Firebuggy's buggy.

[jspbtown]

Don't forget the input shaft seal while the motor is out. Cheap insurance.

[Firebuggy]

[Firebuggy]

Nice day today so I removed tranny oil and rubber boots from swing axles today. Replaced rubber on front turn signals and rear lights. I removed the rear seat too and discovered the base is made of MDF. Going to replace it with plywood so if it gets wet it doesn't turn to mush.

[Firebuggy]

Today I replaced the input shaft seal. What a pain in the ass that was.
I also installed new axle boots, throwout bearing, clutch cross shaft and clutch cross shaft repair kit, throwout bearing centering sleeve, the clutch lever and a clutch cable shortening device. I also installed a new steering coupler and removed the deadly red plastic one that was in there.

I removed the brake master single cylinder and adjusted my new tie rods to the same length as the old ones I removed.

Doesn't sound like much, but it took 7 hours. That evil input shaft seal being the most time consuming part!

[Firebuggy]

Yesterday I rebuilt the Holley 5200 carb that came with my buggy. What a mess it was. There was beach sand all over the outside of it and the inside. The float bowls even had sand in them. It is all nice and shiny now with a rebuild kit installed.

I also installed a new dual master brake cylinder. Another pain in the butt as the PO lost the spacers between the firewalls. I had to make some homemade ones.

[Firebuggy]

Today I removed old emergency brake handle and cables. I then installed new cables.

I adjusted the stop plate on my brake and clutch pedals as it was not in the correct position.

I removed the rear drums, brakes, brake hardware and the wheel bearings and seals. I couldn't get one bearing out so I'm going to have to find a puller for it. The seals on both rear axles were completely chewed up. No wonder they were leaking.

I removed the metal and rubber brake lines from the rear end of the buggy today too. They were seized tight, but I got them undone. Next is to remove the center metal line and the front metal and rubber lines.

I pulled the clutch and pressure plate off the motor. Tried to get the gland nut off but it wouldn't budge. I was using an electric impact, but thought I read on here somewhere that doing it that way was not a good thing. So I tried only for a few seconds and stopped. I'll get a big bar and pipe. I noticed there is quite a bit of end-play as I can see it by eye. I'm waiting for my "End-Play" tool to show up. I wouldn't be surprised if the shims were missing. There aren't any shims on the alternator pulley so maybe the PO tossed the flywheel shims too.

I removed the windshield as well and was going to remove the hood to get access to my non-functioning gas sending unit. I stopped after realizing how much of the buggy I'll have to dismantle to get the hood off. I'm not sure if I will ever be able to get to that part of the car.

Anyway, productive evening for me. Now to wait for more parts to arrive.

[Firebuggy]

Got the gland nut off today and pulled the flywheel. The flywheel has oval shaped holes where the crank shaft dowel pins go. I'm going to have to replace the flywheel now. I also noticed the bearing has front to back movement, not a lot but it does move. Not sure what to do now...

[Firebuggy]

Been a while since I posted in here.
I see the photobucket pics no longer work.
Tried to update the links, but not possible due to age of the original post.
Lots of changes to the buggy over the years.
Replaced headlights as the ones in it were only daytime running lights and not real headlights. Took a while to find some that were small and fit the holes in the hood. Ended up using motorcycle bullet lights. They fit perfect.
Got rid of the huge carb and put on a 34pict3. It worked okay.
Replaced front spindles king pin assemblies.
Replaced all brake lines and removed the single master with a dual.
Replaced all wheel bearings.
Never did fix the bad end play and the motor finally died last summer. It's not completely dead, but won't hold oil pressure once warmed up. End play is probably 1/4"!! My plan was to drive it until it died and then build a new motor.

Now I am building that new motor. Got some parts ordered and waiting for them to arrive. Probably be another week or so. Right now going to be tearing down the old engine to salvage a couple of pieces and to see how crappy a job the previous builder of that engine did. I already know the pistons were installed incorrectly. Instead of the arrows pointing toward the flywheel, they were pointing towards each other i.e. 3&4 looked like this --><-- and 1&2 were facing the opposite like this <---->.

Was going to start tearing the old engine apart this week, but the temperature here dropped and we have a snowstorm on the way. Hopefully this weekend it warms back up.

Here's a pic of my daughter helping me take the engine out.

Hoisting the engine up to put on the stand.

I'll snap some new photos later of the car. I'll try to find the old ones too that are no longer on photobucket. Got rid of the silly writing on the hood too! Didn't care for that too much.

Anyway...more too come!

[mcdoc2000]

Yes, please post more pics of your buggy, these are one of my favorite buggy styles.

Matt in Sacramento
1964 Thunderbug under construction

[Firebuggy]

Got some parts in today! So exciting!

[Firebuggy]

Case, crank, crank gear stuff, woodruff keys, head studs, engine kit, gasket kit, nuts & bolts kit, pistons and cylinders, bearings, gasketcinch, oil pump, oil pump cover, ring compressor, crank dowels, bearing dowels, cam plug.

[cdnltded]

[Firebuggy]

Started the teardown of the old engine today. Pic of how bad the end play was in this clunker.

Spark plugs out!

Found a surprise...solid shaft rockers!
Is there supposed to be wavy washers with these? Where I am pointing...

Will continue the rest of the teardown tomorrow night.

[saw2]

No on the wavy washers with solid shafts. Use rocker shaft shims. Available in different thicknesses to adjust rocker arm side play. Do a search on setting rocker side clearence.

[oprn]

Good for you involving that girl of yours! My daughters too did a bit of wrenching with me. Even if they do not continue working on their own cars later you have the peace of mind that some joker down the road won't get away with selling them muffler bearings!

[Firebuggy]

[Firebuggy]

[Firebuggy]

Some more goodies arrived today...

CAM Oil from Alberta.

More engine parts. These ones from Aircooled.net.
Clearanced cam shaft, lifters, connecting rods, rod bearings, cam gear and bolts, lube...

[slalombuggy]

Why'd you buy a clearance cam? Are you building a big stroked engine?

brad

[Firebuggy]