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BE Spring bos condition

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M

mightymidget

Jedi Knight
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This is a photo of a leaf spring mounting box on a 1959 Bugeye with the spring removed

The rust at the end of spring box is that need to be repaired? or can I just clean the rust up good and treat with chemicals?
can not tell if the end is open and edges are rusted or if it should be closed up.

If I need to cut that rust out and put in new piece of metal how in the world do you get to it? Need advice from someone who has been here and done the repair. can not tell if it is structually needed to put in new metal at end of box
 
What you are seeing there is where the inner bulk head closes off the spring box from the cabin. Given how pitted the box is and the need to repair the closing panel I think a rebuild is in order. This needs to be very solid as it is supporting the entire rear of the car.
 
Looks like it might be quite a job,
can you provide a link to rebuild process.

The sides,top,and bottom seem very solid.
 
You can get an idea of what you need to do by going to the Moss Motors website and look at the outer body section of the catalog. It is a very difficult job to do as I'm the midst of replacing the shut panel and both shock brackets. You need to drill out the spot welds that attach the shut panel to the inner body as well as drilling out the spot welds that attach the shock bracket to the shut panel. There are also welds you will find that attach the shock bracket to the outer body which have to be ground down too. You can buy shut panel repair pieces if you only need to replace the one side. I'm sure it will be very difficult to slide the shut panel in without removing the shock bracket entirely - maybe someone else can chime in here that has done that. I'm replacing the entire shut panel and both shock brackets as there was so much rust I didn't have a choice. Of course I found more rust under the shock brackets and had to cut that out and replace with new metal. Once you get the shut panel out, you can remove and replace the spring box. You must have a welder to do the job or someone that can weld for you. Unfortunately, once you start into the process like I did, you most likely will find you have to repair or replace more than meets the eye. Good luck, many have done similar repairs before so it can be done!
Roy
 
This project you do to get your black belt in welding. If you can get your hands on a plasma cutter it will make life much easer I know I replaced both on mine and the trunk area floor. Plasma cutter was the ticket.All the pices are available some adjusting will be requiered . Take tons of pictures and measurements first. Not hard just takes time to get it rite. Remember any deflection in angle of the pocket will affect the spring- rear ride height so they both need to be as exactly the same as the ones you cut out. Clean it up before you rite it off.it may not need to be replaced.
 
Hairyone said:
pah! it's not that bad, you'll just have to learn to make panels & to weld.
I've just done this job on my 59 bugeye. check out my bugeye photos
Click to expand...
I really thank you for the photos. But didn't see any spring box repairs.

How do I get to rear of spring box? cut a hole in rear of passenger compartment?
 
Take a looked at the pictures in the moss or vic catalog theres an exploded view of the area.Its kind of hard to explain as its bolted - welded to the bulk head rite behind the seat its as messy setup.the bulkhead area is sort of an inverted v shape ah heck somebody help. I get tired just remembering doing it never again.
 
This car is a driver and I am not doing a restoration on it, I thinking I might leave this one alone.

I have looked at parts catalog and looks like a major reconstrution job to get in there to repair that "shut plate" mine seems to have deteriated at the drain swell only.
 
If you just cut away the rusty part of the shut plate and make a patch that will give you a little more access to the spring box. You can do a lot of cleaning, rust removing, apply rust killer and painting and realize a big improvement. You might be able to reinforce the spring box while you are in there as well for some peace of mind. The shut panel and shock brackets were just too far gone in my BE so had to replace all of that plus the trunk pan, floors etc.
How are the springs?
Roy
 
AH Spares sells the whole spring hanger assembly already assembled. you would have to drill out the spotwelds holding the various panels to the boot floor, inner quarter panel support, floor support, floor panels and rocker panels. Then cut, pry, and pull the old assembly out. You'll have to remove the rocker panel end caps and shock mount brackets as well.I have to say, I tried to go this route but ended up completely disassembling the car and putting it on a rotisserie. I found it too difficult to try lining everything up and making decent welds in that tight area with the car sitting stationary. Also, as I disassembled that area I found that the damage went far beyond what was visible from the outside.
I suggest sitting back and thinking about your ideals for the car and what you would do if you started to disassemble it and found that you couldn't fix the damage without spending a bunch of time and money in tooling, shop space and learning autobody structural repair. I had the exact same problem you have and now I've replaced the whole spring box area, both inner and outer rocker panels, all the floor supports, driver's floor, both doglegs, "A" posts, "B" posts, shock supports and lower rear quarter panels. I'm not being a pessimist, I applaud this type of endeavor. I just wanted to give you something to think about before getting the car all torn apart like I did. There are a few good web sites out there where people have documented their work doing this same type of repair.Try: https://www.cardomain.com/ride/2203663, or https://www.raysmg.com/rays_mg_midget_62_sprite_bodywork.htm.
Best of luck!
Mark
 
Last night I spent quiet time with my Bugeye. just sat in my small childs plastic chair and looked from the wheel well at spring box, trying to figure out how it all goes together. then I decided to clean out the cockpit and look at it from the other side.

After I cleaned scraped and punched from the interior area. and studied from that side and bottom, I believe I can I can do patch repairs from the interior side since the floor pan is need of repairs in this area also. The diagram from Catalog lead me to believe it was more complicated than it really is. And I am actually thinking of doing repairs forming my own panels, and also add some extra bracing as I repair floor panels
 
As I was surfing yesterday, maybe MIG Welding, I saw something that may help. I have done this with other parts but had others do the welding. Make a mock-up of what you may need from cardboard. Greasey pizza boxes will work. Then make a sheet metal copy of the cardboard mock-up and weld it up. Works just fine.
 
Last night I scraped wire brushed scraped and decided to remove Rear bulkhead strenghtener. so I can maybe do some cuting out rust and inspection of Shut plate.

How is this bulkhead brace and floor brace removed. I have started drilling out spot welds on bulkhead but top and bottom seam to be welded to next piece. Should I just just take cuting wheel and cut off? the floor brace seperate with air chisel?
 
mightymidget said:
...and looked from the wheel well at spring box, trying to figure out how it all goes together...
Click to expand...

The rear bulkhead and suspension on the Bugeye are the same as on the Type II Sprite, which I have. I have completely rebuilt this area of my car and you might be able to get the information you need by looking at some of the photos/explanations of the rebuild process I went through; the photos are here:

https://www.raysmg.com/rays_mg_midget_62_sprite_bodywork1.htm

and here:

https://www.raysmg.com/rays_mg_midget_62_sprite_bodywork2.htm

Hope this helps,

Ray
 
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As I removed metal for inspection

I guess this is pretty much normal? really glad I have decide to repair this
 
Since you have gone this far, and based on the condition of the metal, I would go ahead and replace the box as well as the inner support brace.
 
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