putting the neck seal into the body and then working the tank into place, but even withg soap, can't work it through. I've tried placing the tank on a box and working the seal onto the neck inside... MORE

I have two steel original bonnets that I have had in my garage for over 15 years. They are both in good shape with minimal rust. Someone wishes to buy them from me. What is a fair price for these bonnets??? Thanks for the help Phil "buggman111" 11015... MORE

Cap'n - Motor plate reads " 9C-U-H 36530 " fitted w/ the 4 blade fan...it's currently sitting on my garage floor waiting for the return of the body from the paint shop. I replaced the lifter cover corks and valve cover gasket along w/ carb, ignition, and generator rebuild. I replaced the water pump and thermostat along w/ the clutch, PP and T/O bearing and degreased and repainted the motor. I guess it wouldn't be too much work at this point to replace the bearings and oil pump. I assume I'd need to take off the pan and mic... MORE

Cap'n - the odometer reads 77K mi and I think it's probably accurate as I live across the street from the former original owner (he passed away 15 yrs ago and it's been in the garage since then). I did a compression check on it and got 180 lbs on all cyls so decided I'd see if I could get it running , then decide on rebuild or not. From what you said, it sounds like I'll know the health of the motor when it's running again and if it exhibits excessive oil leaks, I'll be doing a rebuild.... MORE

Hi Robert, The 1275 rod/piston pin is a shrink fit at that point and floats in the piston. It's not really feasable to attempt to change pistons at home with these rods. The machine shop uses a special rod holder and a flame that heats up the small end of the rod to expand it and then remove the old pin and then put in the new one that previously had the piston fit to the pin at the factory. Later, Paul A "Paul Asgeirsson" 10982... MORE

I'm in the midst of rebuilding the rear drum brakes on my '59 bugeye. I bought the car when it was halfway through a restoration, so the advice in the manuals to "note the location of everything before disassembly" is not of great help to me. I have the wheel cylinder rebuilt and have reinstalled it and the brake shoes, but the drum seems to fit very tightly (and in fact rubs) against the new shoes. The wheel cylinder is fully compressed (it appears) and the microcam adjuster is adjusted all the way down, so I am at a... MORE

I know Paul won't toot his horn much. But I will vouch for his system, it uses your stock setup, requires no machining (does require a drill bit), is very easy to do, umm did I mention it works? I've done it to both of my A-series motors. His system is simple and hard to beat. I'll use it on every A-series I work on. I'm sure the add on oil seals work as well, but some require machine work etc, plus the cost is higher. His works as well and is less. Also keep in mind you need... MORE

G'day all Hopefully the last couple of questions before we dicide on which 5-speed kit to use. Whilst it seems everyone says "no modifications to the car are necessary", the Morriservice instructions state: "Underneath the heater box is a beam that needs to be altered some. Typically it needs to be moved up and back about 3/4 inch. Pounding it up and back with a hammer is the usual way." Well, if you ever tried to undo that damage, you would think that it was a modification. I questioned Paul A on this, and he replied: "This mod under... MORE

The beam that they speak of is actualy the metal that is below the heater, to duct the heat to the heater vents. I didn't use BFH to bend to fit, but used a jack to raise the Transmission to force the dent. If you check with either Geard or Paul, there is a modification (cut) that can be done to the bellhousing of the transmission where no bending of the steel heated duct is required in the Bugeye. "Robert Webb" 10931... MORE

Affirmatron to both questions, Seth. The stock carbs on the 1275 are 1.25's and the exhaust is 1.5". Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 10929... MORE

Hi, Colin.... The early Rivergate kits required the body mod you speak of. Today's Rivergate kit does not. No modification was required to my current BE to drop in the Rivergate engine/Datsun 5 speed "combo" which took the place of the stock 1098/ribcase gearbox the car came with. As I understand it..... the Rivergate clutch disc is a Datsun unit modified to match the stock (or upgraded?) Spridget Borg & Beck pressure plates. As I understand it.... the gearboxes used and rebuilt/sold commercially by Rivergate are those sourced from Datsun 210 TRUCKS. Not sure of their torque or HP... MORE

You of course are correct. I neglected to mention the "mod" to the heater duct :-) There is a transmission mod that solves this problem. I have a combination of Rivergate and Morriservice because I could never get the Rivergate clutch to work correctly so I gave up and shipped Paul my flywheel for modification (I don't consider this a mod as it is a bolt on). I did not know about Paul's kit when I bought the Rivergate kit or I probably would have gone with Paul's kit from the beginning. My engine did 97 on the dyno... MORE

The one you want will have the drain plug pointing down. There are more parts available for it if it needs rebuilt. Bob, Troutdale, OR "Robert Webb" 10922... MORE

Can someone identify for me the stock screw size that holds the rear view mirror to the dashboard of a '60 Bugeye? The PO painted in the holes so I wold like to clean them out with a tap and new screws. Thanks! Chris '60 Bugeye "Chris Weber" 10914... MORE

So my speedometer is broke but not my tach. I have a stock '60 Bugeye. Can anyone help me relate a particular RPM to MPH? Or if you can share the tranny and rear end ratios with me I suppose I could dust off the HP and due the math myself. I'm kind of lazy though. Thanks! Chris '60 Bugeye "Chris Weber" 10913... MORE

Having 2 shifter cans, I took one, cut 3/4" out of the center of it to lower it so that it will fit, and look "stock" with the Datsun 5 speed installed, But it reduces the area to mount the cruse control buttons. Bob, Troutdale, OR P.S. If you are supprised, you haven't driven a Bugeye on an 1600 mile trip. "Robert Webb" 10895... MORE

hey no problem, I am learning as well. I just wanted to make sure that the 79-82 Datsun 210 didn't require any chassis mods. I think one thing that we all have to remember here is that email is worldwide. You can just as easily have a gent in Australia as you can in America all talking about the same thing but each has different things they can use. We keep running into this on another email list i'm on, for RC sailboats. Req. LBC, I did some junk yard looking and turned up nill. Guy on the phone... MORE

Oh, sure Barrett.... The hot rodders need better brakes but think about this for a minute......'cause ....the factory certainly thought ALL who purchased it's cars deserved the better disc brakes. Or they wouldn't have bothered had they felt the drums up to snuff with the larger motors, though I am not sure the larger motor was necessarily the primary reason why the factory converted from drums to discs. They did the same for the MGA at a certain point ('57 or '58) with only a very minor increase in power. Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 10898... MORE

Shame on you Scott. You didn't say that one of the mechanics (me) said he didn't want to know anything about it and you should stick with the original gearbox. OK Larry, Cap'n Bob, Jim and Jim, exactly what does "little or no modifications" mean. I read all this stuff about fitting 5-speed boxes, and most of it says "little modification necessary". What they don't say is you need to chop the transverse chassis rail that forms the original gearbox mount. Now I am happy to stick a 5-speed box in my car, but since it is the only... MORE