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Re: bugeye 5-speed conversion progress (long)

To: Bryan Vandiver <Bryan.Vandiver@Eng.Sun.COM>, spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: bugeye 5-speed conversion progress (long)
Date: Fri, 5 May 2000 14:24:36 -0400
References: <200005051746.KAA20442@shorter.eng.sun.com>
On the BMC cable housing, the end that goes into the speedo has three 
parts that you are going to put onto the Datsun cable housing. The 
outermost BMC part is the threaded collar, inside of that is the 
cable housing end fitting (which is a press-fit or crimp-fit onto the 
last inch or so of the housing), and inside of that is a little white 
plastic collar that the cable end passes through. Tap the cable tip 
on a hard surface to get the little white collar to drop out. Pull 
the cable housing end fitting off with a pair of pliers or do it in a 
vise. The threaded collar will just fall off at this point. Now, pull 
the Datsun cable housing end fitting off the Datsun housing, slide 
the BMC threaded collar on and put the BMC end fitting onto the end 
of the Datsun cable housing. Crimp it down gently with pliers, or use 
glue, or both, to ensure that it is securely attached to the housing. 
I did both. Slide the little white plastic collar down the tip of the 
cable into the end fitting. That's it. Took me five minutes if you 
don't include glue set time.

You may first want to pull the Datsun cable out of the housing and 
lubricate it with graphite dust. I first cleaned my cable with brake 
cleaner. A lot. Then I let it dry completely. Then I put it in a big 
baggy with graphite dust and did like the old Shak'n'Bake 
commercials. When reinserting into the housing, make SURE that you 
don't get graphite dust onto the end of the housing that you will 
soon be trying to glue the BMC fitting onto. Glue will not stick onto 
a graphited surface...

The Datsun cable end is slightly smaller than the BMC one, and also 
may not protrude far enough from the end fitting. It needs to poke 
out about 5/8". To make sure that this is not a problem, I slide a 
short piece of square copper tubing over the cable end. This is a 
trick that Frank Clarici originated. It's definitely cut-to-fit. I 
had to file the Datsun cable tip a tiny bit to get the copper tubing 
to slide well down on it. I also had to file the outside of the 
copper tubing again a tiny, tiny bit to get it to fit well into the 
BMC speedo. This was a 10 minute job if you don't include the time it 
took to go to my local Ace Hardware Store to buy the copper tube. If 
anyone is interested, I can send them the EXACT Ace parts number for 
this. I think it cost $1.67.

Hope this helps. To those who've written me over the last 10 days 
aabout the 5 speed conversion, sorry I have not replied. I just 
returned from a business trip.

Jeff

At 10:46 AM -0700 5/5/00, Bryan Vandiver wrote:
>Larry,
>
>Thanks for the tip.
>How's your new clutch set-up doing so far?? Have you been able to 
>put any miles
>on it yet?
>
> - Bryan
>
> >To: "Bryan Vandiver" <Bryan.Vandiver@eng.sun.com>, 
><spridgets@autox.team.net>
> >Subject: Re: bugeye 5-speed conversion progress (long)
> >MIME-Version: 1.0
> >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> >X-Priority: 3
> >X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
> >X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600
> >
> >Bryan,
> >I also had to "open up" some of the holes in the back plate to get it to
> >line up.
> >
> >It's easier to just buy a cable from Rivergate or Morriservice.
> >
> >Larry Miller
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Bryan Vandiver" <Bryan.Vandiver@Eng.Sun.COM>
> >To: <spridgets@autox.team.net>
> >Sent: Friday, May 05, 2000 10:17 AM
> >Subject: bugeye 5-speed conversion progress (long)
> >
> >
> >> I'm almost done with my 5-speed conversion for the bugeye.
> >> I took last week off and was hoping to have the conversion compleated by
> >now,
> >> but one thing led to another, and to make a long story short, I ended up
> >having
> >> my engine bored and honed in the process (new pistons too). In any case
> >the
> >> motor is back together (except the head will need mounted) and I have the
> >210
> >> tranny bolted up and ready to reinstall back into the engine bay. I
> >orginally
> >> removed the head on the engine so I could remove the engine without taking
> >the
> >> bonnet off.
> >> In any case, I'm going to recheck the cam timing before I reinstall, just
> >to
> >> make sure I got everyhing back together correctly ;-)
> >> I have the Rivergate kit, but I took Crash's and a couple other listers
> >advice,
> >> and had Paul Asgeirsson of Morris service, nodify my flywheel to accept
> >the
> >> Nissan pressure plate assembly (nice work). I did notice when I bolted up
> >the
> >> Rivergate backing plate to the engine, I had to open up the locating dowl
> >holes
> >> very slightly to get eveything to line up properly. I also had to open up
> >two of
> >> the screw holes for the counter sunk screws that mount the plate to the
> >back of
> >> the engine. This was no big deal, since the back plate is aluminum, and I
> >just
> >> used a very slightly over sized drill bit (1/64 over). The tranny bolted
> >right
> >> up with no issues.
> >> I made a new clutch line from a prefab 42" copper/nickel pipe I picked up
> >from
> >> Minimania ($13), and have bent it up in the 'stock' tradition, with a
> >couple of
> >> coils in it, simular to the 'original' bugeye clutch line. The line
> >already had
> >> the fittings on the ends, and screws right into the Master, and stock
> >slave
> >> cylinders.
> >> My next challenge will be the speedometer cable. Rivergate has some
> >instructions
> >> for this, however they seem pretty confusing. It looks like I'm supposed
> >to use
> >> the stock 210 speedo cable, and replace the speedo end with the coupling
> >off my
> >> sprite speedo cable. (Any suggestions here woud be appreciated:-)
> >> Since the car was running pretty well before I started, I'm hoping that it
> >will
> >> fire up OK, onnce I get everthing back together. My only concern is making
> >sure
> >> I got the timing gears and distributor drive back in properly so that I
> >didn't
> >> change any of the timing there.
> >> BTW - I picked up a new head gasket from Minimania, that looks pretty
> >good, it
> >> has a 'silver' finish to it, and has metal 'rings around all water jacket
> >holes,
> >> as well as the oil and cylinders. They recommended this one over the
> >'copper'
> >> one, and said they used it in all thier race engines. It is about 25-50%
> >thicker
> >> than the 'copper' gasket, and is fibre material has a silver coating
> >simular to
> >> to the spray-on copper coat. Has anyone had any experience with this
> >gasket?
> >>
> >>  - Bryan Vandiver (59-bugeye)
> >>  San Jose, CA
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >


Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
Assistant Professor, Emory Eye Center, Atlanta, GA, USA
Senior Editor, Molecular Vision, http://www.molvis.org/molvis
mailto:jboatri@emory.edu


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