Bugeye maintenance

Nick’s Tech Tips: Probe Problems

April 14, 2023 by bugeyeguy

With warmer temperatures upon us a little early this year, it is paramount this time of year to ensure your cooling system is up to snuff. There are many ways to do this (installing our aluminum radiator and six-blade fan is our favorite upgrade), but it’s also important that you have a decent indicator of how well your cooling system is functioning at any given time.

We’re getting a little warm here… 200 is OK, 185 is preferable, but gauges are often inaccurate

All British sports cars tend to run hot, so a good temperature gauge is important. They’re not always perfectly accurate (you can check accuracy with an IR temp gun), but they at least indicate temperature trends.

Originally on Bugeyes, the probe for the mechanical water temperature gauge, which is a long brass tube filled with ether (of all things), was installed in the side of the radiator. While this is an acceptable location for getting a baseline temperature reading, it doesn’t tell the full story of how hot the engine is getting, which typically runs hotter than the radiator under normal operating load. It would also render the temperature gauge useless if the thermostat were to stick closed, cooking the engine while the radiator (and temperature probe mounted inside it) were slow to report a problem.

The factory location for the temperature port, as equipped on 501.

A relocated temperature port, as found on Grey.

As a result, when possible, the temperature probe should be relocated to a port on the engine, to more accurately relay the temperature of the coolant inside the engine, allowing for better overheating management.

How do you do that? On original Bugeyes with 948 engines, you cannot, as such a port does not exist in the head. However, if your engine has been switched to a 1098 or 1275 from a later Spridget (or if your 948 has had a 1098 head fitted), there is a handy-dandy port drilled right in front of the foremost spark plug towards the thermostat housing!

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Getting your hydraulics lined up

April 7, 2023 by bugeyeguy

We love just about every British sportscar that was built from 1955-1967 (and we’re easily seduced by earlier and later cars too). But given that we are so stuck in the past, we see more systems aging out with each passing year. None of our bits are getting any younger.

This week, brake lines were in focus while working on a car that had been sitting for the past 20 or so years (like a lot of our favorite sportscars). And when the steel brake lines in this particular car fractured the minute we removed them from the vehicle, we had a chance to reflect anew on the (often) fragile fluid link between master cylinder and wheel.

These original steel lines were so fragile, one turn of the wrench fractured them.

The lines above broke at the nipples without persuasion. These are the original lines, and you can see deep pits and thin walls at the location of the fracture. We have talked previously about moisture in the master cylinder… it not only attacks the cylinder bores, but can damage the steel brake lines as well.

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Life with Bugeye: Proper choke operation

March 31, 2023 by bugeyeguy

In the age of computer engine management, people seem to have trouble operating the manual choke on their SU carb-equipped Bugeye (or similarly equipped classic car). So we made a detailed video that breaks down the components so choke operation will be come easy to master for all, for generations! Watch below and give us a call for your Bugeye parts needs!

Nick’s Tech Tips: Don’t let broken brakes leave you hosed!

March 31, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Hydraulics are the number one fault area on British cars, primarily because moisture gets in the fluid and causes problems. The most common repair issue in the hydraulic system is leaking or seized wheel cylinders, master cylinders, and slave cylinders… but there is one issue that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle during maintenance proceedings… rubber hydraulic hoses.

This week, we had a Bugeye up on one of our lifts for a complaint of sticking rear brakes. The car would stop, but the rear brakes would stay applied even after the brake pedal returned. After a few minutes, the rear brakes would release and the cycle would repeat itself. This is a tell-tale sign that your brake hoses need to be replaced. In the below photo, you can see why:

This is an extreme example, but aged-out rubber brake hoses are a ticking time bomb. If left unchecked, they can completely close off, causing your rear brakes to underperform, or not perform at all.

Brake hoses are made of rubber. As with any rubber part exposed to the elements, brake hoses deteriorate over time; standard hydraulic fluid, which absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, doesn’t help matters, either. The “fun” part about brake hoses is that they are double-layer hoses, two layers of rubber bonded together. The most common failure point on hoses is not an external rupture and susequent leak; what usually happens is the two layers of rubber separate, the inner layer collapses on itself, and your brake hose turns into a one-way check valve. This allows brake pressure to travel to the brakes and applying them, but not allowing the fluid to travel away from the wheels to allow those brakes to retract. It will feel like your parking brake is stuck on, but in reality, your brake hose is holding the fluid hostage!

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Fresh Rubbers!

March 17, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Before Spring driving season blooms, make sure to give your car a good visual inspection, with a particular focus on your rubber bits. (If you’re looking to get your car ready to drive this spring, and would rather have us run through it and tighten things up, give us a call and we will be happy to give your car the attention it needs… we pick up nationwide).

The examples below came to us from an armada of British cars here in our workshop for driving-season maintenance. For example, inner control arm bushings need to be fresh so that your suspension is good and tight. These were long past their expiration date. If you see cracked rubber flared out around your inner control arm mounts, it’s time to replace!

Here are some motor mounts we removed this week from a Morris Minor, also well past their useful life. Morris Minors and Bugeyes use the same engine mounts, so if yours look like this, make the change!

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A lost language

March 10, 2023 by bugeyeguy

My first car (a ’66 MGB) had two dead six-volt batteries for my entire ownership. I never shut it off or parked it unless I was on a hill, and I pop started my way through high school. Sometimes, I had to walk a bit after parking if my destination was, for example, deep into a very flat flood plain, but it in Southern New England, it never seemed to an issue, and all the pop starting and walking seemed to keep me in fine shape.

Nowadays, we expect a little more from our vehicles, and as the world has evolved, societal pop-starting skills have atrophied. So jump into the nearest vehicle with a clutch pedal, check out the video above, and go practice. You never know when The Prince of Darkness will pay you a visit!

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