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1960 Bugeye

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Nas90dti
Awhile back you asked about a wire that went from your coil, up above the steering column and then back to the distributor.

My guess is that your car might have or at one time had an impulse type tachometer. Such a wire goes through a plastic block on the back of the tach--the electrical pulse that is created whenever the coil fires is counted by the tach. That is where your RPM readings come from.

If it wasn't for one of those tachs it also might have been used for a hidden kill-switch. These cars could not be easier to hotwire.

I have no idea why your car would not run if the wire was untwisted, but you need some kind wire going from the terminal on the coil to the terminal on the side of the dizzy, or of course it won't run. Maybe you have a loose terminal.
 
Thanks for the offer, but I am replacing the entire harness. I kept finding rubbed wires or wire that falls out of the crimp at the slightest touch. I don't really like bothering with old wiring that's undependable. So I am replacing the harness, putting in fuses,relays ,and replacing all of the lights. I have been down the old harness road too many times. It is very frustrating to get in your car at the store and it not start because the one wire you missed is loose all of a sudden.
I will post some update pictures next week. I should have the harness done, lights in and have a pretty good start on the interior. All of my interior should be here Monday, except for my carpet set. Which is backordered. I actually welded in my new floors weekend before last. Just haven't had a chance to do much since. Though I did start the harness last night.
Plus UPS manged to lose my POR-15 that I am going to paint the interior with before I put it back together. That was the longest trip up from San Diego ever. Somehow it wound up in Indianapolis.
 
Architect, the wire I mentioned was the wire that runs from the coil to the dizzy, however they had used what amounts to lamp cord and made it loop into the car. It was just a weird arrangement. I considered it being some sort of jury rigged disabling device. Because though extremely poorly executed, it would render the car inoperable. But it was extremely inconvenient to get to. Though after tearing the old harness apart I realized that someone had been rigging and jumpering all behind the dash. So anything is possible. That's partially what lead me to decide to replace the harness. It's not as though I am pulling out an original harness. The light harness to the front had been rebuilt,parts of the under dash harness was a mess of cheap crimps. So, instead of bothering trying to do more repairs I am just replacing it.
 
I also wound up replacing the entire harness mine was original and a mess.

Just a suggestion, I pulled the dash, had it recovered, cleaned up the gauges and the windshield wiper tubes and cable, fixed the windshield washer jets at the same time it was all out. I wired everything that I could on the bench, even reinstalled my gauges before putting the dash back in. It is doable without pulling the dash, but a PITA.

Even with an expensive harness from British wiring there were still a lot of missing terminal ends I had to put on myself, missing ground wires (by all means add redundant grounds, especially to things like gauge cases, which were supposed to be grounded through contact to the dash). It is so much easier to do this on the bench than it is on your back.

Make sure your gas gauge works before you install it.

Good luck.
 
Oh believe me, the dash was one of the first things out. I like all my stuff to be very nice looking and you can't really pull that off while standing on your head under a dash. And that's good advice for everyone,especially if they are new to British cars. Ground everything repeatedly.
 
Progress! Looks like you might be able to help me when it is time to install the wiring! I hope to have the rear axle on the car by the end of the weekend (but I am on call, so who knows how much time I will have). Funny how you aways find out at the last minute you are missing a small part that holds things up. Hopefully they arrive by next weekend, when I hope to devote more time to the project.

Paul
 
Awesome Paul. Hope you make some good progress. I feel you on that little part that stalls out your whole weekend.
I definitely will help you out with the wiring if you need. Are you using a factory harness? If so that would be quite a bit easier then what I am doing. I am using a 12 circuit harness that I have used in the past on some hot rod type cars. But the circuits are layed out quite differently to the Healey. So it requires some figuring to make it work. But I cranked the car on the new ignition portion last night. So the hard part is done. I just have to do the lights and dash. Which is tedious but doesn't require quite so much figuring to tie into the voltage reg. The only thing I haven't made work is the ignition light on the dash. I downloaded the wiring diagram. But mine was hooked up differently from the diagram when I removed it. It didn't work before either, and I haven't quite worked it out yet.
 
Update. Floor replaced, wiring in, new lights in. Interior panels made and prepped for vinyl. Hopefully I will get those done this week. Carpet should be in this week or next. Which should finish off the interior. Still have the brakes/wheel bearing to go through, get the rims painted and new tires. Then I think it might be time for a few days off working on it. 100_4590.jpg100_4592.jpg100_4601.jpg100_4608.jpg100_4637.jpg100_4645.jpg
 
Looks good... I like your tape measure collection, it is not possible to have enough tape measures. You know its been a busy day when you can no longer find a tape measure.
 
Quick work. All I got done this week was a little powder coating. Hopefully I can more done this week. Need to be done by early May.

Paul
 
Nas90tdi: Just thought I'd let you know that your speedo is not original to the car. The speedo should look like the tach. Also the tach is mechanical drive off the back of the generator which makes changing the generator to a alternator a little more complicated. Looks like a nice car very well bought. Have fun!!

Kurt.
 
Got my wheels cleaned up and refinished. 5 new tires. Brakes all rebuilt and working. Right up till the point where the added pressure of blew out the master cylinder. I guess it needed the leaking wheel cylinder to let off the excess pressure. This is a good excuse to clean up and repaint the pedal box.
Interior panels made and installed. Carpet should be here tomorrow. Of course I can't put that in yet till I get the master cylinder rebuilt. But things are getting close to it being back on the road after 10 years.






100_4723.jpg100_4703.jpg100_4694.jpg100_4693.jpg100_4690.jpg100_4689.jpg
 
Kurt
Looks good! Wish I had more progress to report, but missing parts and assembly frustration has still left me with no wheels on the ground. Hopefully this weekend.
 
nas90tdi said:
Got my wheels cleaned up and refinished. 5 new tires. Brakes all rebuilt and working. Right up till the point where the added pressure of blew out the master cylinder. I guess it needed the leaking wheel cylinder to let off the excess pressure. This is a good excuse to clean up and repaint the pedal box.
Interior panels made and installed. Carpet should be here tomorrow. Of course I can't put that in yet till I get the master cylinder rebuilt. But things are getting close to it being back on the road after 10 years.






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Are you rebuilding the original 7/8' MC? Since you have discs, you should have a 3/4" one.

https://gerardsgarage.com/Garage/Tech/DbrakeUg.htm
 
Gerard, Yes. As of now I am rebuilding the 7/8" MC. I agree with you on the 3/4" MC. But for the time being I am going to do the old one till I decide what direction I am ultimately going to go with the car. I am thinking it might not be with me long. I am just not loving the car in general and I have to in order to stay focused on a project. So instead of stalling out and leaving a great car floundering in my garage, I am just trying to get it back roadworthy so some one else might can enjoy it. And maybe take it to it's full potential someday. I hate to see old cars just sit and rot because someone lost motivation. I am as guilty of that as anyone, but I have learned to get rid of them before they sit around for 10 years.
And thanks for the advice. I view it as sound reasoning on the MC's.
 
I received my long awaited, backordered carpet kit. I bought it from LBC. It's the Moss kit. All I can say is that is the worst carpet kit I have ever seen in my life. The sewn tunnel cover doesn't begin to fit. The carpet is the cheapest auto carpet available. All edged pieces are uneven and shoddy looking. Needless to say, I am quite disappointed.
 
Kurt
Sucks about the carpet, may be Jack Laird can comment on what he used in his car. Also I noticed that the springs on your rear drums are mounted on the front of the shoes. They should be at the back. I think they might hit the hub if not turned around.
Paul
 
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