The teardown begins, follow along at home!

The teardown of my Bugeye (tentatively named "Penny" after the town of Penryn in Cornwall where she was first sold) has begun. I'll be tearing her down to a rolling shell before taking her down to the body shop for some repairs and a full repaint in the original Old English White.

I'm keeping notes and photos on the disassembly here so I can remember how it all goes together:
Bugeye disassembly notes

I'm taking a methodical approach to the teardown, making sure I'm documenting any issues with the components and making notes on bodywork issues I run across while I'm in there. So far things look pretty good -- there have been some repairs (floors at least) but I think things are solid. Will be interesting to talk it over with the body guy once I've got the car down there to see if the repairs will need to be redone. I think they're fine, but I'm no body man that's for sure.

What I started with. Looks just fine in the picture but there are some things to be addressed.



Picked up some cheap shelves and a bunch of boxes. Soon much of the car will be on these shelves...



Front floors had this odd plastic-like coating. Came up easily enough with a scraper and few taps with the hammer



Boot area is solid. There are a few holes in the back rear deck to be filled, but for the most part things in here look solid. Got both of the bumper bracket reinforcements out of the boot today and one will need a bit of work (broke off one of the welded-in nuts) and both need paint before they go back in.

The old carpet had this thick backing/foam glued in everywhere (that's the red in the pics). Nasty stuff, all dried out and made little pellets everywhere. At least it came up easily enough.



Floors are solid, but have seen some patches at least in places. I don't know enough about the structure to know how much has been patched in.



Onward an upward. I've got some time over the coming Thanksgiving weekend so if the temps aren't too bad (my little shop isn't insulated and just has a small heater) I should be able to make some more progress soon.

Drew looks good. Now I can see where the brackets to hold the top bows go. That's the picture I was looking for. You had and advantage over my restoration if Bugsy II in the Penny is all together. Bugsy II is totally apart and in boxes. I discover things I need or repairs that are needed as I go along. I did manage to score a NOS Dash Grab Handle this week with perfect chrome. It will all go back together in time. Good luck on weather this week. Going to try and get Bugsy III my parts car picked up next weekend.

Drew, looks like the bulkhead and floor stregntheners are new from the way they are welded in, but all looks good. I would suspect that the floors are new since they seem to rust out before the stregntheners do. All in all it looks done properly.
Rut

Jim_Gruber said:

You had and advantage over my restoration if Bugsy II in the Penny is all together.

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It's a huge help having the car together and running (sorta) at the start. I just have to keep being patient and not just tear everything out at once... do a section, document it, move on, otherwise I waste that advantage. Still, hoping to have some serious progress this week.

I can get a better picture of those top-bow brackets if you need, but do be warned that it's likely that the bulkhead panel was replaced in my car so I can't guarantee that they are completely in the stock locations.

Rut said:

Drew, looks like the bulkhead and floor stregntheners are new from the way they are welded in, but all looks good. I would suspect that the floors are new since they seem to rust out before the stregntheners do. All in all it looks done properly.

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From notes I found with the car it was restored/refurbished/worked on before it was purchased by the American owner in 1981-ish. I'm guessing this bodywork dates to that time, but no real way to know. No nasty surprises at least (none were expected).

I do chuckle at just how easy it is to strip down a Bugeye -- there's just not that much to take off, really. :grin:

Drew, looks like a real solid car.

Hap Waldrop said:

Drew, looks like a real solid car.

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I'm really happy with it, Hap. Considering it was an unexpected car swap -- you know all about the last minute plan change -- I couldn't be happier. So no MGB engine build (sold that car to a friend) but I will have a 1275 to do again once the bodywork is sorted.

I like your attention to documentation . Failing to plan is planning to fail.
Great canvas for YOUR personal
version of a Frog.

Gundy said:

I like your attention to documentation. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

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Thanks -- mostly I know my weaknesses well. I have a running joke with a friend: "it's not that you fix your weaknesses, but that you learn how to work around them." :grin:

I'm really excited. It's a good indication that my car switch was the right one to have made for me (from MGB back to a Bugeye)... I never had the interest to go this deep with the MGB, but am really enjoying this process. Trying to apply everything I learned from the Tunebug as well, including some helpful comments that the new owner was kind enough to share with me.

I have a very particular end result in mind with this car and have made a conscious choice to stick to that, even if it means a longer time horizon to completion. Luckily I love my second job (as a musician) that pays for all of this. So y'all hope for lots of snow in Utah this winter -- more snow means more tourists means more gigs for me. :thumbsup:

Drew,
I wish mine (Bes) looked that good when I started. My biggest mistake was I forgot to take before pictures.
One thing I found helpful was Tupper ware type containers for all the small parts.

Looks great! The tupperware containers are also a great idea. In July's Classic Motorsports Magazine, there is an article on organizing a restoration. What they did was use tupperware, but, before they closed the container, the numbered it, took out the contents and took a picture of the contents. Then printed the pic and put in a book - so they have pictures of the contents of every box - made sense to me. (not that I have done it - doh!)

I'm using lots of ziploc baggies -- small bags for the individual parts, and multiple small related bags from a component go into a single larger gallon bag to keep them together. Bags then go into a bunch of banker boxes. Where possibly I'm reassembling the components before storage. Written on each box goes a list of the box contents. Trying where possible to keep like parts (such as all the lights) in the same box.

I'm using the Google doc as my documentation, linking pictures with the notes on each component. When I'm working on a section of the car I make notes on a little note pad and take the appropriate pictures, then write it all up later in the evening once the work is done. It's not too time consuming, and I should have a decent set of pictures and notes for the reassembly stage.

It really helps that a Bugeye is a *very* simple car. Just aren't that many components to take off the car in the first place.

drooartz said:

Luckily I love my second job (as a musician) that pays for all of this. So y'all hope for lots of snow in Utah this winter -- more snow means more tourists means more gigs for me. :thumbsup:

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Amen to that! (no religious overtone intended). More snow in Utah means better skiing for me. If I can't drive my Healey, I might as well be skiing.

Drew, the car looks great. Are you going to have the body shop strip it to bare metal?

Drew I would recommend checking out the rust pocket that exists behind the rear wheel's. BMC wanted to spot weld everything and have no seam's on the finished surface so created a nasty little pocket there. I would recommend cleaning it out and putting some wax oil or equivalent in there while you are at it.

Kurt.

NutmegCT said:

More snow in Utah means better skiing for me. If I can't drive my Healey, I might as well be skiing.

If that guy at the ski lift wants to buy your Healey again - tell him I'll double his offer.

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Tom, as recall the word 'buy' was never uttered. He was trying to trade for the golf car he was driving! :highly_amused:

I guess that means you've upped the bid to two golf carts?

nomad said:

Drew I would recommend checking out the rust pocket that exists behind the rear wheel's. BMC wanted to spot weld everything and have no seam's on the finished surface so created a nasty little pocket there. I would recommend cleaning it out and putting some wax oil or equivalent in there while you are at it.

Kurt.

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Kurt,
My bugeye is at the bodyshop now, so I'm interested in what rust pocket you're talking about. Are you talking about the cavity that the rear springs are mounted in? Or is there a more insidious, hidden cavity somewhere else?
Keith

Keith_M said:

Drew, the car looks great. Are you going to have the body shop strip it to bare metal?

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Thanks. Not certain yet if we'll be going to bare metal, but I'm thinking so. The paint in the interior is flaking off pretty easily, so I'm not sure it's the best base for new paint. Likely we'll have to go that route -- rather not have to spend the budget there, but if we need to I'll make it work somehow. I can eat every other day.

nomad said:

Drew I would recommend checking out the rust pocket that exists behind the rear wheel's. BMC wanted to spot weld everything and have no seam's on the finished surface so created a nasty little pocket there. I would recommend cleaning it out and putting some wax oil or equivalent in there while you are at it.

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I've got some rust in both 1/4 panels right behind the rear wheels, so we'll be giving that area a close inspection as we fix things. Not exactly sure what area you're describing, though.

drooartz said:

Luckily I love my second job (as a musician) that pays for all of this.

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And I'm trying to sell my car/gun stuff off to pay for music gear. :highly_amused:

Keith_M said:

Kurt,
My bugeye is at the bodyshop now, so I'm interested in what rust pocket you're talking about. Are you talking about the cavity that the rear springs are mounted in? Or is there a more insidious, hidden cavity somewhere else?
Keith

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Yes around the spring mounts is a problem area but I'm talking about the hole in the boot that gets filled up with dirt and bits that you thought you must have left somewhere else. Namely the pocket directly behind the rear wheel's where the outer fender is spot welded to a panel that drops down from the floor of the boot. To get at it you have to crawl in and reach over the bracing on each side. My car is a rust free California car but I got some scaley rust colored stuff out of those holes, along with pens,bolts and nuts. Vacuumed out and wax oiled.

Kurt.

nomad said:

Yes around the spring mounts is a problem area but I'm talking about the hole in the boot that gets filled up with dirt and bits that you thought you must have left somewhere else. Namely the pocket directly behind the rear wheel's where the outer fender is spot welded to a panel that drops down from the floor of the boot. To get at it you have to crawl in and reach over the bracing on each side. My car is a rust free California car but I got some scaley rust colored stuff out of those holes, along with pens,bolts and nuts. Vacuumed out and wax oiled.

Kurt.

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The pocket Kurt is referencing is formed by the shut panel between the boot floor and the outer fender. You can see it clearly in the attached photo. It was the only spot there was any rust on my current Bugeye project, so a new one was made and replaced. You won't be able to see much back inside the boot, so check it from the underside as well.

You'll see mine has been seam sealed and undercoated, so it should never be an issue in the future, even if I ever do get it on the road... layful: