Around the shop – Page 20

Don’t do this to your Bugeye Sprite!

February 17, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Check-out these cracked/broken control arms, the likes of which we have never seen before. Please take a minute and run-out to the garage to look at yours to make sure you don’t have this issue. Every Sprite and Midget should be checked.

This is likely an isolated incident… was this Evil Knievel’s car? Did she roll off a tow truck? Or were these parts somehow damaged by excessively tight straps in a transport truck? Maybe these arms were already broken when removed from a crashed wreck for this disk brake conversion some time ago. Regardless, this is a serious issue that we hope is isolated to just this one particular car. Please let us know if you find any cracks on your car.

This Bugeye was brought to us for sorting after purchase in an online auction. Auction pictures don’t always tell the whole story, and the peanut gallery watching and commenting on the auction doesn’t always catch serious issues.

[Read more…]

Lawton leaves for camp!

February 17, 2023 by bugeyeguy

I’m always amazed at how difficult it is to get a sold car out of our building. I suppose most people in the automotive industry are anxious to get vehicles out the door immediately after a sale, but in our world it seems quite the opposite. We want to make absolutely certain that every broken thing has been discussed (and hopefully addressed) before we ship a car. We are dedicated to continuous improvement.

It’s common for online car purchases from others to arrive with a long list of problems, and we work very hard to make sure that our product arrives with no problems and works properly. We’re not perfect, and not everybody wants to invest in all the repairs that we suggest, but we work very hard to keep refining our pre-departure processes and to keep making our cars wonderful.

[Read more…]

Nick’s Tech Tips: Adding fuel to the fire

February 3, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Each and every day, we see things that come through our shop that just make us say “Yikes”. Today’s “yikes” moment comes to us from a car we recently brought in for a fuel system service. As you can see in the photos below, this fuel tank sender looks like it was recovered from a salvage dive on the Lusitania. The tank this sender was removed from looked as bad on the outside as it did on the inside.

The arm on this fuel sender isn’t supposed to stand up by itself… this is a bad sign.

It is unfortunate that such a critical system on this Bugeye was allowed to fall into this state of deterioration. (We drove the car onto the lift, by the way.) While this may be an extreme example, fuel tank maintenance is often something a lot of Frogeye owners overlook or neglect, because as long as the car is running, there’s no reason to worry, right?

Bugeye fuel tanks were originally painted black. This one has seen many better days.

Well, as the photos in this post can attest, there are MANY reasons why routine fuel tank maintenance is important. In addition to rusting away into oblivion, a more common ailment that befalls our beloved Bugeyes is a leaky tank. So how does a fuel tank on a Spridget leak?

[Read more…]

Liberty earns her stripes!

January 27, 2023 by bugeyeguy

It’s risky business to try and improve the style of our favorite time-honored classic. See if you agree that we have done just that in the project shown here.

Liberty has always been a sharp Bugeye, but it needed a little something extra to address some imperfections in the paint and also add a little pizazz.

Over the years, we’ve seen dozens of different ways people try to stripe their Sprite, but inevitably there are only so many options. The most popular is the twin stripes down the center of the car. occasionally will see an offset center stripe and often also see some enhancement around the grill, where the stripes will follow the contour and expand around the mouth of the grill, a bit like lipstick.

A conventional center-stripe pattern as shown on Gray.
(Click here to check this car out!)

Another popular choice, an offset stripe, as seen on Midnight. (Click here to check out Midnight for yourself!)

[Read more…]

Nick’s Tech Tips: A striking problem with your Doors

January 27, 2023 by bugeyeguy

This week in the shop, we encountered a particularly extreme example of what often happens to door strikers on Bugeyes (and all Spridgets up to 1963). Unfortunately, it’s something that can be prevented with the proper maintenance, but when things are allowed to deteriorate, this is ultimately the end result.

Over time, door strikers can go from looking nice and new (right) to a chewed-up mess (left) if your door latches aren’t properly maintained. Note: the screw mounting holes are the same distance apart on the new part as they are on the old one, they look like they are different due to the angle of the photo.

One of our most recent additions into the showroom earlier this week exhibited hard-closing doors and a rattle coming from the body when going down the road on its initial test drive. After some quick investigative work, it was determined that the striker plates were the source of the rattle. The strikers on this particular Bugeye were EXTREMELY worn, meaning the door wasn’t securely latching closed in its intended position, and lateral movement was allowed to occur. This is not only annoying, but also potentially dangerous, as a worn striker can, in some cases, allow the door to fly open on corners when leaned against (or when the car flexes), and this is potentially catastrophic news if your Bugeye doesn’t have seat belts fitted. (We sell 3-point retractable seat belts you can install, they are available here… but let’s fix the latches first.)

[Read more…]

Dreaded Whitworth oil leak virus mutation

January 13, 2023 by bugeyeguy

With great concern, we announce that new data from the Center for Oil Leak Control in Washington, DC has alerted all restoration shops that the Castrol-19 virus has mutated into a new variant that can penetrate steel! Please be aware and use caution when handling your Spridget; make sure to wear rubber gloves when approaching your garage floor, or otherwise stay six feet away of any new puddles that form!

Today’s post is actually about an engine we have in our shop this week that had oil leaking directly through the steel oil pan (at least at first glance). We sometimes feel like we are fighting a war in our building, to stop leaks and fix broken things, (and it sometimes feels overwhelming), like when a resealed engine with a new sump gasket still leaks, but instead of leaking past a gasket, it’s leaking oil right through the steel.

“Fix my oil leaks,” demand customers!

[Read more…]

« Previous Page