Bugeye maintenance

Owner-tested, owner-approved!

March 22, 2024 by bugeyeguy

It’s pure bliss for me to be able to test drive a client’s car on a meaningful 60 minute outing because it allows me to confirm that we haven’t missed anything in our restoration process. It also allows me to enjoy the satisfaction of driving a very well sorted classic sports car that can compete in the modern landscape.

I wish there were more business owners who thoroughly tested their products like this… customer service in the world would be at a much higher level if this were the case. Be that as it may, at least in our little world, all of our cars are owner-tested and certified before they go home.

Click “read more” below to see a video tour!

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Suspect suspension: have you checked your king pins lately?

March 15, 2024 by bugeyeguy

New Kin pin bushings are nearly useless unless up/down play is properly shimmed (not so here!)

Most Spridget front suspensions have excess play (they’ve had a hard life). Tightening things up pays immediate dividends, both in performance and sure-footedness. Spridgets (and lots of other cars of the era) ride on a solid king pin. The swivel axle that rides on the king pin has bronze bushings pressed in place, and those bushings are prone to wear, especially if they are not greased regularly, as the pair of videos in this post can attest.

Lower swivel axle bushings need frequent greasing

King pin suspension systems have a lot of parts, many more than a ball joint system does. That means many more opportunities for wear, and for part failures. The threads on the fulcrum pin, constantly turning in the control arm as the car goes over bumps, hills, and around curves, wear out, creating slop in the control arm. The repeated vertical motion wears the thrust washer, creating up-and-down slop. Years of constant contact with the road and turning wears the upper and lower bushings, creating lateral slop. The lever shock, which also serves as the upper control arm on Bugeyes, wears internally, creating a harsh ride and affecting the suspension geometry.

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How to break a Bugeye Sprite Windshield

March 1, 2024 by bugeyeguy

This is a Bugeye public service announcement.

Don’t push your car by the windshield frame, and when removing yourself from the cockpit, don’t use the windshield frame to pull yourself up, or you can break the glass as shown in the photo.

This particular car has a dried and rotten glazing rubber anyway, so it was overdue for a change, but this breakage was completely avoidable.

When pushing your Bugeye, the safest places to push from are from the rear edge of the cockpit and the front edge of the cockpit. These are some of the most rigid areas on the car and no damage will result from pushing in these locations.

Should your Bugeye windscreen need restoration, we can help! Send us your windshield and stanchions and we can repair your windscreen frame, re-tap any stripped threaded holes (a common occurrence after almost 70 years of steel screws in aluminum frames), powder coat the frame and stanchions in silver, and even install new glass for you! We offer this service in our catalog, which you can view by clicking the photo below or by clicking here.

Should you want to tackle this project yourself, we offer all of the parts necessary to do this job. We even sell the glass for the windshield! However, as this is a complicated and expensive item to ship, we do not list it on our website, so call us if you would like to order the glass. Click on the photos below for more information on each component or click here to view our full catalog!

*Windshield glass glazing rubber with lock strip (Bugeyes with 2-stud windshield through 1962)*

*Windshield-to-body gasket (Bugeyes with 2-stud windshield frames through 1962)*

*Windshield post pad set (Bugeye through 1962)*

*Windshield stanchion to frame screw kit (Bugeyes through 1962)*

*Windshield stanchion to body hardware kit (Bugeye through 1962)*

*No-drill windshield post mirror set (takes the place of the rearmost stanchion screw) (Bugeye through 1962)*

How to care for the gears inside your Bugeye Sprite gearbox

January 30, 2024 by bugeyeguy

Here’s a video we first posted in 2014… it’s worth revisiting to help preserve Sprite gears worldwide!

Bugeye gear boxes last forever if well cared-for, but many people are heavy handed with their shift levers and grind going into first or gnash going into other gears. A slow hand helps! I like to think that every old gear box I meet draws my shifter into gear rather than me forcing the lever (and potentially creating wear). This is true when driving all old cars. Double clutching also helps on down shifts, and we have other videos that describe how to do this.

In the video above you can see the carnage from sloppy shifting. Fortunately, a rebuilt gearbox for a Sprite is far less expensive than one for a late model car, so even the most smashed gears can be replaced. But with good care, they are very stout and will last the life of the car and beyond!

How to diagnose bad ignition module on a classic car with upgraded electronic ignition

January 5, 2024 by bugeyeguy

Ignition points can break. They also wear… and as the gap changes, so does the run quality of your precious classic. As a result of these vulnerabilities, we are keen on electronic ignition. We use Pertronix modules to eliminate ignition points altogether, which we have found to be a great drivability and reliability upgrade. In fact, we never even bother with worn bushing distributor bodies on the now 60-something year old distributors and we simply install an entire new distributor, with the electronic module pre-loaded at the factory. You can find that product in our catalog by clicking here. After 404 Bugeye sold as of this writing, that’s been the most effective way for us to guarantee a consistent, recurring, and reliable ignition for these classics.

The pertronix distributor (left) has no wearable parts other than the main shaft of the distributor, other than the traditional points distributor (right), which has points and a condensor that are both consumable parts.

That said, we recently had a call from a client who had no spark and he was wondering if maybe the electronic module was bad in his electronic ignition. Of course, we have limited information about his issue, and there could be any number of problems leading to his car not starting in this particular case, but nonetheless, let’s start with a video that will demonstrate how to properly test your electronic module to determine if that’s the route of your non-running problem.

This information applies to every car, not just Spridgets!

Sweat the details

November 17, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Colors matter and we take them very seriously. We are delighted to have so many choices in our building to satisfy many color palettes.

We sold our leaf green Bugeye “Flip” today and the new owner wanted a new tonneau. Here are the color options we shared with them while we worked to choose the best-looking option. With whitewall tires in Florida (where the car is headed), a light color was most attractive, and in the end, the client chose tan. They’re all good choices, and our job is to make sure that each client gets the rolling sculpture that they most adore delivered to their driveway.

If you want your own color makeover courtesy of a new tonneau, take a look at our parts catalog here, where you will find quite a few options! If there is a specific color you’re wanting but don’t see it – don’t hesitate to give us a call!

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