• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Bugsy IV Progress today

Share this page

Easy for you to say. I don't have Bill M on my Speed Dial. LOL. It's coming. E-Brake adventure tonight to fix a broken cable. Then the fuel pump.
 
Saturday 7/30 - Some measurable progress. 1) E-Brake is now somewhat working . Shoes are adjusted as tight as I can get and cable Adjusted is screwed all of the way in to get some tension. At the last ratchet stop I cannot turn the rear wheels by hand any more. I know I'll need to readjust after a few test stops but as good as I can get today. Thanks Dan Ka for the tips.
2) Dodged a bullet and discovered no Ground Strap was in place. Resolved that issue and good to go, New Ground strap that runs from the body to one of the starter motor mounting bolts is secured.
3) Drained the oil. WHAT A HORRIBLE DESIGN. Got it all back together but it did not appear I had the right gasket in the Crosslands Box so I reinstalled the old gasket. After I had it all back together discovered there is a gasket in the box that likely will fit. Do I take a chance and pull it back apart before I add oil or is it possible to reuse those gaskets.
4) Painted the mounting bracket for my SU Fuel pump. Pump is new, mounting bracket was not. Mounting on rear bulkhead, I have a RivNut Tool, running cable for power, and splicing into existing fuel line is tomorrow's job. Need tips on what to do with the two tiny vents on the pump. Add a piece of tubing, plug them up, what is typically done with those vent tubes.
5) reexamined firing order. Oh yeah, going to be hard to start when you've set up as 1-3-2-4 instead of 1-3-4-2. That's fixed. With Fuel pump in place, brakes and clutch bled haven't finished that yet, and Bugsy IV Rolled outside of the garage, I'm thinking he may fire right up. At least I hope so. Progress incremental but progress daily.

Back at
 
I hope that the reason you didn't post today (Aug 4) is that you are in the garage getting finished for your show Saturday.
 
Nelson,

Unfortunately I ran out of time. Bugsy will not get to the show tomorrow. Me falling off of my bicycle and injuring my shoulder two weeks ago did not help the process any. But hey if you come down for the show you are welcome to come over and take a look. Bugsy IV is unbelievably clean unrusty Bugeye. Dan Cengic from your neck of the woods is planning on getting Bugsy II from me for a Project, think Turbo Miata Driveline and suspension, once I get Canada Bill of Sale to Ohio Title issues resolved. Plan is coming together within the next few weeks it will happen.
 
Oh and I resolved the issue with Starter Switch not working today. was an issue with battery cable. Changed the oil and canister filter and I have oil pressure as well. Recharged up the battery. Goal this weekend is British Car Day Show tomorrow. Nice that they held it this year to help me celebrate turning 66 tomorrow. and then enthused about Sprites from the Car Show, back in the garage for work on Mounting the Fuel pump. I'm all ready to try and get this 948 with a nice header on it to fire up once I have Fuel Pump Issues resolved. Decided that adding fuel and then messing with gas line and cutting the line could possibly = conflagration in my garage and possibly setting myself on fire...not a good plan so once new Fuel Pump is mounted to the rear bulkhead I will try and fire this puppy up. that and about 50 other "fettling" items to resolve.
 
08/07/16 - Major Progress on Bugsy there were show stoppers by myself got made today and I discovered some interesting things about Bugsy's engine. I got help from fellow Sprite Owner Tim Bosse today. Progress included:
1) Drum Brakes bled all around and readjusted, I now have a solid pedal and I'm not worried about stopping the first time I roll down my driveway. This car has all new brake hardware including new Master that was installed on the car. This will be replaced when I change out to front disks and later backing plates and wheel cylinders after driving season is over.
2) Emergency Brake now works and is correctly adjusted. Tim pointed out some doofus had totally loosened the E-Brake Tension rather than tightening it up. Gee I wonder who that doofus was, but I now have E-Brake that works correctly.
3) Clutch bled after a little help from my Mity Vac, Got on sale at Father's Day at HF, on sale for $29.95 less a 25%coupon. I managed to stand on my head and with one of the many gizmos that come with this kit a few pumps of the Mity-Vac and I was pulling fluid up and over the hump.
4) Old Bendix fuel pump that was mounted on the Front Fender removed and replumbed up front Ready to go on the engine side. New SU Fuel Pump is partially mounted, one Riv Nut Installed and the other will get completed tomorrow night, electrical is run to the rear bulkhead with a fuse. I need to get a two 1/4" tp 5/15" Barbs to connect the fuel lines to the pump and tank feed. Riv Nut Tools, you need the strength of Hercules in your hands to set a 5/16" Riv Nut. Glad I went down to the Hardware Store and get a 23/64 Drill Bit instead of just going with a 3/8" Bit. I 64' less I needed to compress that Riv-Nut. Fuel Pump almost ready to go maybe 1-2 hours work and "fettling" and it will be done,
5) Verified that I do indeed have Spark - A good thing, now whether I have it at the right time remains to be seen but I do have Spark. Once fuel Pump is ready, double checking timing will be next. We did try a little bit of Starting Fluid and I was gratified to hear at least one or two pops.

Now the Fun Stuff.

- Clue 1 - Bugsy has a really nice long twin pipe header. the two pipes join 12-18" after the pipe goes through the floor. It is a larger diameter than a BE Standard Exhaust Pipe.

- Clue 2 - Tim commented, nice to see Bugsy has HS-2 on it rather than HS-1's. Now I'm thinking someone has worked on this engine. There is a claim that it was rebuilt that I can't validate but the engine number plate is missing which happens when It has been hot tanked.


= Clue 3 - Pulled the Valve Cover off. What head is under there . Hmmm Casting says 12A185, WTH is that mean.
Valve Intake
Diameter 1.4 in
Valve Exhaust Diameter 1-5/32 in
Chamber volume 21.4 cc



Used on all Cooper S engines other than MG1300, 1300GT and last S's​
Those are the same Valve Sizes as a 1275 uses

Holy Crap - Don't know for sure as some 12A185's came with smaller valves but guessing after seeing the HS-2's and the Header I may have something here. These heads were prone to cracking but if there is any kind of decent cam in this engine this engine could be a whole lot of fun to be had in a few days. Guessing it's set up for top end work. Anyone got any idea what kind of power this setup might make? Guessing it's more than 43 HP.

Another question, the header on this car. Do 948s, 1098's, and 1275's all use the same header? in other words could this header and exhaust work on my 1275?

Anyway work continues. Getting closer to having Bugsy IV on the road. Wheels go back on tomorrow and Bugsy will be getting off of jack stands before next weekend.
 
8/11/16 Fuel pump got mounted tonight and with some nice rubber insulators between pump and body and wrapped with a piece of tube against the bracket I could here it tick momentarily and then pretty quiet. Of course some dumb a_s had been trying to fit a fuel filter and forgot to put the fuel line back on and the SU really pumps gas well. Well maybe 1/2 pint on garage floor before I caught it. Tried to start and can hear little compression pops bit nothing fired up. Next step some static timing. I replaced the dizzy I got from a friend, Thanks Again John K. who told me it's a spare, already fit with a set of pre-gapped points and timing set so it can drop right it. I'm getting spark but not necessarily at the right time . I want to see if this 948 with the Cooper S Head is the real deal or not. Now will need to wait until Saturday morning to find out. Getting closer and closer every day. I want to hear Vroom, Vroom and have my garage full of noise and hopefully just a little smoke, from an engine that hasn't run in a while.
 
8/12/16

Managed to get new Points and Condenser installed. That bottom dizzy bolt did definitely not go through Factors Engineering Analysis. 2-3 hours spent fighting to get that bolt to install. Finally. Cranks engine over without statically timing, how to do that on a BE is the subject of another post. Managed to get some pops and big booms and backfires through the carbs. First time that has happened. Plated to clicker on dizzy went ads may as 4 clicks one direction and 6 clicks the other way. Not getting things ot run but making some explosion noises which is good thing. Stopped to double check Compression as shown below.
OK Interesting Compression Numbers,
#1 - 90 PSI
#2 - 180 PSI I think I know which cylinder was firing
#3 - 120 PSI
#4 - 95 PSI
When I started no cylinder had more than 45 PSI. so getting better. It may be that I still have some sticky valve stems. #1 when I retried Compression I cranked longer and all of a sudden I was only getting 60 PSI. Could be compression plug was not fully tight as well.
I'm sure I need ot get this engine started and see if compression #'s increase as rings free up. After reinstalling plugs no longer getting a pop.
1-3-4-2 and dizzy rotates Counter Clockwise. # 1 and #3 are the inner wires, #2 & #4 are the outer wires if I put it back correctly.
Next step, I need a willing assistant to assist me with getting the engine at 7 degrees BTDC and then static time it. Meanwhile Jim lays under the car with his flashlight trying to find the timing notch on the engine pulley to align with the pointer. More to follow as this saga continues. I was encouraged to heart pops and booms today. That is progress.
 
And Bugsy now goes Vroom, Vroom!!!!!
With Help from Tim and Paul after a number of tries after Static Timing was done correctly Bugsy IV started hesitantly and fired up and after a little bit of warm up I have good oil pressure, carbs were adjusted, engine temps came up to 150 – 160 degrees and carbs were adjusted and synched. Clutch really stiff there must be some kind of racing clutch in there but while on jack stands I was able to get into all 4 gears as well as into reverse without any issues. No noises while running at speed on the jackstands. I am totally “chuffed”( fettling, chuffed, so many fun English words). So now more fettling to do but a major hurdle has been passed. Yeah, yeah, yeah:encouragement:

As far as doing static timing it took three of us. I rotated the generator, screw driver in the spark plug hole to accurately measure TDC, right LOL, and rotate the dizzy until the light on the 12V Test Light went out. That's as scientific as we were able to get. As soon as we buttoned things up, engine turned over, fired on #2 and Bendix kicked out. I knew we were getting close. It took 25-30 tries but all of a sudden engine kicked over. It ran rough at first but smoothed out as rings I'm sure loosened up. Carbs were synched, it now runs smooth, idles nicely, and no bad noises.
Carbs were synched and engine sounds like it has power. Shifter reinstalled, clutch pedal really stiff, this must be something above a stock clutch in there as springs really are heavy but it is also supposed to be new. While on jackstands I was able to engage all gears plus reverse. Lot's still to do to make Bugsy IV drivable but I a thrilled to say the least. Yeah!!!!!! Could not have done it without help, 6 eyes and three brains. Sometimes it takes an army but Bugsy IV is running and will hit the road soon.
 
8/29 updates tail lamps, turn signals, brake lamps all working new lenses all installed. Pretty! Connected and spliced all of front harness together. Headlights working, left turn signal and running lights were working until i stated pulling apart to replace lamp sockets. Got something connected wrong so called it a night. Time to noodle on it. Trailer arrangements made to pick up to take the BMV for out of state inspection and title for Bugsy IV and Bugsy II. Bugsy II is sold and heading for Cleveland where he will receive a Mazda power train from his new owner. My garage will be cleaned up with a whole lot of parts leaving and freeing up space in my one car garage. Getting closer to driving every day.
 
8/31 - Seats are back in, wheels are on, still have Turn Signal issues but that can wait until after VIN Inspection on Friday. Brakes feel really low, have pedal, but undoubtedly need more adjustment and bleeding. I started up Bugsy and wanted to go around the block tonight sans license plates but with brakes not feeling all of the way up decided not to do it at 11:30 at night. Noticed that IGN Lamp illuminates as soon as I switch on my hi beams but the Hi Beam Light isn't working at all. Something else to troubleshoot. Right now I want to get the turn signals and running lights working properly.

Engine fired right up with a little choke, clutch is really, really heavy and hard to push. Not air in the line heavy just a major effort needed to push down the clutch. Rib Case not a Smoothcase behind this 948. May need to look at reason why on that one. Or it may ease up with a little use. Engine when cold rev's easily and did not miss. As soon as I started to get some heat in the engine, started missing when I tried to rev it. Likely and I smelled it in the garage running too rich for sure. That will need to be played with and dialed in. Friday BMV for VIN Inspection and OH Title. Yeah legal to drive around the block and over to see Steve Miller at MG Automotive about 4-5 miles away for some magic Laying On of Hands. Yes I have an LBC Shop 4-5 miles away from me. When I get stumped, my Credit Card becomes my best tool in the toolbox.
 
Trailer is home in my driveway thanks to Marc Masquelier. Bugsy almost got out of the garage tonight but had a serious engine miss problem. Engine sounded really fine but within a minute or so after starting a miss began that got progressively worse and worse until the engine finally quit. Noticed a bit of a fuel leak around the float bowl. discovered front float was sticking. Freed it up and reassembled, ran good for a minute and repeat of the same problem. It's wonderful to have a spare set of carbs on the 1275 in the back of my garage. Swapped Float Bowls and Vroom, Vroom, no miss all fixed. At 1:00 off we go to the BMV and try to get a title. Once done with Bugsy IV, Bugsy II goes for the same thing. Once titled Bugsy II goes to Cleveland, maybe as soon as this weekend. And cash flow for Bugsy Project once again. Brakes got readjusted but have not been able to test drive them yet. Bugsy is ready to roll onto the trailer and begin a new life after spending most of the last 50 years locked up in a garage. And Rut I did get some Vroom, Vroom noises which I will post.
 
Well done! Good luck with the BMV.
 
BUGSY IV done. Waiting on title bureau who is scratching heads about HTH a CN Bill of Sale.
 
Back
Top