Hang around British Classic sportscars long enough and you’ll accumulate plenty of your own throwout bearing stories. Lots of the classics we love use a carbon throwout bearing, so whether it’s a big Healey or a Bugeye (and many others) the carbon disc that contacts your spinning pressure plate is essentially a hockey puck that can wear down and/or fracture. And they often do. 

If you’re fond of sitting with your foot on the clutch while idling in neutral, that hockey puck wears out faster than we would all like… so, like everything else, throwout bearings don’t last forever. And if your clutch push rod is not properly adjusted and you have inadequate free play as a result, that will also accelerate the demise of your throwout bearing. Any time a carbon throwout bearing contacts a pressure plate, it wears.

We’ve made posts about this before, but this week we saw something that we’ve never seen before, which is a throwout bearing that not only lost its carbon disc, but ultimately lost its housing as well. As the driver continued to proceed without their carbon piece, It must’ve been an awful noise as the housing got ground into dust and ultimately departed the clutch fork. I’m not sure how far they drove just using the clutch fork with no bearing, or if that’s even possible, but I suspect that’s the reason why the car was parked many years ago. (The car ultimately ended up in our shop for a complete mechanical restoration.) 

The ultimate solution for all of this is to get our upgraded roller throwout bearing, which we sell in our catalog (click here or click the pictures below to order one) and which should last most of our lifetimes, if not longer. Of course, you can only access this part of your car by removing the engine, so that’s all the more reason to do it once and do it right and you can accomplish this goal with the parts we’ve listed below. Click the photos to learn more, or click here for our complete catalog!

This week we wanted to share a sampling of what we are finding and fixing in our shop.

First up is a radius arm bolt installed backwards. This bolt is used to connect the lower end of the radius arm box to the chassis, and if installed incorrectly can contact the rear wheel. You can see it was hitting the tire from the pile of rubber on the leaf spring. 

We turned the bolt around so that the thin bolt head is outboard and that fixes the problem… the tire had minimal damage where it was scrapping so we could reuse it. Make sure your bolts are right! Each week we find issues that others have missed… this has been wrong for a long time.

We’ll be happy to pick up your car and fix any lingering problems… each week we sort out more classic English cars and send them off for new adventures! Call if you’re interested in making your car exceptional, reliable, drivable (upgraded) and sorted!

Click the photos below for some of the rear suspension components we offer, or click here for the full catalog!

After 65-plus years of wear and tear, it is not uncommon to find an original-style steel Bugeye wheel in need of replacement due to damage around the mounting holes. Upon removing one of the wheels from a Bugeye which is here in our shop this week for mechanical refresh, we noticed just such an issue, a couple of extra large lug holes on the left side of the below wheel.

Presumably, at some point, this wheel was not installed with proper lug nut torque, and as a result, moved around on the studs, which damaged the rim (and one of the studs, as well). With the wheel installed on the car in the photo below, you’ll notice the two damaged holes no longer form an adequate surface for the lug nut to seat to. Regardless of the cause, this rim is now rendered useless and needs to be changed for safety. Thankfully, we have an inventory of original Bugeye rims. This car will get a different rim promptly, and the damaged rim will be discarded.

I share this this week as an invitation to make sure to check the lug nuts (and studs) on your car. The nuts should be torqued to 38 pounds, which is not a lot by modern lug nut standards, and that might be the root of the cause here; many late model shops will over tighten these and damage the threads on the stud or inside the lug nut. Too tight with stripped threads could actually mean insufficient torque and enough of a problem for the wheel to walk on the hub and damage the rim as shown. In other words, by over-torquing the nuts and destroying the threads, you will end up with a loose nut and potential rim damage. We’ve seen this on multiple occasions where people bring their classic car to a shop with unfamiliar technicians and excessively powerful lug nut equipment that immediately destroys the wheel fasteners.

Next time you have your wheels off your car, make sure you check the threads on the studs and the nuts and ensure they are in good condition. We have a full assortment of wheel studs and nuts in our parts catalog should you need to replace a few (or if you want to keep a couple spares on the shelf), which you can check out below by clicking on the pictures of each part. More importantly, take a good look at the rims and make sure you don’t have something similar to what you’ve seen in this post. We have a number of options available to you should you need to replace your wheels, ranging from upgraded Minilite wheels to restorable used original steel wheels. Check them out by clicking on the photos below, or take a look at our full catalog by clicking here!

Here’s a fuel filter that was leaking on one of the Sprites that came to us this week. Can you see why?

The plastic case is made of two separate pieces. The cap isn’t sealing on the body so the fuel leaks out at the joint. All fuel filters are not equal. We sell a stout one and have never seen it leak. Click the photo below to purchase one!

It’s worth a look on your car if you have an inline filter installed to confirm you have a good one that won’t leak when you’re out on date night. And if you don’t have an inline filter, we suggest you add one of our good ones!

Tires really matter on classic cars. They have to be fresh, with supple rubber, for optimal ride quality, traction, braking, and especially safety. A good tire means a comfortable day in a Bugeye. An old hard one means a really rough ride, and greater potential for a blowout.

I have been guilty of stretching my perfectly nice tires that have aged out. I have also had more than one client argue that their classic car tires had zero miles and were therefore still new, regardless of the date stamp. And thus I present the tire below, which came to us attached to the Austin Healey 3000 shjown above, here for upgrades and mechanical freshening.

Who wants to guess the date of the tire below?

*Jeopardy music plays*

Final answer?

Still thinking?

It’s from 2011.

These are just 14 years old. You should be able to see the cracks in the valleys. This rubber is done (and unsafe). Time for new tires!

Let this serve as a reminder that now is a good time to inspect your tires and maybe purchase some new ones. We have great choices in 13″ for your Bugeye, ranging from plain tires to works of art. Happy to help! Click the photos below to learn more and to order a set today!

We picked-up a customer’s Bugeye from Chicago this week for a flip nose conversion and service, and one of the additional concerns from the owner was a harsh, uncomfortable ride. The cause of discomfort was hiding in plain sight.

This customer’s car has 14 inch wheels installed, and this is a large part of the issue here. Sprites were never known for having a particularly plush ride. However, 14 inch wheels, while they look cool, reduce the amount of tire sidewall rubber. You need a 60 series tire to make the 14 inch rim fit the wheel arch but less sidewall rubber equals less “give” and the ride becomes harsher as a result.

A Bugeye must have 13 inch wheels installed to retain a modicum of comfort. These were the size of the stock Bugeye wheels, and there are several aftermarket options for 13 inch wheels to suit your taste in rims. Anything wider than a 165 tire on a 13 inch rim will also compromise comfort.

So please resist the urge to have a contemporary low-profile tire on your collectible, and stay with the 13 inch wheels. We don’t sell 14s, and this is why!

If your Bugeye is in need of new wheels or tires, we offer several 13 inch options to suit your needs! Click the links below or give us a call for more information!