David S. Wallens said:
Indy "Nub" Guy said:
This image has been burned into my head for years:
I'd love to build something exactly like it. It combines my love of classic hot rod looks, with the size and handling of British sports cars. I've tried to get as much information about it as I can, but best I can tell is that it's a Bugeye tub on a Triumph Spitfire chassis.
Perhaps you could pull off something similar as a stepping stone to your ultimate goal. That would allow you time to get the current "eyeless" bonnet sorted out while enjoying the car.
Hey, I took that photo! Yep, Bugeye body on a Spitfire chassis. Somehow it all worked.
Wow...this is suddenly very important to me!
In reply to David S. Wallens :
My apologies for the threadjack, but do you recall what engine was in that car?
Well, because every day needs to be progress and I'm not comfortable finalizing some of the things I've been working on, I pivoted to gas pedal. Been on my mind for a while! On this car, the gas pedal is about on-line with the carb, so some kind of linkage was/is needed.. whipped up parts of it last night/early this AM!
Ratio is 1:2 for pedal input to cable travel, as the foot well is limited in size and the gas pedal is pretty large. This should "guarantee" I can get full travel at carb, and I can always drill holes in a different place to lower the ratio if I need to.
Was looking through the whole system and realized my cable bracket didn't allow enough travel, bummer! Took some more scrap from the exercise bike and made a new bottom plate, and added a tab to another mounting hole for anti-rotation. That hole is a little off, but I have no problem slotting it up/using washers to get it right since it shouldn't see too much force.
More to come on throttle function/actual pedal modification and placement later, might be Tomorrow!
No pictures tonight, but got the upper half of the pedal chopped down 1.25" tonight and cut out the plate that it'll mount to. On first glance, looks like there's room for it to go, and this pedal is angled from the mounting post.. so it'll be "easier" to point it towards the crank I showed earlier. Last night was "date night" with my wife, and we worked on a lot of cleaning up/clearing out around the house today so it was a fairly short worknight.
Here's the modified pedal with the pedal mounting plate! I took roughly 1.25" out of the top of the pedal, and depending on how everything fits/feels I may take some out of the bottom as well, and adjust the angle on the plate portion of this pedal.
Looks like it should be possible to get it pretty close to the brake!
In reply to classicJackets (FS) :
Are those speed holes in the firewall?
In reply to Stampie :
I prefer to think of them as A/C on a dry day, or a self-mistiny feature on a wet day.. the tire is directly in front of those holes.
It's not in the car, but I have gas pedal and "bellcrank" functional on the bench. Not perfect and it looks like it'll be finicky to get set right in the car, but happy to see the range if motion work okay. Upper hole on the pivoting portion is where the throttle cable will link to.
In reply to classicJackets (FS) :
Make sure you cover them to pass tech. Also to make your feet dryer in the rain.
Gas pedal and linkage now attached to vehicle! Both need a little better triangulation so there's no fear when mashing the pedal in anger, but I'm happy.
Alright major pain to get all this actually more functional today and I'm still not as 100% as I want to be, but it's more functional than yesterday. I broke some E36 M3 and took some time to get the angles right again, but now there will be leg clearance to use the pedal without brushing the linkage..
And extended:
I feel like I'm past having enough time to the challenge to spend multiple days on something like this, so I will need to have it wrapped up tomorrow.
In reply to classicJackets (FS) :
Yes I am frequently finding myself muttering and yelling at myself to just WELD E36 M3 together and move on. It will look right to everyone else, only you will know it could of been better, and it just needs to get berkeleying done at this point.
At least that's my mental status. ...
Good news is I sold a piece of trim today and am shipping another this week, which should get me about $100 back into the budget.. at this point that gives me over $140 in the budget after disc brakes, and assuming $90 worth of harness bar/roll cage. Secondary good thing from today is the guy who bought trim called a buddy while he was here who had a roll bar for $under what I budgeted, and he was sure he could be talked down much more. Whoo!
Edit: also got the transmission and shifter matched up so now I have all gears
Double edit: this guy also offered a free set of Sprite seat frames he's had in his barn and was looking to get rid of, and texted me again telling me he's getting actual seats from a friend to passon, and has knocked the roll bar price down by 1/3 and is still working, lol. Perks of selling a part to a local Austin Healey club organizer/president??
Disc brake front end about as disassembled as I think I'll be able to get it!
Lots of evaporust in the future. I did have to cut the wire wheel into sections to get it off the hub, and ended up cutting off the hub ->rotor bolts as well, as they're a 9/16 bolt head that can only take the open end of a wrench.
All new parts behind it - bushings, kingpins, etc, and taper wheel bearings!
Budget question for the crew: I bought a front end Rebuild Set for $179. Kingpin bushings that (from the same vendor) cost total of $26 (pre-shipping) are on clearance on another site, totaling $2. If I buy the clearance bushings, am I game to take ~$24, shipping adjusted, out of the rebuild kit?
Also, I believe that I have 4 completely failed lever shocks between the vehicle and front cut/spare parts.. not sure if fresh oil will help me any, so open to any suggestions!
Damn...I threw away a pair of (or maybe four) Triumph lever shocks not too long because I couldn't give them away. 
Well, here are my new, free seats! Awfully ugly and rough rough shape, but together.
Is there a safe way to run 5pt harness with these? Likely easier to mount than the butlerbuilt, and no budget hit (I have foam and heavy vinyl for $free to supplement)
I have free seats for you that are probably lighter and definitely a little bit less E36 M3ty.
I am buying several Spridget parts cars so will be able to help you upgrade fairly soon.
Been making good progress, but not much worth posting about.
Rear tires are ordered, should be substantially better than the cooper cobras I said I'd order
Shifter has JB weld drying but will get mounted tomorrow.
Have the steel to reinforce the front frame rails that got cut back to a crossmember, and should be able to make it a bolted connection if needed..
Going to try the seats from Angry soon, otherwise will bastardize the MG seat frames to make mounting the aluminum seat easier.
Lots of work going on front suspension clean/refresh to try to get discs ready.
To run a 5 point harness, really need to have a hole in the seat for the sub belt, it needs to go straight down. Don't run it over the front of the seat. The sub belt is what keeps the shoulder belts tight.
classicJackets (FS) said:
Been making good progress ...
Going to try the seats from Angry soon, otherwise will bastardize ...
Nothing like a call-out to get me motivated! I'll get them out tonight. :-)
How did this thing stay so hidden from me until now? This project is awesome!
try new oil in the lever shocks. Or just make sure there is SOME oil. May have all leaked out or been purposely drained by someone.
My guess is that they still work a little bit. You might even be able to use thick oil to bring back some damping.
Memory is fuzzy and I did not do a search to confirm.
But as I recall the shocks use Mineral oil, not plain engine oil.
