Colour coded confusion
The Frogeye’s back from paint at long last! And boy have they done a super job, it was certainly worth the wait and my Dad’s Sprite isn’t far behind now either. Bringing it home was a nerve-wracking experience for fear of stone chips or other disasters. Unloading it was a doddle; the shell is so light it almost floated into the garage! It was straight up on axle stands and ready to receive the engine. However, the bonnet had to come off to allow room and height to install it and as the Frogeye’s bonnet is not exactly small, I bribed a gang of friends to help remove it with the promise of a full cooked breakfast.
Before doing anything else I cracked out a tap and die set and went around all the bolt holes on the body to clear out paint from the threads. This makes awkward fixings much easier to fit later and is time well invested. The engine was going in with the ‘box attached, so I needed to buy a balance bar for the engine crane from Machine Mart to change the unit’s angle of dangle on the way in. First off though, I had to remove the power unit from the engine stand to fit the flywheel and clutch before offering the gearbox up.
Next, I put a new lock ring on the flywheel bolts and a dab of Locktite on the clutch bolts to be on the safe side. I also put a smear of grease on the input shaft and dropped in a new release bearing too. As you will have probably gathered, I didn’t fancy taking the engine out again in the near future!
The gearbox mount bracket
Routing the wiring harness was relatively easy by figuring out the colour of the cable and matching it to each device
was painted up and treated to new rubber mounts. This assembly is not accessible when fitted, so I torqued all the fixings up before going any further. It was then a case of lots of cardboard to protect the paint and constant adjustment of the insertion angle, helped with a jack at the box end and voila, the engine was in. Then slight confusion when I thought the engine mounted via rubber blocks to the body. That was obviously not the case, as a quick flick through a parts book showed the correct bracket with ‘Available – £-call’ printed next to it rather than the price – never a good sign!. After a good rummage through all the bits that came with the car, I found the correct brackets lurking in the depths of a parts box. A quick clean followed by a lick of paint and the engine install was done. I’m glad I picked up a few bolt selection packs from Spalding Fasteners at a recent show as all the new bolts set it off a treat, I am also glad I got a range of UNC and UNF too, as both these sizes are used on the Sprite.
The next step was to lay out the wiring harness I‘d purchased from Autosparks. This was an exact replica down to the cotton braid but at my request had a nicely integrated extension with the correct wiring and relay for my front spots. Laying the harness out is daunting at first but in reality was easy, as I started with the bulkhead grommet as a reference point and started laying out the main runs from there.
Routing the wiring harness was relatively easy by figuring out the colour of the cable and matching it to the device it was powering and then threading the wires to where they were heading. The bonnet loom is separate and I followed a similar process and clipped it neatly in place before dropping the freshly restored pedal box into position and bolting it down. Next month will see more ancillaries being fitted along with the brake and fuel lines. I think the term ‘Pig in Clover’, or an alternative ruder bar room version is how I feel at the moment! Love this bit!