BugEyeGuys

Cruising Santa Cruz in the Baron!

May 30, 2025 by bugeyeguy

After a 3,800 mile drive, Eric and the Red Baron have arrived in Santa Cruz, just 80 miles from the ferry that will take the car to Hawaii. His journey is fundamentally complete. He has spent the week with his son who lives in Santa Cruz and will head home in a few days, to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife, whom he dated in a similar (blue) Bugeye 50 years ago.

Eric reflects that the car was delightful and never put him or itself under any stress… he only had to downshift to second gear twice on the assault of a 10,000 foot summit in Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah… but other than that, he was able to maintain 60 to 65 miles an hour for the entire passage, including a wonderful segment in his favorite desert environment where the temperature soared to 100° outside. The car never overheated (thank you aluminum radiator).

Eric said that if the car was too perfect, it wouldn’t have been a great adventure. Thus, he did have a few minor inconveniences. He had to push start the car three times on the trip before we overnighted him a new generator which solved the problem. He lost his tachometer function and of course the wipers early on in the trip. That said, he appreciated having one of our clients on standby in Iowa City (thank you Bruce! – they were able to fix the wipers) and in general, he appreciated having us in the background to support his journey. He says it was a meditative and relaxing trip, he felt secure, never with any physical discomfort. A big success all the way around! 3,800 miles with under 50 HP! Bravo Eric!

Whats a Tonto, Kemosahbee?

May 30, 2025 by bugeyeguy

A tonneau is a cover for your Sportscar cockpit, and it is a very important component every open roadster owner should have. Here’s a video all about why they matter. We sell nice ones that are stretchier and that are more likely to fit. Just keep in mind that when you buy one, the fittings are not installed, so your tonneau has to be properly fit to your car, and that is often best done by an auto or marine cover professional to get the best fit.

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Oh, the places they will leak.

May 30, 2025 by bugeyeguy

We are plumbers, and we spend our day chasing leaks. This one is quite satisfying to rectify, as it is one of the culprits that causes the seemingly never ending flow of oil out of the back of a 948 engine and onto your driveway.

Above is a photo of the back plate of a 948 A series engine. The thumb points to the oil pump cover, which is soldered or brazed onto the back plate.

The joint fails.

Next time your engine is out, look closely for oil trails above the crank. Oil often leaks from this oil pump cover and down the back plate, (where it unites with oil already leaking from the rear main seal).

People routinely blame the rear seal for the oil they find on the floor of their garage. And leak they do. But they have help. Stamp out dog dish oil leaks. Check yours next time you remove your engine.

In the video below, we demonstrate how to use a high pressure blow gun and soapy water to test the union between dog dish and back plate. Once repaired, rear engine oil leaks are reduced and occasionally eliminated.

Try to save your exisiting oil pump cover. (They are sometimes pin-holed too!) We have them in our catalog but for 1275 engines only. They are not available for 948 and 1098 engines.

Wonderful restored 1959 Bugeye Sprite for sale, 1275 engine, disk brakes and more!

May 29, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Here’s a great Bugeye for summer fun!

This is Isaac. He’s a 1959 Bugeye with a rebuilt 1275 engine, rebuilt rib case transmission, disc brakes, and superior later rear drum assemblies from a later Spridget. This car is great to drive, with a delicious exhaust note and impressive performance.

Isaac has has been completely rebuilt during the past five years. The restoration began in March of 2020 by an experienced restorer, from whom we have bought nice Bugeyes in the past. He repainted the car in the original Primrose Yellow you see on the car currently. Everything else that was bolted to the car was either replaced or restored.

The engine was rebuilt for uprated performance without going nuts. The head was skimmed and a nice new Kent 286 cam was used for a little better performance than stock. A new clutch kit was installed, and a rear main seal upgrade kit was also fit, a nice upgrade to reduce oil leaks. Additionally, new jet-coated header was installed, and the HS2 carbs were rebuilt. The distributor has points ignition (if the new owner prefers, we can put in an electronic ignition unit, which we sell in our parts catalog). K & N lifetime air filters are also installed.

All the gauges were rebuilt, and an aluminum radiator was added, along with a premium optima battery and a remote clutch slave bleeder. Later rear brake back plates were used, which is a really nice upgrade to give you twin piston rear drum brakes, which have better performance and are easier to bleed when servicing.

The Windshield glass is surrounded by new glazing. There are a few scratches in the glass-not bad, but if that bothers the new owner, we can put in a new windshield. The rear end is an original 4:22 ratio; the tires are 175 wide tires which provide better grip and were replaced in 2020 along with brand new minilite wheels. The grille was re-chromed at this time as well.

Included with Isaac is a spare tire, like-new restored side curtains, and a nice soft top and corresponding top bow. Pictures for these items will follow! There is no tonneau included, but we can fit a new tonneau for the new owner.

This is a very nice and nicely modified Bugeye with lots of great improvements. Click “read more” below for the full suite of photos and call us if you would like to take Isaac home!

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One small Bugeye, one big country!

May 23, 2025 by bugeyeguy

We are excited to report that the Red Baron rolled into Salt Lake City this week, 2800 miles from our shop and nearly on the other side of the USA. Eric made that journey in just five days, no small feat, with a 948-powered, four-speed car! Maximum Bugeye cruising altitude so far is 10,000 feet!

He has family to visit in Utah, and will soon head to Southern Utah, Las Vegas, Santa Cruz, and then on to Oakland, where the car will board the ferry for Hawaii on June 2.

*Cedar Breaks National Monument, Southern Utah, elevation, 10,350 feet*

He did have a dead battery one morning this week, so we overnight shipped him a new generator, and that addressed the issue.

To be fair, the generator in Red Baron when Eric departed was the original 65 year-old unit, and it gave its life to power Eric all the way to Utah, so it is forgiven for deciding Salt Lake City was the end of its service life. When budget allows, we are upgrading all our cars to an alternator (or generator/alternator) as they have been more reliable. Next time Eric!

If you’re planning a long voyage and want maximum reliability, you can get a gen/alt or alternator kit by clicking the photos below! You will need to convert you car to negative ground (if you haven’t already) to run these alternator products. Eric’s car, for what it’s worth, is still positive ground.

*Generator/alternator conversion kit with dummy voltage regulator (for NEGATIVE ground cars only)*

*Alternator conversion kit (dummy voltage regulator sold separately) (for NEGATIVE ground cars only)*

And if you are lurking out there thinking about your own Bugeye adventure, we have a few five speed cars in stock to make your trip downright luxurious! Sage, Jesse, and Emma are three great examples of Bugeyes in our inventory that are ready for cross-country driving adventures! Click the photos below to learn more about each car!

Or perhaps you would rather have us pick up your Bugeye and convert it to a five-speed transmission for highway cruising? We have conversion kits in stock and ready to install to kick-start your Bugeye summer! Click the photo below for more information.

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Showtime!

May 23, 2025 by bugeyeguy

We’re excited to be invited to the 2025 Greenwich Concours with AN5L/ 501, the first production Bugeye Sprite. 501 will be part of The Cars of Donald Healey display… come find us there on Sunday June 1, 2025!

*We were last at Greenwich in 2023* in the Concours d’Sport’s “British Racing Green” exhibit, where we were honored to win Best in Class!

If you’re unfamiliar with this sort of thing, 501 is exactly in the same state as it was on the day it left the factory in March 1958. Every nut in bolt is a match; every component is exact. We painstakingly built the car to survive four hours of judging at a national Austin Healey club event in 2022, where every inch of it was scrutinized, and the car was given Gold certification, the highest honor. National club Concours is a grueling affair, not for the faint of heart.

At the Greenwich Concours, and most other similar national multi-make Concours events, judging is more of a 15-minute affair where a team of judges listens to the car’s story and gives it a look-over to determine how it stacks up against other similar cars (of different makes) in the class. It’s a very different kind of show from a national marque-specific event. Greenwich judges will generally be looking at the overall package and story, while national club judges are generally looking at micro details. While both Greenwich and the Austin Healey national club meet are Concours events, they are radically different in their focus, and it’s exciting to be able to participate in both types of shows!

About a month ago, I spent most of the day driving around the Connecticut coastline in 501 for a magazine story that will be coming in June (stay tuned for that article in the coming weeks!), and I was able to again appreciate how nicely this car drives. While I really love the modifications and reliability upgrades that we perform for Sprites on a daily basis, it is always a pleasure to drive a totally stock, completely accurate Bugeye, and 501 works beautifully.

By the way, there is a driving portion of the club Concours judging; everything has to work as designed, and one of the judges went for a drive with me to make sure that the car performed accurately. At a Concours like Greenwich, you could push the car to its place on the lawn, so nobody cares if the horn or wipers don’t work; however, at a club event, everything has to work exactly as it did when it left the factory, so it’s a very high bar to obtain.

Thus 501 drives beautifully, and I’ll be blasting down interstate 95 on next Saturday morning, on my way to my place on the show field, zooming down the highway in much the same way the new owner of this car zoomed around California 67 years ago. Same car, same condition, same smile… different era!

The Greenwich Concours takes place on Sunday, June 1st, and you can read more about that event by clicking here. We hope to see you there!

And by the way, one of the more interesting aspects of Concours prep involves floor covering. Everyone wants the original rubber mats, but very few sets have survived 70 years of abuse, and no one‘s yet been able to make them. You’ll notice 501 has a custom floor covering that looks exactly like the original ribbed mats. Until somebody can 3-D print rubber sheeting, this is the next best thing to the original recreation, and if you’d like to order a set, you can do that by clicking the photo below, or by clicking here.