Newbie with questions! 1959 Bugeye

[1959newguybugeye]

Greetings from Florida,
I am about to pick up my first British car. My background is growing up with Porsche and VW cars of which I've owned around 35 and currently have several.

I try to do all of my own work on my cars and includes everything up to rebuilding an engine which, thankfully, I haven't had to do yet but wouldn't mind it.

To the point- I'm picking up an estate found 1959 Bugeye. Current owner's husband bought it 36 years ago when he was 18. It was his first car. They dated in it, married in it and enjoyed it for nearly 4 decades. After he passed 6 years ago the car was driven a couple times. On the last outing, the car suddenly lost power just shutting off. No smoke, no funny noises, no coolant or major oil loss (it was leaking a little). It was trailered back to her house and put up on jackstands. It was given a full tank of gas, battery removed, oil changed and fresh coolant put in once parked. She has tried reading the old manuals and trouble shooting it. She wants desperately to take one last drive in it before it goes and I would like to help get it running and take her for a drive in it.

She believes the problem is narrowed down to the Distributor as the coil has power. I didn't pop the cap off to see if the rotor or points were bad...

I also found the clutch and brake pedal won't budge. Would this have a hydraulic clutch? Should I just replace the cylinder(s)?

I would like to know how to identify engine size as well. Where would the serial # on the engine be found? I have the VIN# and would like to know if there are VIN decoders for production date's, etc?

Okay, now for the pics

 

[DrEntropy]

Welcome in!

Where are you in Florida? If nearby I'd consider a quick look to see if there's something I might do to aid.

 

[1959newguybugeye]

I'm near Fernandina. How about you?

 

[bgbassplyr]

Welcome to the forum. Great looking BE. Good find.

I did some growing up in Neptune Beach, just on the other side of the river from you.

Jim

 

[DrEntropy]

I'm near Fernandina. How about you?

RATS... Central Gulf side here.

 

[SteveTR]

New Guy,

You are in great hands with the above guys.

Welcome to the "allied" side. You will need new tools but will have fun too. Don't forget to post photos of your progress.

Enjoy,

Steve

 

[1959newguybugeye]

Hey Steve,
What sort of new tools do I need? This is the kind of stuff I want to know! I have a huge assortment of tools for my early 4 Cyl Porsche stuff...

 

[longbridgehealey]

Hi, newguybugeye, and welcome to the Forum. That is a great looking bugeye, and a pretty neat story too. Lot's of luck getting it going, the Sprite guys here on the Spridget Forum will have just about everything you need to know. Hop over there with your questions, if you haven't already!

 

[toysrrus]

Hi There newguybugeye,

Really a nice looking Bugeye Find.

I`m certain you`ll have a ton of fun in getting her running etc. especially after you introduce yourself to the Spridget Forum people.

The engine # is on riveted plate on the front of the engine, Plug side.

Enjoy your "New/Old" toy,

Russ

 

[aeronca65t]

Best of luck with your new "front-motor" toy! :laugh:

Nial
(former 11-window Kombi owner, former FV racer and still occasional 996 pilot).

 

[DrEntropy]

Hey Steve,
What sort of new tools do I need? This is the kind of stuff I want to know! I have a huge assortment of tools for my early 4 Cyl Porsche stuff...

The Healey will be largely SAE with a smattering of Whitworth.

I can imagine the collection of specialty tools you have for the P-cars... I'm a "factory trained" (VOA, Lanham, MD) P-car wrench. Even have the little gizmo for adjusting 928 valve lash. feh. Tons of dollars tied up in Hazet stuff.

With most post-war English cars you could just about reduce the things to component bits with three wrench sizes! 9/16, 1/2, & 7/16. The Frogeye will have more Rudge sizes than later cars (post '62 designs) but not bad.

 

[Mike_in_CA]

Welcome to the forum.
The engine id is on a plate just below the valve cover on the passenger side at the front of the engine. If it starts with a 9 it is a 948. If it starts with a 10, it is a 1098. If it starts with a 12, it is a 1275. As far as it stopping, it is almost definately an ignition or electrical problem. Remeber this saying! "Lucas electric is the prince of darkness". These old bugeye's are very sensitive to moisture or just plane lose connections. I would check the coil, points, Plug wires into the distributor cap and also check if you are getting power to the coil and points. check points for damage or wear and gap. I also had a similar experience wich turned out to be a cracked distributor cap, which is difficult to see and can only be seen from the inside. Basically, it could be anything electrical, but i would bet on something in the ignition system. On the good side, if you find the problem quickly, it should be really cheap to fix. Nothing on the ignition system is too expensive. If all else fails to find the problem, make sure the distributor is turning and the valves are moving coreectly in case the timing chain broke. The distributor has a seperate shaft between it and the cam. That shaft has been known to either break or slip down into the engine pan if it was installed incorrectly. I always kept a spare distributor cap, points, condenser and a coil as these thing go bad all the time in the stock setup. If you want to improve the reliability, upgrade to an electronic ignition and the new style distributor cap the uses plug in wires instead of screw in wires. Oh and yes, the clutch is hydraulic. The brake issue and probably the clutch issue is that moisture got into the master cylinder which is a dual piston, one for brakes and one for clutch. It is probably has the pistons frozen to the body of the master cylinder from dampness and lack of use. It is an easy fix with a rebuild kit and a small hone. I hope this helps you.

Mike