Ed Bandy's Journal

Just bought a 'barn-find' AH Sprite yesterday. I trailered it home to Tehachapi from Bakersfield yesterday and am in the process of cleaning it up.

I would appreciate any information in how to correlate VIN number to Year. I only have a Bill of Sale, no title.

Thanks,
Ed

Spent about 3 hours yesterday with the pressure washer. I'm pretty sure I got rid of all the Black Widow spiders and their nests, along with about 50 some years accumulation of oil and grime.

The good news is that this must be a South Western US car, as the only rust is in the engine bay, next to the battery.

Car looks to be complete except for a heater. I have a couple of MGB parts cars in my collection; I think I'll see if I can use one of those heaters.

Compression test: Cyl #1 at 87 psi. All others 120 - 130
Pulled head, no piston scoring. No obvious damage on valves or head gasket.

Had head resurfaced, valve seats replaced, and valves ground at Adams Metalizing in Lancaster, CA. GREAT price and service ($205 and three days turn around).

Bought gaskets, water pump, brake master cylinder replacement and many other parts from Moss. Hopefully, I'll get a few hours this afternoon to continue the clean up of engine bay and begin reassembly. Have duty watching grandsons this afternoon, so I think I'm going to draft them into apprentice mechanic service (3 yrs., 7 yrs, 9 yrs).