Bugeye Restoration

Getting ahead

March 14, 2025 by bugeyeguy

We’ve built a lot of cross-country cars that have departed our shop for a long voyage, and one of the biggest liabilities we face is the possibility of a head gasket failure. See the gasket below… this one came in on a poorly running Bugeye but looks like many we have seen before.

We’ve learned from experience that the union between cylinders two and three is a very thin strip of gasket material. I don’t care who told you that the fat head gasket they give you was superior, but if it’s only one layer, you really need to upgrading to a tri level gasket to make your head gasket bulletproof. For an extra 80 or so bucks, it buys a lot of peace of mind. Get one, other than a small up front investment, there is no downside. You’ll sleep better at night.

We’re building a tri metal gasket into every 1275 engine we build… It may be overkill, but it reduces stress. We have seen a lot of head gasket failures. We’ve never had a tri-layer gasket fail, so this is an important reliability upgrade to keep your car on the road! Click on the photo below to learn more and to order one today!

*Multi-layer steel (MLS) heavy-duty head gasket (1275 engines)*

Unbearable

March 6, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Watch the video below to see a wheel that rolls but also wobbles in and out. Wheels should not do this. These wheel bearings are calling out for help!

We see a lot of this. And it needs to be made right, so the car tracks and drives precisely, without slop in the front end and vibration at speed. Tapered wheel bearings are your best bet for this repair. They are adjustable and durable. The original caged ball bearing design is nearly guaranteed to be worn after 65 plus years. Do yourself a favor and upgrade to tapered bearings. They’re safer, and will help you get the most from the nimble handling of your Sprite!

Our tapered wheel bearing set replaces your old, worn, inferior caged ball bearings in your front hubs with modern, more reliable tapered roller bearings. These are a must for any Bugeye or Spridget! Click the photo above to order a set today!

We sell those in our catalog, you can find them by clicking the photo above, or click here for our full parts catalog!

Oily knee

February 28, 2025 by bugeyeguy

If you’ve been around British cars long enough, you’ve had oil leak leak on your right knee while you’re driving. A spotted right knee is a badge of honor.

*A leaky oil pressure gauge can ruin any pair of pants in a hurry.*

Our cars have mechanical oil pressure gauges, and that means that oil is pumped from the engine directly to your dashboard, and hence, this line is one possibility for pants leaks. Lots of the Sprites we see in our shop have plumbing issues with their oil pressure gauge lines. It all needs to be right or your engine can bleed out.

*This junction is crucial to a proper oil pressure reading, and to keeping your leg stain-free.*

Start with the proper fitting in the block. Then attach the correct right angle union to receive a rubber high pressure line. This rubber piece is vital so you have a shock absorber in the line. Then comes the correct copper line that goes to the gauge. Make sure to run the copper line through the correct hole in the firewall as shown. Best to have it in a rubber grommet so it can’t chafe on the metal firewall (they can chafe and leak here too!). The correct grommet places the line in a shared hole with the temperature probe tube.

*Both the oil pressure and water temperature lines are fed through this grommet (circled).*

*The location of the grommet in relation to the battery and other firewall appointments.*

That line connects to the oil pressure gauge, which brings us to the source of our leaks. That union has to be tight. A new line might look like it won’t go over the nipple on the back of the gauge but in reality you tighten the fitting nut to pull the two components together and they will seat perfectly (see video that shows the two parts after the nut has been tightened and then removed).

Get it right and your pants will thank you!

If you need any or all of the components mentioned in this post, click the photos below for more information, or click here for our full catalog!

*Oil pressure gauge union at engine block (copper washer included)*

*Oil pressure gauge line, block fitting to rubber line*

*Oil pressure gauge rubber line* *with clamps*

*Oil pressure gauge copper line, rubber union to gauge*

*Combination gauge firewall grommet, water temperature & oil pressure lines*

*Correct Bugeye/Mark II combination gauge with grommet*

*Later Sprite combination gauge, will work for Bugeyes*

How to polish your crank

February 28, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Worn engine bearings? Here’s Ralph, one of our machinists, polishing a 948 crankshaft for an engine we are building. Any light journal scoring is removed in this process, so that improved oil pressure and reduced bearing wear can be obtained. Deep scores require grinding the whole crank but light wear allow for a refresh through polishing.

Ralph has chucked the crank in a lathe and then applies the belt sander to the journals, with progressively finer belts until a well-polished surface is the result. It has to be done to the correct tolerances of course, and matched with properly sized bearing shells upon assembly.

Looking for a 948 engine whose crank you can polish? We have used 948 engines available now at a great price! Click the photo below for more information, or click here for our full catalog! We carry a full line of engine parts for your 948, 1098, or 1275!

Plus-sized Bugeyes

February 14, 2025 by bugeyeguy

We’ve had a very busy winter so far sorting out various classic British cars and making them wonderful to drive and use. This week, we worked on “Stretch,” which is one of the two long wheel base Bugeyes that we’ve constructed. Both of them were cut in half and extended by 5 inches in the middle to make the car easier to get in and out of… this was helpful for large (or otherwise physically challenged) people who really wanted to enjoy a Bugeye in spite of their physical limitations.

*An older photo of Stretch, taken before we re-upholstered the seats and changed the steering wheel in 2022. Can you tell which is longer, Stretch or Cole (background car with red top)?*

Stretch was built for a fellow who was 6’4″ tall and not as nimble as he was in high school, so a LWB Bugeye was his only pathway to later in life Bugeye ownership. Now, Stretch has been purchased by a different client who just really enjoys having a little more room in the cockpit in spite of the fact that he is able to comfortably operate a stock size Bugeye; in fact, you can see in the video below that he owns both black and white bugeyes shown: one stock length (“Floyd”) and one stretched, and he loves them both.

Our second stretched Bugeye is living in the Boston area and is silver, and that one was built by a fellow in Pennsylvania, who also had some joint issues and needed more space. He has since passed away, so we finished building the car for his nephew.

This car is not only stretched, but one of a kind with several custom one-off touches, including vents on the hood, a head fairing, and a few other modifications. She’s a performance Bugeye, with a supercharger and a Datsun 5 speed transmission.

If your classic English car is not optimized, we will be delighted to pick it up and bring it to our shop this winter. Please give us a call! At the moment, we have cars from Minnesota, California, Arizona all in our shop here in Connecticut, so it’s easy for us to retrieve your vehicle wherever you might be!

We make a modified Bugeye into a superb Bugeye!

January 17, 2025 by bugeyeguy

The car you see here represents a very special project. She came to us with tons of modifications already made, yet still suffered from multiple issues that needed to be addressed. It wasn’t fun to drive… it was over-modified and over-upgraded, with no sense of direction and no sense of integration. We were tasked with making it all work, which meant removing some mods, and adding others, so that the car could find the sweet spot.

We disassembled and completely rebuilt it, de-tuning were necessary, and upgraded it in other ways. It has a new wiring harness, new fuel system, new hydraulic system, and a lot of cosmetic improvements, and the net result is a very sweet and very special modified Bugeye. Check out the video above and enjoy!

We love picking up cars throughout America bringing them here for a makeover and sending them back home. It’s it’s so exciting to be able to take a car that’s not that’s not a terribly useful asset for an owner and turn it into something that makes them grin with joy, and that’s exactly what we did here in the case of Alex’s Bugeye.

Look for this one in West Palm Beach, Florida… the guy with a grin? That will be Alex.