The D-A-S-H! (part 1)

May-November, 2006

New changes took place for me (Andy) in the Spring of 2006 with a new job!  I was now Manager of Foundation Gifts at the Saint Louis Zoo.  WOW – what an exciting place to be!  Surrounded by talented people and God’s creation all the time, without the constant bombardment of negativity and major stress.  The only drawback was that I didn’t get ANY vacation my entire first year of employment.  That meant any work that needed to be done on the car would have to take place on weekends.

After a summer of learning about my new job and enjoying the wonderful weather in St. Louis which included weekly routines of severe weather and MAJOR power outages, I was able to make my way up to Milwaukee in August (not including the annual trip to Road America for the BRIC again – VERY hot weather, but the cars were INCREDIBLE!).  The dash needed to be removed and repaired or rebuilt.  The actual dash

Dad and I spent the good part of an entire day with me on my back, my feet into the trunk area and my head where the gas, clutch and brake pedals will be.  This wasn’t so bad except for three minor items:
1) the large metal bar that runs right across my shoulder blades so my neck and head required support (a wadded up blanket and sweatshirt made up the gap);
2) my occasional claustrophobia that would flare up when I trying to loosen an important
nut that I couldn’t see and could barely feel; and
3) the nagging inconvenience of my shoulders being approximately six inches wider than the area I was laying in.
Other than that, the removal of the dash was a BREEZE!

After a full day of me on my back and Dad tracing cables from the engine back through the firewall and into the dash as well as handing me a variety of wrenches, we finally managed to dislodge the dash from the cockpit of the car.  (Note: look for all the pretty red wires – GRRRR!!)
Removed but still attached (1)
Cockpit minus dash; removed but still attached (2)

Dad and unattached the dash and took it out of the garage.  Needless to say, it wasn’t a work of art.   
Front of dash
Back of dash

Dad and I worked feverishly yet methodically (one of us was an engineer, remember!) to remove all of the switches and guages, backlights and securing devices, screws, bolts and nuts from the back of the dash.  All of the necessary guages were original “Smiths” so we knew to be careful.  We were working on something that was first assembled in late 1950’s, and for the most part, looked in pretty good shape!

As we unhooked and detached everything from the dash, we acted with the precision of surgeons.  It was fun!  “An Amp Meter?!  Why would anyone put one of those on the dash?  And what is THIS button for?!?  Oh! I wish he hadn’t cut that hole for the radio.”  The hole on the lower right of the dash (below the “O.S.” handle) is where a radio would be inserted.  There would be no radio in “Bugs”, period.Sans guages and wires

We completed in the removals in a little over an hour.  Like the first part of the wiring harness, I was overly optimistic.  Dad and I sat down to determine our next move.  “Well, Tough – now we need to decided how to proceed.  Should we look to purchase a new dash from someone looking to part with one on the Internet or have it completely rebuilt?”  As I was thinking about the Internet searches and the time it took to find the car in the first place, thinking again that this could be the fly in the ointment of completing our project car, Dad had another “Eureka” moment:  “Wait a minute…we don’t need to rebuild the dash!  We could have someone just tack-weld metal over the holes we don’t want.  That would work, right?” 

Now, those of you who know me, know well enough that my mind just doesn’t work in those mechanical, spatial-reasoning type ways.  So Dad asking me if that would work is kind of funny.  Dad, I think we should do whatever you decide is best – for us, the car and the restoration budget.  I had plunged the depth of my knowledgable answers and THAT is what I came up with?!?!  Good thing he was my Dad because anyone else would have thrown me out of the garage.

In his normal loving and teaching manner, Dad showed me what he was talking about.  I did what I could – I took pictures!  “See Andy.  We don’t need a whole new dash – we just need some holes filled in on this one!”  Einstein couldn’t have been prouder on the day he discovered his Theory of Relativity!  In the following, Dad’s hands are covering the holes that we didn’t want in our repaired dash. 
Holes to be tack-welded closed

Dad methodically went about talking to friends and acquaintences about what we wanted to have done.  A dear family friend, Bob Couchman, suggested a sheet metal fabricating company in Sussex, WI.  After I left for home again, Dad contacted the company who agreed to the plan.  It would be ready in a couple of weeks.  Then he contacted a fabric company to see if they would cover it – another couple of weeks, but we were on our way.

I would return in September to see what they had done and where we were with the dash.

Working on the Car, v.2

February – May, 2006

The car is on the blocks and the bonnet is off.  We are ready to open the box and chart our course.  I can’t speak for Dad, but I was REALLY excited to see some “new” items in the box:
 – Front and Rear directional lights
 – Rear tail lights and license plate light
 – A combination switch
AND…
 – The Wiring Harness!

As Dad pulled it from the bag, the only thing I could think of was what kind of sick mind came up with THIS idea – “Let’s put ALL of the wires for the entire car in one BIG cord and then wrap it up real tight so the poor little dreamers who want to restore a classic car have to pull their hair out to make the whole car work!”

Dad continued to reassure me that it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as what it looked:  “After all, Tough (his nickname for me – maybe I’ll explain later), we have the restoration book and the wiring diagram.  It’ll be fine.”  All the while I’m thinking, THIS is why is costs so much to BUY a restored car and so FEW people have this as their hobby!

So I follow Dad to the garage with the box under one arm and the book in the other.  We unroll the snake, er, harness and stand in silent desperation/shock/awe/fear.  We turn the thing over 3-4-5 times to make sure we have found the top/front/beginning.  Neither of us say it, but I am sure we are both thinking that THIS could be our undoing.  Semi-undaunted, Dad grabs the book and starts to look for how to begin.  “OK, Tough – look on the right side of the car for white wire, a green wire and a brown wire.”

Okay, Dad! {crickets chirping} Um, Dad?  I think we have a problem.

Boy, did we!  ALL of the wires in the front of the car were red.  ALL OF THEM!  Dad was trying to lead me around the electricals in the front of the car and all I could relay back to him was, It’s RED, Dad.  I’m pretty sure the guy who had the car previously either A) was a guy who didn’t care about how the car looked as long as it ran or B) was an idiot.  (sorry – it is how I was beginning to feel!)  I mean does ANYONE wire something as complex as a car with all the same colored wires?!?

We decided to cut the old harness at the firewall and feed the new one through so we could hook up the fuse box and the solenoid.  Once Dad found it on the diagram and we cleaned off the fuse box to read the letters, we hooked both elements up in relatively short amount of time.  Hey, maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all!  Fuse box, battery, lights, dash, turn the key and let’s go for a ride!

Fuse box & relay; Celenoid and distributor; Right side wiring

Okay, I knew better – but I could dream!  So Dad, where do we go from here?

From somewhere in the distance, that scary organ music from the 1930s monster movies started playing and from a cloudless sky came a flash of lightning and an ominous rumble of thunder.  We both looked down into the cockpit as Dad responded to my simple question with, “The DASH.”

{Gulp}

Working on the Car, v.1

February – May, 2006

Dad called me shortly after Christmas, sounding like a kid ON Christmas morning: “IT CAME!  It came!  The box from Moss Motors is here!!”  
What’s in it, Dad?
“I don’t know – and I’m not going to open it up until you get back up here.  This is OUR project and I’m not going it alone.”

Okay, that was going to pose a problem.  St. Louis and Milwaukee aren’t exactly suburbs and 6 hour trips take some planning.  I was busy as a Development Director at a school and preaching at least once a month amongst other responsibilities at Vineyard.  We finally found a weekend in February (the middle of winter in Wisconsin?!?) and I drove up.

We cleaned out the inside, throwing out a bunch of stuff – rusted out seats and soaked seat cushions, molding that was rotten, other pieces of insulation and mud that we didn’t need and didn’t belong in “Bugs”.  We had fun going over each piece and deciding to keep it or tossing it.  Dad journaled our activity and we catalogued what parts we needed to order.

It was way too cold to get very much done in the garage in February.  We accomplished two major things – got “Bugs” on the jacks, off the floor and removed the tires Brake drums.

“Necessity is the mother of invention”, right?  Well, sometimes pain has a lot to do with it too!  Under the bonnet, Dad and I found that we could spend about 10 minutes bent over looking at things there before one of us either A) found our backs spasming or B) hitting our heads ON the bonnet trying to straighten up! 

So I got to make my first deductive suggestion: Uh, Dad?  I see that the bonnet is only held on by four bolts.  We need to adjust them eventually anyway so what do you think about just taking it off completely?  {Pause as engineer ponders weight, strength of self and son, veritability of hoisting said bonnet to joists, wind speed, position of moon, curve and rotation of the earth, etc.}

“EUREKA!  Let’s try it!”

I held the bonnet at the front while Dad loosened the bolts.  I slid to one side, Dad on the other and Voila!  It was LOTS lighter than either of expected and it now stands on its back behind “Bugs”.  I think we took turns watching each other bend and straighten, repeat – no pain!  Bend, straighten – no pain!!  HOORAY!!

Eureka – no bonnet!

Tune in again soon to find out what was in the box from Moss Motors and what we did with it!

Happy motoring,
Andy

New Page Added

Check out the new page “The Project Begins” for the latest addition to the restoration!  AFTER you are done reading the introdcution below, of course! 😉

Last updated: June 3, 2007

Here’s the story of two men named Bundesen…

Ok, so it isn’t exactly as melodic as the Brady Bunch theme, but it is true!

First, the introductions: 

Dad – Dick Bundesen, an original Austin Healey Sprite owner, way back in 1960.  Met Mom, chose her over the car (completely understand!) and the car went into the realm of dreams and “one day”.

Andy – Andy Bundesen, son of the above.  Since age 12, has heard and seen Dad react whenever the sight or sound of a Bugeye would be near.  Goosebumps and stories accompanied many, MANY brats, sunburns and trips to Road America to see these “cute” little cars race around the greatest road race course in North America (see www.roadamerica.com)

Fast forward:  I (Andy) scour the internet and eBay looking for a “project car”, a Bugeye for Dad and me to restore.  The financing and the car decide to meet, hold hands and court and TA DA!!  Dad purchases “our” car in Spring of 2005.  We have it shipped from California and it shows up in Milwaukee in a downpour with Dad at work and me in St. Louis (home).

Mom helps the truck driver by chasing the car down the street after it comes off the car carrier in the rain!!  THANKS, MOM!!

Thus begins the saga.  Dad names the car “Bugs” and he (the car, not Dad!) is comfortably parked in the garage.  See the pics of the beginning of the project below and check back often for updates and other thoughts on various car, race and life-related issues.

Happy motoring!

Andy

Pics:

Here’s what an Austin Healey “Bugeye” Sprite looks like:

Two Bugeyes in Corner 5 at RA in the Mid-70s 

From May 2005

Dad checks out Bugs – under the bonnet

First cockpit view -yup, needs some work!