Around the shop – Page 24

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?

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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!)

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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.)

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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!

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What engine is in my Sprite?

January 13, 2023 by bugeyeguy

We had a customer ask us this week how to identify which engine they had in their Bugeye (so they could order the right parts for their car). I thought this was a good idea for a tech post this week, in case you are having similar doubts about the identity of the heart of your Spridget!

Do you know how to tell which A-Series engine lives in your Bugeye (or other Spridget)?

Of course, from the factory, all Bugeyes came with 948cc power plants. However, for any number of reasons, ranging from a desire to increase power to the availability of replacement engines, 1098cc and 1275cc engines are frequently found in Bugeyes today. All three of these engines have the same footprint, so any Spridget can have any of these three engines. In 1975, the 1500 engine came along, (and was also used in the Spitfire) and this engine has different mounts, and exhaust is on the other side, etc., so any engine from 1958- late 1974 is the same size package. 1975 and later 1500s are not.

This is an example of an engine ID tag, taken from a 948 engine. 9C=948

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More than you need to know about A pillar blisters

January 6, 2023 by bugeyeguy

We’ve been working on A pillar patches this week, and it’s pretty interesting, particularly since this is a common area of concern on all Sprites and many other classic British cars, as well. All too often, these cars are beautiful, but you’ll find some blisters in the A pillar area, which can ruin an otherwise show-quality car.

An A pillar looking like this has ruined many beautiful Bugeyes.

Water enters the A pillar cavity (that’s the rectangular pillar directly in front of the door hinges) through the windshield post mounting holes. You can see in our photos below that the front windshield mounting threaded hole is a direct link to the cavity where we often see rust blisters on Sprites. Once the water runs down that hole it gets trapped with no drainage and can sometimes rust the top of the rocker panel as well.

The front screw holes for the windshield stanchions, visible at the top of this photo, open up directly into the structure of where the doors mount. If left unchecked, moisture and debris can find its way into these cavities and wreak havoc on the metal, creating a mess like this.

In general, this is nothing more than a nuisance and not a particularly structurally consequential issue, because the rust is usually contained to the small A pillar lower portion. The first patch that you see below is a simple repair of a very small rectangular area where we cut out the rusted area, treated the metal to prevent further rust, and then welded in a small patch. It’s one of the easiest rust repairs you can ever take-on… it’s very satisfying and manageable, and blisters such as these are not usually indicative of larger rust problems throughout the car– it’s usually a localized problem.

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