Bugiii's

Description

Since I am in the process of building a 59 Bugeye pretty much from scratch, I thought that I would kind of chronicle the saga. I'm sure that I will encounter a lot of the problems that are encountered on a day to day basis by other Bugeye owners or at least problems that have been encountered and conquered in the past. I will be relying on the "spridget" list for a lot of insight and guidance in this process. Hopefully this will also provide insights for others that are contemplating doing similar things to their Sprites. I learned of this car through a "friend" and fellow member of the Pebble Beach Sports Car Club (PBSCC). The car had been setting in a Pacific Grove California backyard, uncovered and totally exposed to the elements for some time. Although the winters here are not as severe as in other parts of the country, it is damp, and the air is salty so its not like the desert but its not real bad either. The current owner had purchased the car for the Bonnet and one door and had no use for the rest of it. The car had apparently been raced at one time since it had a big roll-bar and was sporting Goodyear Blue Streaks on the rear. It had a lot of rust but most of it was just surface stuff and was not a problem. The biggest problem with the car was the Bonnet. The current owner had purchased the car strictly for the Bonnet and the passenger side door to replace the ones on his MKII, which has a Bugeye Bonnet. The Bonnet was a total loss as far as my metal working skills were concerned. The fender seams where rusted through almost the entire length of both fenders. The flange on the fenders and the center section were mostly gone. It would have required finding someone with a lot of skill and paying him a lot of money to fix. Being a sucker for a pretty face, I bought the car anyway. Somewhere along the way the slave cylinder access hole had been enlarged and a hole had been cut in the driveshaft tunnel to facilitate driveshaft installation. Two, two inch square holes, one on each side of the license plate recess area had also been cut out. The holes looked like some kind of lights had been installed in them. I contemplated for a while and decided to keep the enlarged slave cylinder access hole (even though I will probably install a 5-speed) and the driveshaft tunnel hole, looking on them as improvements. I made some covers out of sheet metal and bolted them on to cover the holes but still allow access for clutch bleeding and driveshaft installation when required. I made patches and filled the holes in the license plate recess. The car had been totally stripped of parts and all that remained was the rust, six layers of paint, suspension, steering, doors, and Bonnet. The inner fenders on the front had also been removed (why?). The passenger side door that had been swapped with the MKII's was in pretty bad shape, the skin was stretched and it would just flop in or out when touched, and it had a large dent in the front hinge edge above the top hinge, how this was done I don't know. I found a very good door at a Mini Mania Swap meet and it fits pretty well so that problem was solved.

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