Can you identify these plugs?

[Member 10617]

Getting to know my new Bugeye and have a lot of questions, but intend not to overdo them.

Here is a photo of the underside of the car. The large plug, marked "2"is clerly the engine oil drain plug, but can anyone tell me what the two plugs, marked "1"are? I have no idea and cannot find them in any of the manuals.

Many thanks.

Edit: Well...I don't seem to know how to attach a photo. The two plugs that I am talking about are just behind the engine oil drain plug. Small plugs,not as large as the drain plug.

 

[HealeyRick]

Hard to tell without a pic. Only plugs under the car are oil pan, transmission and rear axle drains. Try uploading your pic at tinypic.com and posting the image link here.

 

[Member 10617]

Going to try again. There it is!

 

[Member 10617]

Oops! Don't know what I was thinking. That is the gearbox drain plug and not the engine drain plug. The manuals don't show any of these plugs, they only reference them!

 

[HealeyRick]

No. 2 is the drain plug. Don't know about the 1s, but they have no maintenance function.

 

[Member 10617]

Hi, Rick,

Many thanks. No. 2 is the gearbox drain plug. The sump drain plug apparently is on the side of the sump. (Problem is that I don't have the car here to examine it.)

 

[HealeyRick]

You're correct, sump drain is on the side. Gearbox drain is No.2 on the pic.

 

[Member 10617]

Thanks, again, Rick. I have just come away from owning a 1958 TR3 for six years and am now trying to become familiar with the Bugeye.

Ed

 

[HealeyRick]

Thanks, again, Rick. I have just come away from owning a 1958 TR3 for six years and am now trying to become familiar with the Bugeye.

Ed

Apparently you're a big fan of cars with funny headlights!

 

[Gerard]

#2 is obviously the drain plug. Both #1 plugs are for access to springs/pungers and balls used in the fork detents. Access only necessary for rebuild of the gearbox.

 

[bugi]

LexTR3:

Those are not plugs. They are bolts that hold some of the internals in place. I wouldn't take them out if I were you.

I'm just down the road from you. Send me a pm. We have mattes of great importance to discuss.

Ray

 

[Bayless]

Once again, Gerard is "da man."

 

[Member 10617]

Rick,

Ha, ha.... yes. The bigger (funnier) the headlights better. I would have chosen to buy an older MG with big headlights, but the price was too high and the car not as dependable as the Sprite and the TR3.

 

[Member 10617]

Gerard,

That answers for me. I won't be concerned about the #1 bolts. Many thanks.

 

[Gerard]

Rick,

Ha, ha.... yes. The bigger (funnier) the headlights better. I would have chosen to buy an older MG with big headlights, but the price was too high and the car not as dependable as the Sprite and the TR3.

As a kid, I was always interested in cars and started a sizable model collection at the age go 8 years old. One of the 1st (and maybe only) model British cars I had, was a TR3. After the MG TC, this was one of my favorite British sports cars. I was also a big fan of the Corvette and wanted a '54 to '58 model. I found a really great '54 I was ready to plunge all my money down on until I found out I couldn't get my hands on my savings without my dad's signature, so that one git away. As I continued to search for my first sports car, I came across a newspaper ad for an Austin Healey Sprite "Bugeye". This wasn't a car I'd ever seen or heard of before, but went to look at it anyway. When I first saw it, it reminded me very much of that TR3 model I had, and of course fell in love with the "face" of it. That was my first encounter with a Bugeye, when then also become my first automobile. I owned that same car for 30 years.

https://gerardsgarage.com/Garage/redcar.htm

 

[Member 10617]

Gerard,

What a great story!

Back in 1960, I had use of a new 1960 Bugeye Sprite. It wasn't mine, but I had full use of it. As a freshman in college I really enjoyed the car and, on weekends, drove it all over southern Arizona -- desert and mountains. But it wasn't large enough or powerful enough for some long-distance driving that we wanted to do. So we traded it in for a used 1958 TR3A and drove that from Tucson to Upstate NY and back. A great trip filled with many adventures. Soon thereafter, however, we got rid of the Triumph and I settled into some serious college work.

For fifty years, I wanted my own TR3 or Bugeye but couldn't afford one or couldn't justify one. But then, in 2009, a friend who restores vintage sports cars put me on to a 1958 TR3 that was the exact duplicate of what I had in 1960! I bought it and drove it for six years all over western Virginia. As time went on, however, I drove it less and less, and finally this summer decided to sell it and get out of the sports car business. I told my friend, the owner of a restoration shop, that I was through with sportscars. He said: Maybe you are just through with TR3s. And you know, he was right. And soon thereafter he located a 1960 Bugeye Sprite and I bought it. It is being worked ón now and I'll have it in a few weeks.

Thus, the story has come around to the beginning. I started with a 1960 Bugeye and have returned to that car. It was always my favorite car and I am very happy to be back in one. You cannot beat them for fun, ease of handling, and eliciting smiles from all who see one.

 

[Gerard]

I'll extend the story a bit more by telling you that I restored the car in the following year, both cosmetically and mechanically, including my first engine and gearbox rebuild, and the following summer drove the car from Detroit (where I lived then) to California and back, solo, over approximately 6 weeks. Followed RT 66 there (when it still existed), and RT70 back. The following winter, I attempted a trip to Florida, but only made it as far as Knoxville, TN, as my heater would just not generate enough heat to keep my feet warm. After fueling up, I turned around and was home by nightfall. I guess today we'd call that a "day trip"... (not that I could drive that far in a Bugeye anymore...

 

[Member 10617]

I'll extend my story a bit also.

On the way to New York from Tucson, AZ, in 1962 in my 58 TR3, I suddenly had trouble starting the car. So we stopped in Illinois and had someone look at it. The mechanic removed the starter and found that some of the teeth on the (used) TR3 ring gear were missing! He did not replace the starter but started the car and tole me to drive to Chicago, without stopping, and have a Triumph dealer there replace the ring gear! Long story short: We drove to Chicago, arrived dark and rainy night, got the address mixed up, and stopped in one of the worst and most dangerous parts of Chicago! Of course, I couldn't start the car. What to do? I was no mechanic. But I had an idea: if I could replace the starter, in the dark, in the rain, with no tools (!) I might use the crank to move the ring gear to a place where it still had teeth. After several hours of struggling with the starter -- entirely new experience for me -- and no tools, I gave it a try. It worked! The car started and we got out of there. The next day the Triumph people tightened the starter bolts and I used the crank for the rest of the trip.

Driving across Tennessee on the way back to Arizona, we began climbng up the Smokey Mountains. The car was one that overheated badly, so this was tricky. Then, on a very narrow road, we came upon a long line of cars creeping along and stopping. This was bad becuse the temperature gauge started to climb. When I looked to see what was happeining, I saw that a huge bear was walking down the road in our direction, and that the drivers were stopping to look at it. One problem: we were in an open TR3! What to do? As the bear approached, I decided to pass all the cars to their right, along a shoulder that was narrow, had no guard rail, and was next to a steep drop-off down the mountain. It worked, but I think that my right two wheels must have been hanging out there in mid air!

Adventures!

 

[Gerard]

I had some harrowing experiences over that summer, one also in Chicago, and a not great part of town, but the bear story takes the cake!