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How many hours to reassemble a BE?

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twas_brillig

Jedi Knight
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I've got a completely stripped, fully restored and painted bug-eye body tub, doors, and nose piece plus all of the original parts scattered hither, thither and yon. Plus an unemployed motorcycle mechanic plus maybe one more, both who need work until the shops start hiring for the riding season. Both guys are good guys and have worked well together in the bike shop; one chap spent three weeks in December in my (personal) garage; the other has been here all of January. The first guy put the engine/trans back into our yellow bug-eye and got going on our Meyers Manx clone dune buggy; the second chap has been working only on the dune buggy.

Can anyone provide an estimate as to how many hours would be reasonably expected to reassemble the car? Assume that I can find all the parts, and we're not talking about the guys rebuilding anything.

I've mentally picked 200 hours, but have no idea where that number came from, and I'd like to give the guys an idea as to how much work I've got (the dune buggy probably has another one or two man-weeks remaining; I've got one other project that'll probably take two or three man-weeks) and they can decide if they want to chase down a 'real' job or hang out with me.

Thanks
 
So I put together my old/show car BE a few years ago. I started with a painted tube in good shape. I had the short block rebuilt on the outside, but rebuilt everything else including the transmission myself. I was working full time and I'd estimate that I spent 5-10 hours a week. A lot of the time was finding parts that were good enough to be finished to the quality I wanted. Time was 18 months from start to finish....that would be 375 to 750 hours. Have fun! If you want to just put the car together without a lot of refinishing/searching for parts....I think 200 would be a good number.
Now in excellent hands in San Diego! CIMG2744aab.jpg
 
thanks!
 
When you have a long term project, the best advice I was given was from an aircraft restorer: "We watch the calendar, not the clock". A little bit of extra time in making sure it's done right than done fast usually pays dividends with a better quality completed product.
 
Wheelers Dealers did it in no time flat, I think they must of saved alot of time since they did not remove rear end!
 
Yes the did it in 56 minutes. Ed China works fast. And other than changing to front disks and recovering seats, maybe a respray that's all they did. Yes engine and tranny came out for a respray but they didn't do any engine cleanup and detailing. In fact I don't think they changed out the MC either.
 
Jim_Gruber said:
Yes the did it in 56 minutes. Ed China works fast. And other than changing to front disks and recovering seats, maybe a respray that's all they did. Yes engine and tranny came out for a respray but they didn't do any engine cleanup and detailing. In fact I don't think they changed out the MC either.
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Hehehe... and they skipped simple things like replacing/de-rusting/cleaning bolts and washers. They really think they should have done more with the engine.
 
If I pulled an engine to paint the body I just could not put it back in without complete detailing. But I'm not trying to make it all fit in an hour TV show.
 
Bayless said:
If I pulled an engine to paint the body I just could not put it back in without complete detailing. But I'm not trying to make it all fit in an hour TV show.
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That same reason is why it took me nine years to put my Bugeye back together after only needing a little bodywork and a paint job 😕
 
Or really clean anything other than the engine bay before paint ! Even the disc brake setup Ed just bolted on. I found myself picking out things that were wrong !

Sorry Ed. I do like the show though.


mightymidget said:
Wheelers Dealers did it in no time flat, I think they must of saved alot of time since they did not remove rear end!
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If this was the only thing I had going on and there wasn't things to deal with like work, commuting 150 miles a day to work, family, honey-do tasks, and keeping my wife happy, plus an unlimited budget Bugsy would have been up and driving yeas ago. But two years, no it will be three years in April, after purchase I've gotten to the Rotisserie Stage and getting ready to weld in a new Floor pan. Other higher priorities have been in the way.
 
I've got an error in my signature block: in 1972, I bought a bug-eye that needed 'just' a little bit of work. Ha! Bought the second one also in 1972 as I used to chat with the owner - it was a real struggle to get it up out of the river valley and home due to burnt valves. It was our only car for a couple of years and is currently letting the professionals sort out the flywheel bushing etc. that I must have messed up putting the 5 speed in. The body tub is from the 'first' bug-eye. So I guess I've got 43.5 years into the restoration thus far, and would like to get it wrapped up this spring (and this life-time). Hopefully nearly 44 years is the worst-case/slowest rebuild.
 
Man - you did a beautiful job Bill!! Have you ever gone to the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens car show in Vancouver in late May?
 
175 miles. I'm toying with the idea of going out there in ours,but it's quite a few years since I put a bunch of miles on it, so the durability of the driver as well as the car would be an issue. About 650 miles for me - plan on two days. But something to think about as this is quite a big one.
 
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