Don’t do this to your Bugeye Sprite

Axle ouchie

January 9, 2026 by bugeyeguy

The unassuming pile of random metal chunks shown above may look pretty innocent to most, but they are the remnants of a crippling failure that will ground any Bugeye in an instant.

The pictures shown here are just a few examples we have encountered over the years involving axle shaft failures on Bugeye Sprites. This is a failure that is not uncommon in Spridget circles; often (but not always), overly aggressive acceleration, deceleration, clutch dumping, burnout attempts, or other automotive hijinks are the culprit.

But many of our more recent examples have come under completely normal driving conditions. For example, the axle bits in the top picture were removed from Jose’s Bugeye over the holidays in our shop after he heard a pop and lost all forward motion while driving in New York City. He originally thought he had a clutch issue, but once we learned more, it became apparent a broken axle shaft was to blame.

We offer in our catalog both new and used axle shaft options, should you encounter a broken one in your Bugeye. Click the links below for more information, or click here for our complete catalog!

*Used axle shaft for bolt-on wheels (sold individually)(All Spridgets)*

*New Axles for Wire Wheels – Sold Individually (All Spridgets)*

*Competition Axle For Bolt On Wheels- PAIR (All Spridgets)*

Thrown out and thrown up

December 5, 2025 by bugeyeguy

We are quite bullish on upgrading to a roller throwout bearing from the original-style carbon type. You likely don’t need any additional convincing since we’ve talked about this multiple times, but here’s a throwout bearing that has failed in a novel way to further help convince any remaining doubters.

This one seems to have fused to the pressure plate during hibernation, and then split when the driver tried to “break the clutch free.” At the time of breakage, the bushing popped out of the hosing, and the carbon bearing sheared, so now you have two half throwout bearings floating around on the shaft outside their holder, waiting to explode into a bunch of small pieces into the bottom of the bell housing.

The roller throughout upgrade will not do this, as instead of the fragile carbon mating surface, our roller throwout uses a metal one, with a roller bearing behind it. This allows your clutch to engage with much less friction, prolonging the life of both your throwout bearing, and your clutch!

*Click the photo to order a roller throwout bearing today! Currently available for 948 and 1275 engines only.*

Make sure you have one ready next time your engine comes out! Click the photo above to order today, or click here for our full catalog!

Spooky wiring

October 31, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Lucas wiring gets a bad name. The stuff works when it isn’t butchered, but sadly, lots of the cars that come through here have been butchered.

The photo above shows one of the more nutty re-wire jobs, which features an alligator clip and plastic wire nut, both of which are not to code. The alligator clip is easy to knock off and short out everything. There’s lots of surface area that’s live. So we’ll remove all this and replace it with a new harness, and will work great for a long time once we are done.

The only thing spookier than the skeleton of a stripped dashboard is a pile of dangerous wiring spaghetti, shown here lying at Terry’s feet, foiled in its plan to short-circuit and cause an electrical fire.

And this is our recommendation… if your car has multiple repairs layered on an original harness, now is the time to gut it all and start over with a stock harness. That’s how we approach this sort of thing, and our cars have very few electrical issues going forward.

*This car’s headlight wiring is dangerously close to the steering mechanism… one wrong move and it could all get ripped out!*

*This bundle of wires was tucked under the radiator on a different car. A jump-scare for our technician!*

If your Bugeye’s wiring gives you a fright, give us a call to discuss bringing in your car to have your wiring transformed! Should you decide to tackle this problem yourself, we have a full line of electrical components available in our parts catalog. Click the photos below to learn more about some of our products, or click here for our full catalog!

*Headlight Wiring Kit – All Bugeyes/Spridgets*

*Dip Switch Harness – (Bugeye) (Left-hand drive ONLY)*

*Modified, improved and ready-to-install Bugeye Ignition Switch (BUGEYE ONLY)*

Bugeye Sprite front suspension crazy camber

August 22, 2025 by bugeyeguy

When you rebuild your front end, this is not what you want to see. Note the excessive positive camber. Something is very wrong. Since we have had two clients call with this issue that past month, I wanted to share these photos to help future builders avoid the same frustration.

Notice the shock arm to trunnion connection above, circled in red. When it’s 180 degrees out of phase, you end up with extreme positive camber and steering arms that won’t reach. Below the issue is corrected with the trunnions on the right way round.

Note the threads showing next to the tie rod end in both photos. When the camber is this far off, the tie rods are almost completely unscrewed from the steering rack ends…

Doing a disk brake conversion? These photos will help. And you can buy our disk conversion kit by clicking here. You can also see our adjustable camber control arms in these photos… they help add negative camber for better performance, but of course you have to start with the correct geometry as shown here. The silver shims on the lower control arm change the camber as needed.

You can find our adjustable arms by clicking here.

Thanks to all who have donated photos to help the community get it right!

Hot stuff

August 15, 2025 by bugeyeguy

How much jb weld do you have on your car? Here’s some in the wrong place. Even though it worked in the field, this is one of the parts that we changed this week as we prepare Bugeye “Rocky” this week for a new life in New Hampshire.

*This heater return pipe was patched with JB Weld in the circled area.*

*One of many reasons using JB Weld to patch a water pipe: pinholes can form, like here.*

If you are unfamiliar, this is the heater water return pipe and they often corrode. Maybe you need a new one? We sell them in our catalog, click the photo below or click here to order one!

We sold seven Bugeyes in this past week… now we have to go back through them all with a fine toothed comb and make sure they are ready for a new life!

There’s something “screwy” about this windscreen!

August 8, 2025 by bugeyeguy

This week we have been continuing work on Rob’s Bugeye from Michigan, getting it back on the road for the first time in several decades. In the process, we noticed something missing from the windscreen. Can you spot it in the video below?

Perhaps this picture will help:

That’s right! All of the screws were missing from the passenger side stanchion! In fact, five of the six screws holding on the entire windscreen frame are missing. One lone screw and a few hopes and dreams are all that are holding in this windscreen! Some of them are broken off in their holes, so we will have to remove the glass from the frame and repair the holes, then replace the glass and install new rubber and new hardware. IN many cases, we have to TIG weld the holes shut and then drill and re-tap them

We offer our “windscreen refinishing service” in our parts catalog, and can tailor your exact windscreen refinishing needs (and fix your holes) to suit your specific windscreen assembly! Click the photo below for more information:

*Click this photo to learn more about our windshield frame refinishing service!*

Should your frame also be in need of some hardware and you wish to tackle the repair yourself, we also offer all of the parts for this repair in our catalog! Click the photos below to learn more or click here for our full parts selection!