Today was a bit all over the place. I removed the steering rack and column from the car, which, along with the front brake lines, were the only mechanical pieces left on the body. I did this mostly on video, so there aren't a lot of photos. But the video is informative, I hope. Also, I set up the rotisserie pivots and tack-welded them together. Because my welder is, well, crap, I would rather not risk producing welds with poor (or no) penetration on pieces that will be supporting the weight of the car. A friend of mine has a good stick welder that gets plenty hot, so there is no need to take chances. I likely will replace this welder in the not too distant future, but for now, it's good for sheet metal. I wouldn't trust it with anything heavier or more structural than that. The video is here I should also mention that I bought a bunch of used parts from a gentleman in the USA. They arrived just recently, as well. I got beehive lights (original in box!), a washer fluid bottle, telescoping arm for the bonnet, a replacement for my heater box and heater/battery shelf, and some other bits and bobs. Check out the photos below.
0 Comments
After tearing down the front end and sending the shocks for rebuild, I got on the horn with a couple of vendors, who were very helpful. Gerard from Gerard's Garage was a wealth of information, and greatly informed my decisions when it came to the front end. I knew I wanted to swap in disc brakes on the front. Thus the purchase of the front end as shown previously. But Gerard was great in helping to fill in the blanks. Which parts should be replaced? Which ones can be refurbished? Which ones are necessary/not necessary for the conversion to the different hubs and steering that goes with the front brake change? Through this process, I ordered a bunch of parts through Gerard. This way, I was sure everything would be compatible, as the front end is certainly not something I wish to assemble with any guesswork. Parts ordered from Gerard included front discs, calipers, pads, steel braided brake lines, wheel bearings, tie rod ends, and lower A Arms. The A Arms are the higher quality ones. I ordered these because my old A Arms, which I originally thought were ok, had quite a bit of corrosion in the pivot areas and threads. While I was at it, I also had Gerard re-sleeve my original master cylinder to 3/4 inch in order to accomodate the front disc conversion. Because of this change, I elected to not use the stock Bugeye rear wheel cylinders (which are designed for a 7/8 in bore master cylinder), but instead replace them with appropriate, 3/4 inch rear wheel cylinders. These also came from Gerard's Garage, along with a new clutch slave cylinder. The other vendor I spoke with was Dave from The Bugeye Guy. He offers a complete major front end rebuild kit, including kingpins, bushings, pivots, etc. I had him include poly bushings for the front end. While I was at it, I also ordered his complete set of screws/fasteners to attach the cockpit surrounds. All of these parts arrived today. It's quite like Christmas! Not much here, really. I just did some checking. As most car guys know, every jurisdiction is a bit different when it comes to licensing requirements.
I used to live in a different province. In my old home, if you wanted "Vintage" or "Antique" plates on your car, you needed to provide proof that it was all original. Engine, suspension, the works. Some safety modifications were allowed, such as adding seat belts or even disc brakes (if they were a factory option in that year), but everything had to be approved. Or you could get "Collector" plates for modified vehicles, but they, too, were severely restricted. So, the other day, I decided to find out if I could, in fact, do my disc brake conversion on the Austin and still get Vintage plates in my current location. Turns out that Saskatchewan is pretty easy going on the mods. Not only can I add my disc brakes and seat belts, but it turns out I don't even need the original drivetrain. As long as my serial number is more than 30 years old (as a 1959 model, it qualifies), I'm good. I can even put a 1275 and ribcase gearbox in her if I so choose. Actually, I could put in an LS if I wanted to, but that seems a tad... well... stupid and reckless. But it would be exciting to drive. When you push on the gas, and you don't know if the car is going to slew right, left, or straight up in the air, that's exciting! But I am now considering the 1275 swap, as opposed to the original 948 and smooth case. I'm open to thoughts. So a few days ago I was surfing Facebook, and I saw someone offering up a set of Bugeye floors, along with inner and outer sills for sale. The price was very reasonable, especially for Heritage parts, so I messaged the gent. It sounded good, so I followed up with a phone call, and we got talking about our projects. I definitely wanted the floors, as they would save me a ton of time and effort fabricating new ones. At the price he was selling them, it would have cost me almost as much for the raw materials, so it made sense. During our conversation, Ian (the seller) asked me about my plans for the front end. I told him I was considering a disc brake upgrade (largely due to my brother's ill-fated adventure with water and the front brakes of this car), but that it was a big cost and I was weighing it carefully. That's when he dropped the bomb. It seems he had a parts car/tub, which he had acquired for the rear half, along with the engine. He had basically cut the car in half at the firewall, and didn't need the front end. It had disc brakes. Would I be interested? HELL YES! He lives about 9 hours drive from me. For those of you in Britain, that seems like a lot. In Canada, not so much. Remember, driving from coast to coast in Canada is 4025 miles (6,500 km). To put that in perspective, London to Moscow is 1798 miles on the M1. (per Google). So for us Canadian folk, 9 hours is a nice Sunday drive. So I borrowed my friend's pickup truck and drove out to Ian's house. The front end was everything promised. It has disc brakes, but no master cylinder. Oh well. I would have wanted to replace that anyway. It also has the full front suspension, steering rack, and enough sheet metal for me to make as many patches as I like. Plus I bought the floors and sills. Oh, and while we were talking, I noticed several steel bonnets on his wall. One of the parts I need to replace is the front apron below the grille. It is very damaged from my brother's meeting with the pole mentioned way back when in the car's history. So I asked him about cutting the apron out of one of his bonnets. He said no, too much work. Just load up the entire bonnet. YAY! And then he threw in a heater/blower motor with a cracked plastic housing. I can fix that, and save another bundle! Overall, Ian was awesome. He has more parts. But I'm not publicizing them here, as I may still go back and get some more! And then when I got home, my wife helped me use my engine hoist to unload it. Only downside... I got a photo radar ticket on the way back. Yeah, it was my buddy's truck so he got the ticket. But I paid him for it. It's only fair, really. VIDEO HERE: us using his small front-end loader to put the thing on the back of the pickup truck is here... https://youtu.be/YqyVb3OsKfk My rear shroud has arrived. I'm very happy with it's condition. The wonderful folks at Autofarm packed it beautifully. For now, it's just laid on top of the car. I will start bodywork in earnest in the spring. Right now, it's getting a bit chilly at night, and my garage is not heated. I want to be able to spray primer as soon as possible after stripping/grinding/welding, and I want it to be warm enough that the primer can properly cure overnight, without leaving time bombs for future paint problems. But yes... one of my major searches is over! Well, something very cool happened, which will save me a ton of work. I was searching around for different parts suppliers, surfing parts catalogs... you know, all the general stuff that we do when trying to avoid doing something productive. During the course of my surfing, I found a supplier in Ontario called Autofarm. (see links page)
These guys do a bunch of stuff, mostly to do with big Healeys, but they are also getting into the Sprite end of things. The owner is tearing down a Bugeye parts car, and will have the rear shroud available as a used part. I jumped on it right away. I also sent them a preliminary list of parts I may be needing, and got back an estimate on cost. But right now, I'm super into that shroud coming in! I was concerned about fabricating the part. Smaller bits are fine, but something the whole width of the car, a couple of feet long, and which needs to be perfectly symmetrical with compound curves... that's a bit of an ask. I would have done it, but now I don't have to. Welding her in will be See Spot Run stuff by comparison. And, while I wait, the disassembly begins in earnest. VIDEO HERE: My free version of Weebly hosting does not allow me to post videos directly to the page, unfortunately. But here is a link to my YouTube video from the above paragraphs.... youtu.be/ChorrRj93os A little while ago, I joined the Saskatchewan British Car Club (SBCC). I thought the club was based in Saskatoon, which is over 3 hours drive, but it turns out there is also a Regina chapter, which is much closer to where I live. A couple of the club members got in touch with me and lo and behold, one of them owns a Bugeye project! Doug (the Bugeye owner), invited me up to his home last night. His project is stripped to the bare metal tub, just waiting for him to finish his GT6 first. I got an awful lot out of last night's meeting. Aside from meeting a couple of new friends (one of whom owns a REALLY NICE E-Type!), we talked about the sheet metal work I need to do on my car. This included both the floors and the rear shroud (the area behind the seats that was cut away. See picture) Of course, we had talked about this on the phone prior to me going up, so I came prepared. His Bug was sitting there just wanting attention, so I attacked it with a measuring tape, card stock (to cut templates), and a contour gauge. I measured out the shroud as well as the dimensions and cross section of the support beam beneath it (which was also cut on my car). Then I took his brand new, uninstalled floor pans and traced them into cardboard templates as well. The plan is to buy some sheet metal -- I'm guessing 20 gauge, though I'd be happier with a bit thicker, such as 18 ga -- and fabricate the body parts that I need. Since I'm supposed to be a body-man, I SHOULD be able to do this, LOL! During the course of the evening, we were discussing this plan, it came up that Doug has an english wheel. He lent it to me! First time I've met the man, and he's lending me tools! I LOVE this part of the country! And this club! So I'm going to have some fun making (hopefully) symmetrical body parts! While I was there, we also discussed rotisseries. Doug has one, but he needs it for his GT6 at the moment. But he did have the brackets to mount his Bugeye on the chicken-spinner, which he also lent to me, which will save me a ton of measuring and fabricating. Doug's rotisserie is made of wood, mostly 2x6, and I got all the measurements I'm going to need to build one once my body is down to the tub. (I mean my car body! My own body already has plenty of "tub"! Just ask my wife!) So yeah, really excited right now! Of note... I didn't take any pics at Doug's, aside from my wife in Bob's beautiful Jag. Sorry. Pics below are some of the templates I made. Dumb, I know. I got caught up with talking cars. Video on Youtube here: (just showing the gauge of the sheetmetal) https://youtu.be/A8cCGV-2g74 OK, now that I updated everyone on the past many months, and my ordeal with trying to get parts, I should also note that I have received several parts ordered from other sources. In this case, from members of the AHEXP Austin Healey Experience forum. I'm very happy with these bits.... I have gotten a new accelerator pedal, water pump, master brake cylinder, and cockpit trim pieces. Also a new horn button and side mirror. Some of these bits were damaged in shipping, (through NO FAULT of the gentleman who sold them to me... I want to stress that these items were well-packed). Even still, when I mentioned this to the seller, he replaced all the damaged items, plus threw in some tail light covers for my troubles! I thank him immensely! I also have received a wiring harness and side curtains from another seller on a forum. These also arrived complete and as advertised. Delay... First off, there has been a delay in the development of my project. I’ve been laid off from work now since mid-March. I have been planning to hit the Austin hard during this time, but some family issues have come up. Much of my time has been spent visiting my mother when she got very very ill, and then she moved to a care home, so we have been emptying her apartment and moving her stuff. But that is done now, and I’m back to having some time for the car. Not as much time as I'd like, and I need to be able to drop everything and run on short notice, but time, nonetheless. I have decided to spend that time working on my parts database. Database... I mentioned in a previous post (Starting the Ground Work) that I was programming a database for tracking the parts on the Austin. It is now complete. I can enter in the OE part number (from the Austin Healey parts manual that I have), and sort it by category, which diagram it appears in, number, etc. Then I can select the part and see which vendors sell that part, what their part number is, and how much it costs. I can also see which parts I need to order, which ones I have received, and which ones can be reused and/or rebuilt from the original car. Once I select parts to order, I can track them to avoid doubling up orders, and I can view the parts themselves and also the orders of multiple parts. I can then see what I’ve spent and budget what I need to spend. I’m throwing some screen shots up with this post. I should note that these are just sample shots, and the part image and diagrams don't necessarily line up. I just used random images for the test parts on the database. Those are cleared up now and the real parts are being entered. I’ve also started tearing the car down and doing an inventory (and entering the parts into the database.) More on this in my next post... As mentioned previously, the rear deck on my Sprite was cut away before I got it. I also need the front half of the floor pans (the part that sits in the footwells.) I would look at replacing the whole floor, but the parts under the seat are solid, so if I can get partial panels for a lower price, why waste the money, right? So I was asking about panels in various Facebook and internet forums, looking to see what was out there. A member of one of the Facebook groups replied to someone looking for parts, and I got hold of him. This individual, whom I will not name here (and whom is no longer in my "friends" list, btw!), claimed he worked making the replacement panels for not one but two of the companies specializing in Austin Healey replacement parts. He offered to make the parts for me (I assume on his own time). We discussed a new rear deck and a repair panel for the driver's side rear fender, where my car is rusted out. He said GBP 300.00 for both parts. He also offered me a half-floorpan for an additional GBP 50.00. Some screenshots are below. Fortunately, my Spidey Sense wiggled pretty hard, and I paid via PayPal so that I would have some protection. I remained well aware of the deadlines to file a dispute with PayPal, and let him have enough rope to hang himself. After several weeks stretched into a couple of months of back and forth, there was nothing but excuses coming from this individual, including “I’m moving”, “my mother is moving”, “its all boxed up and ready to go, but I have no money for postage to ship it” (bearing in mind that I had paid him for the parts AND POSTAGE in advance!). At long last, he promised a refund. Not leaving this to chance, I immediately put in a dispute with Paypal for them to process the refund, rather than wait for him to get around to it. Paypal had my money back to me within a couple of weeks. He never responded to another message or call again. So, I am still in need of new ½ floor pans and the rear deck behind the seats. (And a rear fender repair panel, as well). I may just find a 59 frogeye and take a contour gauge and tape measure to it so that I can make my own rear deck from sheet metal. |
AuthorMy name is Ash. Archives
September 2021
Categories
All
|