Don’t do this to your Bugeye Sprite

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!

*Windshield stanchion to frame screw kit – Bugeye through 1962 (1 kit per car)*

*Windshield post pad set – Bugeye through 1962*

*NEW windshield stanchions – Bugeye through 1962 (Sold individually or as a pair)*

*Windshield stanchion to body hardware kit – Bugeye through 1962 (1 kit per car)*

Probe Problems

July 18, 2025 by bugeyeguy

With temperatures continuing to climb this summer, it is paramount this time of year to ensure your cooling system is up to snuff. There are many ways to do this (installing our aluminum radiator and six-blade fan is our favorite upgrade), but it’s also important that you have a decent indicator of how well your cooling system is functioning at any given time.

We’re getting a little warm here… 200 is OK, 185 is preferable, but gauges are often inaccurate

All British sports cars tend to run hot, so a good temperature gauge is important. They’re not always perfectly accurate (you can check accuracy with an IR temp gun), but they at least indicate temperature trends.

Originally on Bugeyes, the probe for the mechanical water temperature gauge, which is a long brass tube filled with ether (of all things), was installed in the side of the radiator. While this is an acceptable location for getting a baseline temperature reading, it doesn’t tell the full story of how hot the engine is getting, which typically runs hotter than the radiator under normal operating load. It would also render the temperature gauge useless if the thermostat were to stick closed, cooking the engine while the radiator (and temperature probe mounted inside it) were slow to report a problem.

The factory location for the temperature port, as equipped on 501.

A relocated temperature port, as found on Grey.

As a result, when possible, the temperature probe should be relocated to a port on the engine, to more accurately relay the temperature of the coolant inside the engine, allowing for better overheating management.

How do you do that? On original Bugeyes with 948 engines, you cannot, as such a port does not exist in the head. However, if your engine has been switched to a 1098 or 1275 from a later Spridget (or if your 948 has had a 1098 head fitted), there is a handy-dandy port drilled right in front of the foremost spark plug towards the thermostat housing!

[Read more…]

Spridget rear hub club

April 4, 2025 by bugeyeguy

When assembling your Bugeye’s rear drum brakes, one thing you may not realize you need to pay attention to is the orientation of the return springs for the brake shoes. In the video above and the photo below, you can see what can happen when a brake spring is oriented incorrectly.

*The machined groove in this hub (arrow) is not supposed to be there. An improperly-installed spring is the culprit.*

Bugeyes and Spridgets utilize drum brakes on the rear axle for stopping. These drum brakes use springs what help return the shoes away from the drums when the brake pedal isn’t being pressed. These have a specific orientation to them in order to avoid contact with other components in the area. The car on which the hub pictured here was installed had one of the main return springs oriented upside down. This caused it to foul on the hub.

Brake springs are made of a hardened steel. This hardened steel is a harder material than the cast iron in the wheel hub. This means when the two components grind against each other for extended periods of time, the harder of the two parts (the spring) machines a groove in the softer part (the hub). If this had been left like this for much longer, it could have ground even more material away, weakening the hub and creating a potential failure point. The spring, though hardened, also suffered damage during the exchange, and a failed brake return spring can mean your brakes no longer working properly.

*This setup was used originally on Bugeyes. Note the arrows pointing to the locations where steadying springs are required; this is a feature unique to the early rear brakes.*

Using drum brakes from a later Sprite/Midget was an upgrade some owners performed on their Bugeyes. This setup also came standard on Sprites and Midgets from 1964-1980. No steady springs were used with this design.

Next time you have your wheels off, pop off the brake drums and make sure you have everything installed properly, like in the photos above. Also, make sure you have your steady springs installed and intact (if you have early rear brakes, late rear brakes don’t use steady springs) and make sure your axle seals aren’t leaking gear oil into your drums!

We have a complete line of rear brake components, no matter which type of drum brakes you have! Click on the photos below for some of the parts we have available, or click here for our complete catalog!

*Brake drum, all Spridgets (sold individually)*

Tach drive jive

March 28, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Today would be a good day to take apart your tach drive gearbox and lube it. If they get dry and seize, here is a video of what can happen…

In order to prevent your generator from taking flight thanks to this newly-created propeller, simply remove the gearbox from the back of the generator, remove the screws to open the case, and pack it with grease, then reassemble.

*A strong smear of red wheel bearing grease and your gearbox is lubricated for many miles to come!*

If you are too late and find yourself with an inoperable tachometer, we have tach cables and gearboxes for sale in our catalog, as well as an upgraded electronic tachometer to eliminate the mechanical equation! Click the photos below for more information or click here for our complete catalog!

*Tachometer drive gearbox (all Bugeyes/Spridgets with mechanical tachometers)*

*Tachometer cable (all Bugeyes/Spridgets with mechanical tachometers)*

*Electronic tachometer (Bugeye through ’67)*

Thrown-out throwout bearings

March 21, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Hang around British Classic sportscars long enough and you’ll accumulate plenty of your own throwout bearing stories. Lots of the classics we love use a carbon throwout bearing, so whether it’s a big Healey or a Bugeye (and many others) the carbon disc that contacts your spinning pressure plate is essentially a hockey puck that can wear down and/or fracture. And they often do.

If you’re fond of sitting with your foot on the clutch while idling in neutral, that hockey puck wears out faster than we would all like… so, like everything else, throwout bearings don’t last forever. And if your clutch push rod is not properly adjusted and you have inadequate free play as a result, that will also accelerate the demise of your throwout bearing. Any time a carbon throwout bearing contacts a pressure plate, it wears.

From left to right: a good used carbon throwout bearing (not badly worn), an end-of-life carbon throwout bearing (metal-on-metal contact imminent!) and what’s left of the throwout bearing housing from this project, which was found in a pile at the bottom of the bell housing.

We’ve made posts about this before, but this week we saw something that we’ve never seen before, which is a throwout bearing that not only lost its carbon disc, but ultimately lost its housing as well. As the driver continued to proceed without their carbon piece, It must’ve been an awful noise as the housing got ground into dust and ultimately departed the clutch fork. I’m not sure how far they drove just using the clutch fork with no bearing, or if that’s even possible, but I suspect that’s the reason why the car was parked many years ago. (The car ultimately ended up in our shop for a complete mechanical restoration.)

There’s supposed to be a throwout bearing in between those moorings on either side of the input shaft… you can see a remnant of the carbon disc sitting in the bell housing, along with all of the carbon dust and metal shavings built up from years of throwout wear. *(This is the transmission that came off with loose pieces at the bottom)*

The ultimate solution for all of this is to get our upgraded roller throwout bearing, which we sell in our catalog (click here or click the pictures below to order one) and which should last most of our lifetimes, if not longer. Of course, you can only access this part of your car by removing the engine, so that’s all the more reason to do it once and do it right and you can accomplish this goal with the parts we’ve listed below. Click the photos to learn more, or click here for our complete catalog!

*Upgraded roller throwout bearing (948 and 1275 applications ONLY)*

*Premium Sprite/Midget clutch kits (948, 1098, 1275 available)*

*Spigot bushing (948, 1098, early 1275)*

*Needle-type spigot bearing (late 1275 ONLY, will not fit 948, 1098, or early 1275)*

Protrusion Confusion

February 7, 2025 by bugeyeguy

This week we wanted to share a sampling of what we are finding and fixing in our shop.

First up is a radius arm bolt installed backwards. This bolt is used to connect the lower end of the radius arm box to the chassis, and if installed incorrectly can contact the rear wheel. You can see it was hitting the tire from the pile of rubber on the leaf spring.

Would you like grated cheese on that? The shiny tip of this otherwise corroded radius arm box fastening bolt and the big pile of shredded rubber underneath are an indication that something isn’t right here.

We turned the bolt around so that the thin bolt head is outboard and that fixes the problem… the tire had minimal damage where it was scrapping so we could reuse it. Make sure your bolts are right! Each week we find issues that others have missed… this has been wrong for a long time.

*The circled bolt is the part in question, flipped around so the protruding end of the bolt is facing inward, safely clear of any rotating rubber objects.*

We’ll be happy to pick up your car and fix any lingering problems… each week we sort out more classic English cars and send them off for new adventures! Call if you’re interested in making your car exceptional, reliable, drivable (upgraded) and sorted!

Click the photos below for some of the rear suspension components we offer, or click here for the full catalog!

*Radius arm with bushing, quarter-elliptical rear suspension (sold individually)*

*Rear 1/4 Elliptical Leaf Spring Kit (complete with U-bolts & Shims)*

*Rear axle check strap (sold individually)*

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