What’s under your hood?

**Start here.** Kirk’s Bugeye heads out for media blasting shortly, on our rotisserie. This is a blank canvas, awaiting a unique list of upgrades chosen by the owner.

Sometimes Bugeyes seem to have (at least) 31 flavors, because we have nearly 31 Sprites in our building at the moment, and it seems like every one of them has something different to say about how to transmit power to the rear wheels. We are lucky that racers past customized Bugeyes since day one, and that the 948 CC engine was followed by two bigger engines (in later Spridgets) that look (and fit) basically the same. Thus it seems much more common to find Bugeyes with something other than the original engine, rather than still carrying the original lump.

Kartik’s 948. This car is here all the way from California, after two different California shops fit a down draft at shop #1 and then a side draft Weber at shop #2, neither of which worked when Kartik wanted to tool around his neighborhood. In frustration, he asked us to pick up his baby to finally sort out (we are honored). Above you can see his beautiful-like-new-completely-rebuilt HS2 carbs and K and N filters that we fit, which, along with our fuel pump conversion, which now provide instant starting and great drivability, which is all Kartik ever wanted. HS2s are the answer, but they have to be good ones that aren’t all worn out (we sell brand new ones in our catalog). We pull off a lot of Webers, they are perfect for your Lotus Elan, but not right for these little engines. I’ll have another post about Webers in the near future. They always stumble. This car (now) does not. In such a tight and fun car, stumbling is not an option.

Some of the engines in the pictures to follow are in fact original, but what intrigues me most is the variety of different induction systems and details. All of them go down the road nicely once they leave here. And that is part of the fun. No two (identical) cars are, well, exactly the same.

In this post, you will see a summary of some of the most noteworthy engine bays in our current mix of vehicles. In each photo caption, I have called out some of the most noteworthy details.

I hope you enjoy this unconventional tour, from the inside out!

We picked up this Bugeye a client from Indiana (we call it “Indy,” so we don’t confuse all the red cars in the building at the moment). This one had a worn transmission and a massive oil leak at the 948 oil pump cover, all of which we fixed this week. Note the “pots and pans” air filter, which was stock item on later 1275 Sprites, but we much prefer the K and N air filters (which we sell) as shown on Kartik’s car shown above, as they breathe better. Tune your carbs with no filter and then put these on (shown above) and everything changes, because they are restrictive. Our new K & N filters don’t do that. Note the oil cooler installation, this is a reasonable place to locate the cooler, should you live in very hot climate and need one (we sell those too). This car also has 185 tires, BTW, which are too wide. We all want more grip, but these change the steering input, ride quality and handling. Too wide.

Here’s Conrad’s 948, a newly restored tub we picked up in Tennessee and assembled from boxes and bins full of parts. These are newly rebuilt H1 carbs, which are the original size. They cannot take the K and N filters without modification, so he will get the original pancake filters (which we also sell in our catalog, (you get the idea)) once we are done tuning. Almost everything you see in this photo is brand new. Making it all fit and work together is the hard part, and the team has put a lot of hours into making this car into something truly wonderful.

Phil and Shannon bought “Goldie” from us and asked me to sign the engine bay when the project is complete, so the engine had to come out for an engine bay repaint so it would be worthy of our cosmetic seal of approval. The car was previously painted with the engine in place and the engine bay didn’t match but now the engine bay matches the paint on the car. (This color is full of pearl and metallic highlights, and it reflects light differently on every surface, depending on the angle.) *Everything going back on the car is getting restored and repainted.* *She’s* fit with a new harness, new supercharger, newly painted heater box, and so much more. Look for a feature on this car soon, it is a special one!

This is “Cole,” one of my personal Bugeyes. This is a fantastic car, that came with a 105 HP dyno print out, courtesy of a great engine and a single 1.75 SU carb. This is a great car in every way, which is why I have kept it for myself. It takes a lot for us to sort cars out this well, and to make them perform this well, and it’s rare to find one built properly. Note the big oil cooler, mounted higher up than in the previous build above. The car runs cool. Our aluminum radiator seems the best solution for hot running cars. These are 175 tires, as big as one should go.

This is “Gumby,” my car since 1978, and the car responsible for the existence of our business, and this web site, and our parts catalog, and all the builds you see on this page. Thank you Gumby! When we sold our 200th Bugeye, we built this up with every trick part in the book. This car has a custom cross-flow head and four port electronic fuel injection on a 1275 engine. Looks kinda like all the other engine in this post, but it is radically different, with no choke and no distributor, with ignition and fuel management all managed by the Storm computer on the upper left of the photo. This car also has rear disk brakes, twin piston calipers, aluminum radiator and a whole lot more.

This is “Sparky,” our “Prince of Darkness” model, which is powered by 50 lithium manganese batteries. This is our smoothest and most vibration free Bugeye ever, and it has taken me up to 109 mph with ease (and quicker than “Cole” and “Gumby,” above. We have built two electric conversions and look forward to making more. It is a delightful way to enjoy these cars, because we can eliminate many of the maintenance items in favor of an amazingly reliable electric motor, which will probably run exactly the same in 100k miles as it runs today.

And last but not least, here is AN5L 552, our concours gold Bugeye we built in 2015 that scored 967 points to attain gold concours at the national Healey Conclave in Gettysburg, PA. This was our most difficult build ever, because everything had to be both factory accurate and beautiful, and after two hours of judging by four judges, everything was held under a microscope. I don’t think we could have innovated the way we have without this build under our belts. The originality and accuracy of this car helped us understand the foundation that lives in everything we do. On this car, you see a Judson Supercharger, which was allowed in the concours without deductionas a valid period accessory.

Which one fits your Bugeye identity? (Everyone needs one of each!) We can build your dream Bugeye! Call or email… we can pick up your car anywhere in North America and turn it into your particular perfect car, or we can build you your ultimate Sprite from scratch… pick and choose your favorite features from the images above, and we will assemble your ultimate ride! Call or email anytime. We have a great new team of mechanics and are booking new projects for this winter if you are interested!