I feel as if I'm in the automotive equivalent of medical school watching you. Specifically, your approach is like that of a pathologist...and then you even troop out the mouse corpses and, as Ron Williams (below) says, you evaluate them the same way! Awesome!
Steve, I have enjoyed your Barn Sprite series. Sorry to see it coming to an end. If it ends up stuck, I would sure enjoy you rebuilding it 😀. I learn more from your videos than anyone else on RUclips.
ATF if left a few days or week might help Also Marvel mystery oil might work, its bit thinner in viscosity and might seep past the rings Would recommend leaving hard top with car
A great many years later and I'm still a BMC A series engine enthusiast and I would love to see this sprite take to the road again. Convertibles are great fun in the warmer months but I would prefer to leave it as is and retain the hard top.
I'm amazed that these wholly neglected cars are in as good a condition as they are. I can't see a 2021 car being neglected for 30 years and requiring anything less than a full rebuild, including the electronics, before running again... Hopefully you get this little treasure back up and going, I'll be watching...
I guess we'll come back to it next week or something? Hope you can free it, but if you can't, does that mean an engine out job? It's certainly interesting watching such engines being disassembled and restored on RUclips.
@@ThisWeekWithCars I want you to fix it an hopefully price it where I can afford to buy it! Great watching your video with popcorn and then surprising us with this one so fas
Yah I love your vids of you working on these a series engines. Be great to see another. And a vid on proper way to pull a sprite engine would be super helpful.
These have been a great series. I think that the top should go with the car as well. I think it’s great to see the whole process of getting an engine running again from the point where you have collected it and moved it into your garage. It’s like anything else, there is a process to follow to get the point where you can start the car. It’s the same as when you want to get the car to stop as well! Great job 👏
This is the very thing I watch your videos for. I can’t explain the fascination! And the fact that they are British cars in the States just makes it more interesting to me. I really did not appreciate just how many of them got across the Atlantic, never mind to where you live. And apart from dirt the body on that one seems remarkably good.
As others have commented before me - the top should stay with the car. Also agree with the sentiment that perhaps an engine rebuild would be good to see although you might as well just get it running before you do that. By selling the car which has all the fundamentals taken care of you are increasing the likelihood of this car surviving far into the future regardless of who ends up owning it.
Steve. I think you'll make the right choice regardless of the usual comments . I think you've rebuilt a few of these but it would be nice to see you doing what you do best.
Good luck with this. There was some (what looked like) scoring on #3. Maybe a thin viscosity will get by it. Sometime it's just one cylinder that's locked. Enjoy your videos! And I agree, the hard top should probably go with the car. It's the first time I've actually seen one on the Sprite.
If you look at the videos in my Austin Healey Sprite videos list you can see many different examples with the hardtop on: ruclips.net/p/PLRMQ-ShmnWObipIQ8O_w7ekllhO1Ph_Mn
Great video, I always learn something watching them. Keep them coming Steve. I would sell the hood with the car. If the car was mine I wouldn't sell it:-)
I think you should let the top go with the car. With regard to freeing up the engine there is a school of thought among some mechanics that a small amount of diesel in the bores will do the trick. The plugs don't clog with oil and the diesel burns off quickly. I have not tried it (the need hasn't arisen) but it does seem logical to me and I did see a mechanic do it on TV with great success . I appreciate people have their own ways of doing things but this method is an alternative. Great video Steve. 👍👍
I had a set of American Racing Wheels similar to those on the Sprite. I loved the look of them but the oval holes would frequently shave off the tops of the lug nuts. I think part of the problem was the spacers on my Fiat 128 Sport L would add pressure on the lug nuts, but I had to have them or things would rub especially on the front due to the front wheel drive. I had to always carry a set of lug nuts in my car at all times.
Get it running, I watched a video of puttin fab shop and he put white vinegar in the cylinders to break up the rust and worked awesome, its freed it up.
You could look into one of those small bead blasters that use crushed macadamia shells to remove the rust from the bores before doing the usual marvel mystery oil or diesel and ATF trick to soak the rings to try to free them up.
If you want more money for the car sell the separately. Here in the UK I have a Ford Streetka, a two seater soft top, designed by Ford but built by Pininfarina. You can get a Ford hard top for these cars, also you need a pair of special brackets. People sell, or try and sell the hard tops without the brackets, but you just can't fit the roof without the brackets. The cost of the brackets can be more than the hard top.
If you've spent this much time sorting through Sprite bits, why not sell the top separately for more money? Got a Miata for $3200 and sold it's factory hardtop for $1800 cuz they're popular for some track regulation
on my 1275 Midget, 4th gear works to turn a working engine, but maybe not for one like yours. If you find a cylinder with the valves closed, you might connect compressed air to that cylinder with the tranny in neutral and see if you can move the piston down. That might break the engine free enough to start moving it in 4th gear.
Bumper sticker, maybe a U.S. ARMY Air Defense insulation. In the 60s and 70s. Nike Hercules sites were all over the USA. East and West coasts, large cities across USA and important areas.
Try offering the top separately if a buyer will come to Iowa and pick it up. It’s too big an item to box up for shipping. If that doesn’t work out, then sell thr top with the Sprite. I’ve heard of others who’ve used diesel fuel to free up stuck engines. Give it s few weeks and you might get lucky.
Your videos are great! So glad I stumbled upon them. Keep going! Is ATF as effective as Marvel Mystery Oil? Are they the same thing I've often wondered.
Marvel Mystery Oil is reported by the manufacturer to be a mineral oil, such as is allowed on food manufacturing equipment, that is, it is not petroleum based. I’m sure they add something to it, not sure what, but it starts out as mineral oil.
it is usually more lucrative to sell individual parts off cars than it is to sell the whole car. so in that sense it would be beneficial to sell the top separately. however, i think your youtube admirers would think more of you if you were to sell the car with the top, so as to demonstrate your consideration for the originality of the car.
I'd say the top needs to go with the car. ATF is ok, I prefer marvel mystery oil. You didn't pull the dipstick to see if there is oil or water in the crankcase. That might have been a good indicator of the condition of the cylinders and or bearings. I'd also change the oil before running it. I look forward to seeing how she turns out. I like these old girls and think they have some character.
ATF has greater detergent properties. Some mechanics fill with ATF, run the engine awhile and drain to clean the engine. In this case (seized), I think they combine ATF with something that will work on rust that might be, for instance, around the piston rings.
@@andrewbillingsley9377 Nothing really. I guess they are motor oil additives meant to clean the engine. Keep in mind that these are competing purposes. Oil is meant to be as lubricating as possible to prevent wear while detergents work via friction on surfaces.
Disassemble the engine and make the necessary repairs and machining!! In other words… if you want to make it a reliable running engine, do it right!!!!!
I feel as if I'm in the automotive equivalent of medical school watching you. Specifically, your approach is like that of a pathologist...and then you even troop out the mouse corpses and, as Ron Williams (below) says, you evaluate them the same way! Awesome!
Steve, I have enjoyed your Barn Sprite series. Sorry to see it coming to an end. If it ends up stuck, I would sure enjoy you rebuilding it 😀. I learn more from your videos than anyone else on RUclips.
I'M IMPRESSED ! YOU ANALYZED THAT MUMMIFIED MOUSE THE EXACT SAME WAY YOU ANALYZE THE CARS.
ATF if left a few days or week might help
Also Marvel mystery oil might work, its bit thinner in viscosity and might seep past the rings
Would recommend leaving hard top with car
Thanks for the tips!
Oh you definitely should let the top go with the car. In my opinion if a car had something when you get it, it should go with it to it's next home
Hear, Hear.
Love how you took care of the terrible looking wheels before anything else!
Love it, like a car archaeologist with a mummy mouse to boot! One day I will own an MGA or XKE again. Love the Sprites and Love the videos 👍🏻
White Vinegar pour down the plug holes fill them up. Leave set for a few days. If its rust bam that will do it.
A great many years later and I'm still a BMC A series engine enthusiast and I would love to see this sprite take to the road again. Convertibles are great fun in the warmer months but I would prefer to leave it as is and retain the hard top.
I'm amazed that these wholly neglected cars are in as good a condition as they are. I can't see a 2021 car being neglected for 30 years and requiring anything less than a full rebuild, including the electronics, before running again... Hopefully you get this little treasure back up and going, I'll be watching...
I guess we'll come back to it next week or something? Hope you can free it, but if you can't, does that mean an engine out job? It's certainly interesting watching such engines being disassembled and restored on RUclips.
I was considering tearing the engine down in a video if it comes to that instead of just selling it with a stuck engine.
@@ThisWeekWithCars I want you to fix it an hopefully price it where I can afford to buy it! Great watching your video with popcorn and then surprising us with this one so fas
Yah I love your vids of you working on these a series engines. Be great to see another. And a vid on proper way to pull a sprite engine would be super helpful.
These have been a great series.
I think that the top should go with the car as well.
I think it’s great to see the whole process of getting an engine running again from the point where you have collected it and moved it into your garage.
It’s like anything else, there is a process to follow to get the point where you can start the car.
It’s the same as when you want to get the car to stop as well!
Great job 👏
great stuff Steve , cant wait to see it run. thanks
This is the very thing I watch your videos for. I can’t explain the fascination! And the fact that they are British cars in the States just makes it more interesting to me. I really did not appreciate just how many of them got across the Atlantic, never mind to where you live. And apart from dirt the body on that one seems remarkably good.
As others have commented before me - the top should stay with the car. Also agree with the sentiment that perhaps an engine rebuild would be good to see although you might as well just get it running before you do that. By selling the car which has all the fundamentals taken care of you are increasing the likelihood of this car surviving far into the future regardless of who ends up owning it.
Top stuff as usual Steve!
Another one that looks remarkably good. Wish I could find a collection like these cars.
Steve. I think you'll make the right choice regardless of the usual comments . I think you've rebuilt a few of these but it would be nice to see you doing what you do best.
Good luck with this. There was some (what looked like) scoring on #3. Maybe a thin viscosity will get by it. Sometime it's just one cylinder that's locked. Enjoy your videos! And I agree, the hard top should probably go with the car. It's the first time I've actually seen one on the Sprite.
If you look at the videos in my Austin Healey Sprite videos list you can see many different examples with the hardtop on: ruclips.net/p/PLRMQ-ShmnWObipIQ8O_w7ekllhO1Ph_Mn
@@ThisWeekWithCars Thanks! Such a good looking collection!
I never saw those racing wheels, especially with oval holes. I learned something else today!!
You’d probably get more for the hard top sold separately or offer it up to the car buyer. Not many people drive these cars in cold weather any more.
Needs the hardtop with it when you sell.
Great video, I always learn something watching them. Keep them coming Steve. I would sell the hood with the car. If the car was mine I wouldn't sell it:-)
I think you should let the top go with the car. With regard to freeing up the engine there is a school of thought among some mechanics that a small amount of diesel in the bores will do the trick. The plugs don't clog with oil and the diesel burns off quickly. I have not tried it (the need hasn't arisen) but it does seem logical to me and I did see a mechanic do it on TV with great success . I appreciate people have their own ways of doing things but this method is an alternative. Great video Steve. 👍👍
Greatly enjoy the bug eye video!
Great to see another Sprite restoration. The top? If you want to use it on another car then keep it, but selling it separately doesn't seem right.
That appears to be a bone stock 1972 Mummified Mouse coupe. The first one was a parts mouse.
I had a set of American Racing Wheels similar to those on the Sprite. I loved the look of them but the oval holes would frequently shave off the tops of the lug nuts. I think part of the problem was the spacers on my Fiat 128 Sport L would add pressure on the lug nuts, but I had to have them or things would rub especially on the front due to the front wheel drive. I had to always carry a set of lug nuts in my car at all times.
I have freed many stuck engines soaking with marvel mystery oil, liquid wrench, and a little break fluid
Get it running, I watched a video of puttin fab shop and he put white vinegar in the cylinders to break up the rust and worked awesome, its freed it up.
Recommend installing a period correct radio. Working, or not, dash will look a whole lot better.
Definitely need to see if you can free it up.
Top should stay with
Hi Steve, do you have a display case with all the dead mice you found in the barn finds?
You could look into one of those small bead blasters that use crushed macadamia shells to remove the rust from the bores before doing the usual marvel mystery oil or diesel and ATF trick to soak the rings to try to free them up.
Steve, any idea when you think this will come up for sale? Great videos. Definitely sell hard top and soft top with car.
If you want more money for the car sell the separately. Here in the UK I have a Ford Streetka, a two seater soft top, designed by Ford but built by Pininfarina. You can get a Ford hard top for these cars, also you need a pair of special brackets. People sell, or try and sell the hard tops without the brackets, but you just can't fit the roof without the brackets. The cost of the brackets can be more than the hard top.
Yet another good vid.Let the top stay with the car(poor thing.lol)
Thanks Steve.
If you've spent this much time sorting through Sprite bits, why not sell the top separately for more money?
Got a Miata for $3200 and sold it's factory hardtop for $1800 cuz they're popular for some track regulation
on my 1275 Midget, 4th gear works to turn a working engine, but maybe not for one like yours. If you find a cylinder with the valves closed, you might connect compressed air to that cylinder with the tranny in neutral and see if you can move the piston down. That might break the engine free enough to start moving it in 4th gear.
Bumper sticker, maybe a U.S. ARMY Air Defense insulation. In the 60s and 70s. Nike Hercules sites were all over the USA. East and West coasts, large cities across USA and important areas.
Good stuff as usual Steve. Are the dynamo and water pump free?.
Try offering the top separately if a buyer will come to Iowa and pick it up. It’s too big an item to box up for shipping. If that doesn’t work out, then sell thr top with the Sprite.
I’ve heard of others who’ve used diesel fuel to free up stuck engines. Give it s few weeks and you might get lucky.
Hi Steve I have a car I need to fix where do I stay
I’d pop the head off and clean up the cylinders and head, valves etc.... a good selling point when you move it on....
Your videos are great! So glad I stumbled upon them. Keep going! Is ATF as effective as Marvel Mystery Oil? Are they the same thing I've often wondered.
Marvel Mystery Oil is reported by the manufacturer to be a mineral oil, such as is allowed on food manufacturing equipment, that is, it is not petroleum based. I’m sure they add something to it, not sure what, but it starts out as mineral oil.
I hope you find a buyer that wants the hard top tho no doubt you will have more Sprites that can take the top in the future.
Great video. The top should stay with the car, as well as the 50+ year old bumper sticker.
Who knew Iowa was a mecca for British cars?
Huntsville, AL is another hotspot for some reason.
spray the engine compartment with a peppermint mixture from Amazon or make your own rodents hate it and will bugger off :)
it is usually more lucrative to sell individual parts off cars than it is to sell the whole car. so in that sense it would be beneficial to sell the top separately. however, i think your youtube admirers would think more of you if you were to sell the car with the top, so as to demonstrate your consideration for the originality of the car.
I'd say the top needs to go with the car. ATF is ok, I prefer marvel mystery oil. You didn't pull the dipstick to see if there is oil or water in the crankcase. That might have been a good indicator of the condition of the cylinders and or bearings. I'd also change the oil before running it. I look forward to seeing how she turns out. I like these old girls and think they have some character.
Yes but you need to consider shipping a hardtop can be a problem you don’t just put it in the mail.
prefer diesel or atf/acetone mix for unsticking stuck stuff
@@ThisWeekWithCars If it is on the car it does not need to be shipped separately.
Pity about the engine, otherwise has the bones of a very tidy Sprite - may yet come back of course !
I'm not so sure I would have attacked the mouse nest so enthusiastically. Hanta virus spooks me.
Hantavirus didn’t exist until 1978 so these mice are safe.
After watching the other car channels, when you pull the spark plugs I'm always left expecting you to do the other four...
Try pickling the cylinders with vinegar.
it might be the most difficult sprite to start yet! One silly question why is ATF always the go-to oil to unseize the pistons? Why not other kinds?
ATF stands for automatic transmission fluid. As for the why; i could not say.
ATF has greater detergent properties. Some mechanics fill with ATF, run the engine awhile and drain to clean the engine. In this case (seized), I think they combine ATF with something that will work on rust that might be, for instance, around the piston rings.
@@Callipygous1975 Thank you !
@@Callipygous1975 What do you know of a product ca;; "Sea Foam" or "Marine Eight" ?
@@andrewbillingsley9377 Nothing really. I guess they are motor oil additives meant to clean the engine. Keep in mind that these are competing purposes. Oil is meant to be as lubricating as possible to prevent wear while detergents work via friction on surfaces.
I'm looking the SU HS twin carburetor for a 1962 Bugeye 1.8. Can anyone suggest a seller?
My dad had a 1959 bug at sprite I got totaled and I would love to find another one
This engine is going to need a complete rebuild. I would get the crank and rods balanced at the same time.
Man I’ve been tearing apart old neglected cars for nearly 50 years but I don’t have the stomach to touch a dead mouse.
Top needs to go with it. May not be of any use to a guy over 6 ft tall..lol anyway. Darn that was way to short of a video.
Well, if all else fails you could drag/push it around in gear... I really hope you can get it free, Steve
Looks like engine was turning
With respect, perhaps you should consider moving at least some of those Sprites on, so that others may restore and enjoy them.
Sell the top with the car, it improves salability and you then don't have to bather selling it separately. let's face it you don't need the money :)
I know 'mechanics' who would simply just reach for their favorite hammer ....
Sell it with hardtop
😎👍
Disassemble the engine and make the necessary repairs and machining!!
In other words… if you want to make it a reliable running engine, do it right!!!!!
Be a good guy! Let the hard top go with the car when you sell it. Don't be a :Used Car Salesman". You will be better appreciated in the END..
Why in the world don’t you wash and clean the cat before you start working on it?? So much better to work on a clean car
With respect, perhaps you should consider moving at least some of those Sprites on, so that others may restore and enjoy them.