Sadly, I have missed one of my deadlines for getting Li'l back on the road. Gerry Osborn was the previous caretaker for this car, which he purchased for his wife in 1963. The car was and is sheduled to go back to his family as soon as it is finished. Captain Osborn's final orders arrived on Friday March 13th 2009. I will miss his character and inspiration.

 

 

One of the reasons for this site is to help otherss who are going down the same road. While there a lots of pictures, perhaps there is a measurement or view that does not suit your needs. Go ahead and post a comment and I will try to add the image or measurement.

Due to the temporary nature of her stay in my possesion, Lil will be sporting the following plate for the duration of the project. Note that this picture was taken almost four years AFTER the start of the restoration. may 20,2007 Nov 3,2007

Lil arrived as one sorry heap of Bug Eye Rust. (November 2003) The following shows some progress as she comes back to life.

Note from the future. March 11, 2006: We have all made the joke about "Jack up the rad cap and build a new car under it"!! Well I had no idea at the time I was bout to embark on such a journey. Really, she did not look TOO bad at first glance.

Did I mention EVERYTHING is coated with TAR?

Anyone seen my doors? FLOORS?! SANITY?!!!

What am I thinking?! 2003 3 years (October 2006!) later, same sweater. More gray hair! What the #$%*&^% WAS I thinking?! While it may look like the only work done is a major clean-up, be aware that nearly everything you see in the picture is new metal.
My original thought was that this might
require some attention. (Winter 2003)

No worries mate, she buffed right out! (Jan 26 2007) .

And of today Jan 1, 2009:

 

 

 

 

We are off to the acid bath! Acid dipping is your friend. She looks pretty good from this distance eh?(April 3 2004)
Guys gotta expect a few flaws when all the make-up is removed!Some minor flaws surfaced after the acid dip!. This was the point where I had to decide if I was going ahead or try to recover some of my cost by selling parts. I might have broken even at this stage; only in for about 2k total. Such an oportunity will not present itself for the rest of the project.

It will take till Nov 3, 2007 to reach this stage!

I seem to be missing some metal. Nothing over here either.

THIS IS THE POINT WHERE WE TURN THE CORNER ON THE PROJECT. KEEPIN MIND THAT IT HAS BEEN OVER A YEAR SINCE I STARTED. THIS IS MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT BODYWORK AND SO FAR IT HAS BEEN DEMORALIZING DISCOVERY OF ONE MESS AFTER ANOTHER. I HAVE SPENT OVER FIVE THOUSAND ON ACID DIPPING, PANELS AND TOOLS, AND EVEN I AM NOT SURE THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO RESTORE THIS THING. I HAVE YET TO WELD ANYTHING IN MY LIFE! THERE COULD BE A STEEP LEARNING CURVE AHEAD SO LETS SEE IF THIS THING CAN HANDLE THE CURVES!

Amazing what a Mig welder and a cheque book can do.

Floors were one of the more satisfying panels to install

Looking better. Sheet metal screws are holding everything together at this point.
Driver side also looking better.
Passenger side after acid dip.
Passenger side after some trial fitting. Passenger side Jan 26 2007
Rockers fitted. Will only be mounted permanent when hood and rear fenders are in place
passenger floor removed showing flanges with holes drilled
Central part of chassis with floor removed. Note small strip of metal to be removed along tunnel

Vie of the bottom of the rear bulkhead with floor removed
Driverside inner rocker. Lowest holes for attaching bottom of outer rocker panel. Next up is for attaching floor, spotwelding from OUTSIDE. Top row is for top of outer rocker.

Holes punched along edge of rear bulkhead to attach to new floor.

Silver areas are where paint has been removed for welding along the floor rails. Front, rear and side flanges are also stripped and painted with weld-thru primer

Added a car tilter to my toys today.Made from two engine stands. Works great!

Fabricated a centre piece to join the two floor pannels.Note penetration marks where floor is spot welded from above.
Rear tunnel brace added.

Feb 19,2006 Good day at the shop. I managed to cut out the old trunk floor and fit the new one. Note also how the rotiserie mounts are moved from the rear bumper to the spring boxes. This will take a lot of the stress off the rear clip while it is missing a floor.
Old floor removed Note how acid dip reaches inside the chassis rails

New floor in place. I will also replace the bit to the front of the trunk This is the left over from a hard days work

Work has started on the rear clip. Feels good to be doing something that is not structural. All I can say is thank the powers that be for repair panels. The following pictures show todays work.

Note from the future: I can't remember when those pictures were taken, but it is now May 2007. It has taken about a year and a half to get from the above trial fitting of the rear quarter repair panels to the point where the rear fender is all buttoned up. For details see page 5

For those of you going down this path, this is a tricky panel to weld in: You are pretty much commited to a butt weld because of the curve of the rear bit. The join with the back panel is tricky because it has the bead in the middle and is hard to separate. Patience is a BIG part of this job. An important note: if you are going to replace the floor like I am, do not install this panel until after the floor is in!!!

Todays task (march 11, 06) was to replace the entire rear floor panel. I had originally bought a rear trunk floor section only, since nobody listed the entire assembly for the bugeye. Victoria Brit assured me that this panel, made for a MG Midget, would not work with the bugeye, but I bought it anyways figuring "What do they Know"?!

This is a very well made assembly and the differences to the bug are minor. There are a few extra features, but for the most part they are for the better. The panel required NO modifications to fit in the bugeye space.

The new panel looks to be very well made

I had originally thought I would have to cut the new panel and install the Bugeye rear floor. The Midget part is close enough. Nobody will ever see the extra bits, and I like the spare tire bolt-down bracket.

The old panel comes out by drilling the spotwelds that hold the frame. This is easiest to do from the wheellwell, drilling inwards. Since you will be tossing the old frame rails, you do not need to use a spot-weld cutter, just a 1/4 inch drill bit.

Here is a vantage point very few will see of their Bugeye!

The new panel is a bit tricky to put in as a one man job.It is by design a tight fit.

Amazing what a little creativity and the ability to cuss in three languages can acomplish! Replacing such a large panel is good for instant gratification! Think I had better clean the camera lense also.

I am a bit concerned about how the new bump stop is going to work with the finished assembly. It could be removed, but I hope that it will work as an improvement from the original.

Moving to the front. Here are some before and after shots.
Before=BAD After new metal = GOOD