New member in Illinois

[Bernie H]

[h=2]First posted in the Austin Healey forum-My mistake[/h]

Hello, I have recently bought a bugeye and found this forum as a source for advice, and possibly sympathy. The car is in reasonable shape, some one had worked on it in the past and there appears to be a fair amount of Bondo in what I assume are the usual places.

I grew up in England and spent much of the 1970s nursing an A35 with little money for parts and few tools. I have restored a few vehicles in the last few years, Chevy trucks and Jeeps, and thought it would be interesting to try a Sprite. My children talk darkly of a second childhood.

I am in process of replacing the front drums with discs and a dual master cylinder. It is going fairly smoothly although I had to weld in a new pivot for the passenger side wishbone. From Google searches I see that I have to move the wiper motor. The flexible shaft is in some kind of tube which does not seem amenable to being moved and the shaft itself does not seem to be long enough to be moved. I think that I must be missing something so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Bernie​

 

[Paul McGuffin]

You found the best British Car Blog around. These guys have saved me a ton of times. I also need to remove the wiper drive cable and have a post next to yours. Glad to have you here.
Paul

 

[Rut]

Bernie,
Welcome to the Forum! No advice from me, but someone with that knowledge will be along shortly.
Rut

 

[Joe Schlosser]

I assume you are removing the wiper motor so you can install the new pedal assembly for the dual master cylinder. The cable can be removed from the motor without too much trouble. First mark the location of the "Hat" secton on the cover plate so that the stop location will be the same after reassembly. Unscrew the nut securing the cable to the motor. Take the cover plate off and you can separate the cable from the motor. Reassembly to the reverse.
The gear and cable rides in a lot of grease. Depending on the age you may want to clean it up and replace the gerase
I have never tried to fit the dual master system but I can see how the wiper motor may in the way during installation of the new pedal box and hydraulic bits. I assume the motor goes back in the same location after the new system is in place. Although I having been living with the single line system for 50 years, I have contemplated doing the switch over the dual line. I have a friend who says that we are all crazy using the single line system when a dual is available.
Please keep us posted as to how this project goes.

 

[nomad]

If you use the single line 3/4" dual master from the early disc brake cars nothing has to move. Its a bolt in.

Further, I have had brake failures with the single line system and they never came without a warning. People lived a long time before every car was forced to go to dual line brake system's....probably longer than today!:friendly_wink:

Sprites and Midgets have excellent hand brakes and I have put in a few miles with only the hand brake in traffic and survived. Don't succumb to the namby pamby world big brother wants to get you into!:rolleye:
Kurt.

 

[Bernie H]

Thank you for the welcome. From searching the web it seems that I need a later model (round body ?) wiper motor which is presumably smaller. Apparently this will also give me two speed wipers. I found an explanation of the wiring, but does anyone know if I can just connect to the old drive cable ?

 

[Joe Schlosser]

Moss lists the same drive cable part number for all years. The lengths vary with model though as they say the cable needs to be cut to length

 

[Bernie H]

That's just what I needed to know!
Thank you

 

[Pythias]

Oh, you poor bastard. You're entering a world where the parts are cheap but the owners are cheaper yet. Everything is simple until it's not. Reproduction parts are readily available, but he don't fit and don't last. Lucas electrics (need I say more? You grew up in England with warm beer.) My niece asked me why the cars weren't worth more. I told her because they leak. She said "Leak what?" I said everything.. Everthing that's supposed to stay in leaks out and everything that's supposed to stay out leaks in. .. These cars aren't as bad as Fiats, that go from 99% perfect to 95% to 90% to 80% and on down just sitting there, but almost..

On the other hand, every time you drive it, and I mean EVERY TIME it will bring a smile to your face. People will stop you and ask questions or make comments about how cool it is. The people here (and on the list spridgets.autox.com) are like no other in knowledge and assistance. It really is a community. (check out stories such as the "Holy Sprite" for example). It's not just a car, it's a lifestyle... .. .. .. ...... poor bastard.

 

[Bernie H]

I will not get into an argument about beer. Suffice to say Budweiser. I did once own a Fiat, they started to rust on the boat coming over. Even worse is a Moskvitch ( I think that is the spelling). This is a Russian made Fiat; not a quality product.

I went with my wife to pick up the car, bought on eBay.We picked it up about a day's drive away and brought it back on an open trailer. She had reservations about the whole project, but the crowds that gathered at rest stops and gas stations worked wonders.

One of my children bought me a T shirt with the Legend " Old cars don't leak- they mark their territory"

 

[Boink]

:highly_amused:

 

[SaxMan]

Welcome aboard! The guys around here have saved my bacon many times over.