Well, this project started out to be a simple repaint, but has turned into a
total nuts and bolts project (where do you stop???). As I was lying
underneath the Bugster with oil, grease, and lacquer thinner running down to
my armpit, the thought occurred to me that this task would be much easier
looking down rather than up. My daughter is a gymnast, and when her gym
added on they replaced a lot of old equipment. She and my wife dragged home
a 12" thick rubber mat about 6' x 12' which was taking up much space in the
garage and I had threatened to burn several times. Finally I thought of a
use for this previously hated item. As the Bugster is now very light (no
remaining parts of any kind), a friend and I decided to try rolling it over.
I placed the floor jack under the rear (a 2x6 spanning the width of the
car), and as I pulled the floor jack, my friend lifted the front end (very
light) and we moved the car as far left as we could. We put the front back
on floor jacks, dragged the mat to where the car was, and simply lifted and
rolled the car over onto its back. It was as simple as that. Although I
have a full sized mat, I think either two strips of thick foam or a couple of
cradles covered with either foam or styrofoam would probably do the trick.
All of the weight seems to be supported by the firewall area and the front
of the boot. As the car is relatively light at this point, the contact
points seem to be supporting it very well. Anyway, the bottom has been
cleaned several times with mineral spirits (everytime you think you've gotton
all the oil and grease, you find some more) and then twice with prep sol and
is now in primer. With any luck, I'll respray the bottom within the next
week or two. My brother in law shot some photos of it with a digital camera
that I'll post soon.
Rod Miller (Look, honey, I taught the Bugster to roll over and play dead!!!)
'59 Bugeye (staring at the ceiling)
'72 TR6 (son's car and Bugster's room mate)
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