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
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This past weekend, I finally got around to separating the gearbox from the engine and am about to mount the engine on a stand, except that I need to get two bolts to properly mount it. I have removed the clutch and flywheel. I cannot believe how little oil there is around the rear crankshaft seal. I expected a big leak, but it's virtually dry! (see pics) I'd like some opinions on whether or not this clutch is reusable, as the car only has 37000 miles on it (according to my brother. Less if I go by the odometer, which has not -- to my knowledge-- been altered), and there seems lots of meat left. I just don't know about it because of its age. Another big surprise for me is how light the gearbox is. I can pick it up and fling it about like nothing. I swear, the flywheel is heavier! Once the engine is mounted, I'll strip the carbs and bits off of it. I'll probably do all the gaskets (except maybe the head gasket... we'll see how the compression test goes. I won't tear it any further apart than I have to.) Also next up, removing the suspension from the body and send the shocks for rebuild. UPDATE--- I can't seem to get a proper compression reading without having a starter motor attached. I tried an electric drill on the harmonic balancer, but the compression with the tester in (plugs out) is too high to allow the drill to turn properly. I guess that's a good sign. Still need to tear it all apart, though. Rough summer for me, just like for many other people. Other priorities will supplant work on the car for a while. 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... My British Heritage Certificate arrived from the British Motor Museum today. I had gotten an email previously which included all of the original specs, but it's nice to have the original, with all the goodies in a nice leather folder. This confirms that the car was originally Old English White with a Cherry Red interior. It was built on 15 October 1958 and sold to through a dealer in Toronto. Original equipment: Heater, Laminated windscreen, MPH speedometer, US-spec headlamps, Rev counter (tachometer), Windscreen washers, Tonneau cover, Front bumper, Red and white flashers 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. So here's my dilemma. I have an original engine and car with just under 40,000 original miles on it. All my life, it's been my brother's "little red car". Only the original colour was Old English White, with a red interior. Oh, and I hate red interiors in general. Question to those who may know... how much does going back to original paint and interior spec matter to the value of a numbers-matching car with a Heritage Certificate? If it's a huge difference in value, I'll keep it all stock. But I'd like to know before I start priming/painting the engine bay and underside, and CERTAINLY before I start ordering seat and interior trim. My options:
Engine and drive train will stay pretty much stock, though I may do a muffler or some internals, but only if everything still looks stock. Also considering a spin on oil filter conversion. Thoughts on whether or not that is worth it? Sorry.... VERY long post on my car's history. I apologize for the keyboard diarrhea. Short version... my car has its original engine and driveline. For more excruciating detail, read on... OK, so my brother came home for (Canadian) Thanksgiving, and I got to quiz him about some stuff on the car... First, the blue engine. Actually, no. First the history, which (after a while) leads to the blue engine. The (minor) fire and how he got the car When my brother was 14 (in 1969), my parents were driving home, and happened upon a lady with her Austin on the side of the road. There had been a fire in the engine bay, but it was now out. The car was not running, and my folks took her into town. (We live in a rural area) On the way, she was determined that the car would never run again, as it had been on fire. My brother offered up $100 for the car, and said he'd take his chances. She took it and sold him the car. My folks drove him back out (after a visit to the bank), and he took a look. One of the rubber fuel lines at the carburettor had torn, and dripped fuel on the exhaust, which of course ignited. As soon as she saw the smoke, she cut the ignition, which, in turn, shut down the mechanical fuel pump and stopped the flow of gasoline. What little fuel was in the engine bay burned off quickly. The fire was so mild, and extinguished so quickly, that it did not even melt the other rubber line. Nor did it damage the air filters, melt the decals/id plates on the engine valve cover, or even blister the paint. The main remnant was a torn fuel line and a black soot mark on the inside of the hood (see picture.. its still there). Oh, and the sheet metal warped slightly. I'll shrink that back no problem. My folks drove my brother to my uncle's farm, he got a piece of fuel line off of a combine, installed it back on the car, and drove it home with my parents following him in their car. That piece of hose from the combine is still on the engine. The 14-year-old's thought on colour change When my brother got the car, it was already red (which I now am virtually positive is not the original colour -- pretty sure it was Old English White). The interior was likewise red. He didn't like the red-on-red look, so he changed the seats to white (as you can see in earlier pics on this page). He also wanted to paint the car blue. He started, again as seen in earlier pics. The cover on the gear shifter has been painted blue, as had the vinyl on the dash and over the interior rear fenders. The plan was to make the entire car blue, with a white interior. But, since he was a kid, and he had just spent pretty much all of his money to buy the car, this was not going to be a professional job. The pole incident (we're getting to the blue engine, I swear!) My brother was playing around with the car in the back lanes, (and doing slalom between neighbours' "borrowed" garbage cans, I imagine), when his brakes failed. Apparently large puddles can mess with the braking power on these cars. He said he had a choice between hitting the house and hitting the pole in our back yard that was used for hanging laundry. He chose to hit the pole. The pole was set in the ground in concrete. The Austin was not. Subsequent damage to the hood was... substantial. A neighbour agreed to fix the hood in his back yard in his spare time. Budgetary concerns of a broke 14 year old came into play, and the colour change was forestalled, and the repairs were primed red. (This is why the hood is a different shade from the rest of the car) I'm guessing that the budget also had a lot to do with the quality of the repair, as replacement parts were not an option. In fairness, the top of the hood was pounded pretty straight, but the lower apron saw some work hardening and creasing in the metal. I will try to fix it myself, but I think I might just be purchasing a new part or two after my ego is crushed by the stubborn metal. (Pics of the apron and inner support included with this post) The BLUE ENGINE (see, I told you we'd get there) When the hood was being repaired, the engine was also pulled so that they could check the front frame members for straightness. While he could not afford to change the colour on the body (requiring an entire paint job), my brother could not refuse when the mechanic asked if the engine could do with a lick of paint while it was out. My brother said "blue, please" and showed up with a can of Ford engine blue. If you look at the pictures, you can see green paint beneath the blue where the pressure washer has peeled it back. This verifies the story. This engine was originally green, and my brother attests that it is, in fact, the original engine in the car. (As my brother put it... no replacement engine would leak that much oil!) I asked him about the missing number plate, and he remembers pulling it off for the blue paint job, thinking he would replace it afterwards, but it bent and broke when he was prying it off with a screwdriver. The rest of the story Some extra details I also learned or confirmed...
Knowing now that I have an original car with original engine and driveline, I am left with a dilemma. But this post is already long enough... I will deal with the dilemma in my next post. Thanks for reading! If you made it all the way through, I applaud you! (**NOTE -- photos on this blog post are duplicates of some that were posted earlier. I just included them here to demonstrate what I was talking about.) Engine and transmission are out. 4 hrs including pressure wash and cleanup... not bad considering I've never worked on an Austin before. Drive shaft was supposed to come out with the tranny, but stayed behind for some reason. Of note, driveshaft balance is very important. Therefore, when I undid the bolts attaching the driveshaft to the differential, I made sure to mark the holes so that when I re-install everything, the driveshaft goes back in the exact same orientation as before. What I did was get a couple of gift tags on strings, and loop one through one of the bolt holes on the driveshaft, and the other one through the corresponding hole on the differential. I've never had a driveshaft vibrate an engine apart, but I don't see the need to risk it. Using some engine identification tips I received on previous posts, I'm pretty sure the driveline is original. (950 cast into block, for example) Heritage certificate coming soon. Can someone tell me how/if I can replace the missing engine serial number plate? It was all pretty greasy/oily in there. Pressure washed the worst of it. Will clean it up more thoroughly and strip all the bits off over the next while. Not sure why the engine was painted blue, but it will be green again soon enough. If you notice in the photos, the driver's side front suspension did not extend once the weight of the engine came out. Something in there is frozen up/rusted in place. At this point I'm not sure if its the shock, A-arm fulcrum bolts, or what. I know it's not the steering arm, because the car steers fine. Will dig into this as we go. Plugs look awesome! I can't believe this... put a wrench on the harmonic balancer and the engine spins with just two fingers' worth of effort! Easy, quiet rotation after sitting since the mid 70s! Drained the coolant. No rust, looks like no contamination at all! I can't believe it has held up like this through the years. There is a short YouTube video (my free website server does not allow me to put video content on my page)... the link is https://youtu.be/3Rnulf8YvVI Started the process to remove the engine. Took a bit of time and the use of the very handy digital copy of the original Austin Healey Sprite Service Manual which I found online. (AH Part# 97H1585C, Austin Healey Sprite Mk 1 Workshop Manual, Spridget Guru Tech Library - Factory Manuals). Basically I removed the radiator and searched about looking for any lines that were attached to the engine and labelling all of them. I also tried to get my camera into tight spaces to find identifying marks on the block. Not sure how well this will work. May need to do more to identify the engine after it's pulled. Video HERE: youtu.be/3Rnulf8YvVI |
AuthorMy name is Ash. Archives
September 2021
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