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regularman

regularman

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When I tore me midget apart I tried to bag and label everything. Then as I media blasted and painted them I rebagged them and this helped quite a bit, but still it seems like things keep disappearing. My basement garage is a mess with all the other things I had had to work on since the resto began in 98/99. It always seems like everything is waiting on some little thing or other that I can't locate. Today its the fuel pipe that goes into the tank with the threaded nut on it. Its been so long that I can't remember exactly what it looks like, sigh.. I need to go through everything and reorganize. It doesn't helpt that its 40degrees down there. My wife has some furniture that she is staining down there that is crowding my terretory as well. I went about my job a bit different than some. I rebuilt and cleaned and painted the underneath, redid the brakes, suspension with urethan, springs , changed the diff gear, everything painted and redone, and floor rust repaired as well. Then I cleaned and repaired painted the engine bay. Then the motor rebuild complete with datsun 5 speed upgrade. Now I have put the engine in and most of the things in the engine bay. Put on the fuel tank that has been redone with the red stuff inside. The electrical is paritally done, but I still am fitting an alternator off of a subaru. When all that is done, I hope to fire it up and check out the drive line by driving up and down my fairly long driveway and test everything and get all the bugs worked out before I start the bodywork, then painting, then the enterior and top. I am very intersted in how others have done a restoration. I am the type that had more time than money on the car and did as much as possible myself. I am an industrial electrician by trade, but also do and have done mechanic work all my life, and can be a decent machinist when I need to be. Sorry, I am not good with paragraphs and this seems long. I visit this board off and on and enjoy the posts, I hope to, at least, get close to finishing this project by years end. I'll go snap a couple pictures right now and post them in a few hours. Anyways, anyone who is in a resto project, let me know where you are in it, thanks!
 
I redid my Midget as a rolling restoration. However, with the Sprite, I'm taking a different approach. I'm going to build the car as I think I want it. Drive it and refine it for a few months. Then disassemble it again and do the body work/paint. I'm not even finishing (final paint/powder coat) subassemblies until the final tear down/rebuild. So, I may be driving a beatup flat black Bugeye at the 2008 gathering.

OK, now... where are those pictures?
 
Ok, now some pictures as promised. I took them from the front because it is so carmped right now and the body is all bare metal anyways.
MVC-232F.jpg
MVC-230F.jpg
MVC-229F.jpg
MVC-228F.jpg
MVC-231F.jpg
 
Very nice looking! I have the same weber carb setup and always wished the fuel input was on the other side of the carb so it was a little farther away from the exhaust manifold. I've never had any problems, but it just makes me nervous knowing any fuel leaks will likely drip on the manifold. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif Maybe I'm just paranoid- Like I said no probs yet! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
Very nice Kim, you do nice work. Man gona be some good looking Bugeyes around before too long.
 
I am organized in the parts closet of my garage but when it comes to stripping and rebuilding a Spridget, I tear it apart in a weekend and stick all the heavy stuff in one tote and all the breakables in a 2nd tote than I stack the totes and start the body work. I never label anything unless it's unique to a certain car then I tag it or write on the part with just the year.
I always do all the body work and paint everything inside and out first. When I do a car, nobody will ever know the red car was green at one point in it's life. I also write the chassis #s in keil crayon where they did at the factory just so it looks original even though most of my cars are far from original.
 
Too bad, hehe.

I knew that, still nice work. Looks better than new what you have completed.
 
those pics are great, kim. nice job. as for feeling like you're losing parts, i am there all the time. seems like anything i do to organize always turns out to still cause me to search half a day for things.
 
Looking really good, Kim. No sure there is much to do about losing parts. Only real solution is to restore things one system at a time. Too late for that, and not really that practical if you're doing an entire ground-up restoration.

The other method is to pray often to the parts fairy, that she will see fit to deliver the right part into your hands when you need it. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
and then there are the ghosts that keep moving things
 
Or lots of space where you can lay things out by system as you get em restored. I used newspaper on the garage floor. Only had a couple of things get lost and that was when I put them someplace else for safe keeping. Should know better.
 
The hardest parts to find are the ones that you put "somewhere so you won't forget where they are" or "somewhere where they won't get lost".

So... I kind of do like Frank. Just a few piles, then dig for what I need.
 
drooartz said:
The other method is to pray often to the parts fairy, that she will see fit to deliver the right part into your hands when you need it. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
Click to expand...

"Dear parts fairy,
Please help me find my Acme race prepped motor, supercharger and T5 box, I seem to have 'mislaid' them"

I pray that everytime I walk in the garage. One day, one day.....
 
Barry, have faith my son, and the fairy will deliver. Of course, that delivery often requires huge cash donations!
 
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