Bugeye maintenance

Another Bugeye Sprite transformed

September 22, 2023 by bugeyeguy

We’re proud of the car you see above. It was a fine Bugeye when it showed up after we retrieved it in Texas for the client, but now, after 100 or so improvements, this car is really great.

These are sculptures to us, and so it is always rewarding to see them complete.

In the video here, you can see one of our final test drives, and you’ll see we are usually fixing punch-list items right up to the last drive. Old cars can be like that.

This is one of our first front tube shock conversion cars, and we are excited to have this new option. We have boxed up more than our fair share of lever shock cores for rebuild, and tube shocks are a lot easier to live with in every way.

This car also got new leaf springs and shims (from our catalog) and you can see that we use those shims to get the ride height just right. The car is lowered with an agressive stance but still has great ride quality courtesy of the new parts.

In the video above, you might hear some rear tire rubbing noise on sharp turns, and you a see the signature of this in the photo above. The scuff marks on this tire indicate a light rubbing on the leaf spring under cornering. Wheel spacers will resolve this and the car will be on its way for a new life.

If you have a Sprite that isn’t working or performing to your liking, please get in touch and we will put your car on our schedule, retrieve it, and transform it for you!

Backing Plate Orientation Importance

July 28, 2023 by bugeyeguy

*Notice the orientation of the wheel cylinders in this photo – they’re backwards (front wheel cylinder is upside down)!*

Every Bugeye rolled off of the factory floor in England with four-wheel drum brakes. When maintained properly, drum brakes are perfectly adequate for stopping a Bugeye, as long as they are properly installed. We had a car arrive this week with the backing plates reversed, which might be hard for some people to recognize, but this is a problem that can dramatically reduce braking performance.

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One F@#$ing Automobile

July 21, 2023 by bugeyeguy

“That is one awesome f***ing automobile right there,” exclaims the traffic guy. “I gotta have a picture of that!”

Traffic stops. Everyone waits.

What is it about this car? After 389 sold, you might think this is getting old, but the reverse is true. We still marvel.

This is Sea Biscuit, and we are getting ready to ship this Bugeye to Jeff in North Carolina, the proud new owner. The final test drive yields great comments and smiles. People pause. They pull alongside and ask questions. The world slows down a little bit. And that is such a welcome relief, when it seems like EVERYONE is always in a rush these days. There is, for all of us, just too much to do and not enough time.

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Bugeye resurrection!

July 14, 2023 by bugeyeguy

This Bugeye was in rough shape when it arrived here at Bugeyeguys world headquarters, having not seen the light of day in over a decade. We were tasked with mechanically resurrecting this car, which had belonged to a relative, so the current owners could drive and enjoy it and now The Great Pumpkin lives again!

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Let Bugeyeguys sort your online auction purchase!

June 30, 2023 by bugeyeguy

This car came to us after its owner got the high bid on a popular online auction site. We have been going through it for them for the past few weeks in an effort to make it roadworthy!

2023 will probably be written about as the year that online auctions became an even more massive force in classic car sales. More new online platforms are emerging every month for people to purchase antique cars, sight unseen, while relying on social media to vet their vehicles.

This windshield crack was disclosed in the auction. It looked fine, but the car is not really drivable without repair, which we’ll handle for the new owner.

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Oil Toil

June 23, 2023 by bugeyeguy

It seems that no matter how hard we try, every classic English sports car leaks oil. I’ve seen many forum posts over the years where people claim to make a leak-free car, and certainly some of them leak very little, but it just seems inevitable that these old cars will leak, no matter how hard you try. And even if you stop them from leaking, it seems just a matter of time before they start leaking once again.

In this post, I wanted to show you some photos of a particular Bugeye engine that just arrived in our shop. This one is leaking more than usual, and in this case it makes a lot of sense to try to reduce or stop the leaking all together. (We’re always optimistic, but we’re also realistic).

Of note in this case is the head gasket leak. We’ve added ultraviolet dye to this engine, so you see a bright green trace wherever there are leaks (a UV kit makes it easy to see exactly where we have leaks). Take a look at the green trace on the left side of the engine. This is directly in line with the oil galley that feeds the head up through the rocker arm pedestal, and the oil as it travels from the block up to the head sometimes leaks at this location. Unfortunately, once it starts leaking, you have to change the head gasket.

We will remove the head to inspect. it could be a bad head gasket or the head is not flat (or block) or too much combustion pressure with an excessively high compression ratio, for example. Or maybe the oil pressure relief valve is not working or set too high… these are all things we will investigate when we get the engine out of the car.

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