Category Archives: Bugeye Personalizations

Bugeye Aluminum Cylinder Head

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When we purchased the rebuilt 1275 engine from Rivergate Restorations about twenty years ago, we opted to go with an aluminum cylinder head. Described by Bill Perry (Rivergate owner) in this way: Improved flow and performance, Stellite valve seats, 19 pounds lighter than stock, ready for no-lead fuel, bronze valve guides – a beautiful, functional addition to Sprite/Midget – $725 price only applies to a cylinder head purchased with a rebuilt motor. 

We believe that the cylinder head is the one sold by Moss Motors. Part number 451-875. This is how Moss describes the head:

“These light-weight (9 lbs.) high strength aluminum alloy cylinder heads run cooler, allow higher compression ratios, and have a greater than 35% increase in flow rate over stock heads. Heads come with silicon-bronze valve guides and hardened valve seats. These require 1275 valves, springs, and retainers, 12mm spark plugs (our 451-890 NGK plugs are recommended), all of which must be purchased separately. These heads do not have air injection ports, and therefore should not be used for street use on cars originally fitted with air pumps.”

 

Compatible with: Exhaust Valve 423-335, Intake Valve 423-190, Upper Valve Spring Collars 460-556, Valve Spring Cotters 460-535, Double Valve Spring Set 423-470

Fitting the head to smaller bore engines will require machining of the block to ensure adequate valve to block clearance.

 

Requires coarse thread manifold studs 328-765 x 6

 

Note: The rocker oil feed design requires that if a Payen composite head gasket with rubber oil seal is used, the gasket must be reversed. “FRONT” should be to the back of the engine so that the original type copper oil passage seal is over the oil feed passage.

Engine Electrical Components

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Gear Reduction Starter

We have gone back and forth between using the Lucas starter with the Bendix that engages from the rear of the ring gear and the modern gear reduction starter that engages from the front of the flywheel.We have currently replaced the starter with a modern gear reduction starter from APT Fast. Unlike the old Lucas starter it cranks until the motor fires. Definitely more difficult to install than the original, but hopefully easier starting will make it worth it. Fastening the lower bolt was accomplished by jacking up the right front, removing the tire and wheel and reaching through the hole in the frame wall. The cranking sound is very different than the Lucas starter, but functionality is substantially improved. We chose to continue to use the old pull starter switch on the dash, but could have hooked up the starter to a modern solenoid as well.

Gear Reduction Starter

Gear Reduction Starter

Alternator 

The only information we have on the alternator is that it is a rebuilt unit designed to replace the Lucas alternator that we had in the car previously. It’s rated output is 65 amps.

Alternator Invoice

Rather than having two bolts for the left and right ears of the alternator, a single long bolt and a stainless bushing have been added to enhance the stability of the mounting.

Bugeye Alternator with new Mounting Bushing

 

Exhaust

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Nothing in our exhaust system is as original! From the header to the oxygen sensor in the exhaust pipe to the dual tip muffler, everything is a modification. We have had the header fitted since the early 2000s. We don’t have a record but we are pretty sure that it was sourced from Mini-Mania and produced by Maniflow in the U.K. The header is a long branch, 1 5/8.” Before we initially installed it we had it Swain-Coated for thermal insulation. While beautiful then, it looks a little tired now so we will send it off to Jet-Hot Coatings to have them refinish it so that it will match our intake manifold.

Header

The Jet-Hot coating now matches the intake manifold.

Jet-Hot coated header

We purchased new exhaust pipes and a twin-tipped muffler from Maniflow to fit the header. The pipe comes in two sections. We will be installing a bung in the front pipe for an oxygen sensor to feed our AFR gauge. We also purchased Maniflow’s installation kit which has the hangers and clamps needed to do the job.

Maniflow Exhaust System

 

Modifying the Rear Leaf Springs

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The rear suspension in the Bugeye is comprised of the quarter elliptical leaf springs, the shock absorbers, the radius arms and their mounting boxes, the rebound straps, the rubber bump stops, and of course, the axle. Video Episode Thirteen shows the removal of the original fifteen leaf springs: https://vimeo.com/769992972/c923375ecc

We chose to replace the original springs. The only springs readily available at this time are the 10 leaf “Rally” springs. We ordered a pair from BugeyeGuy.com along with five degree shims that will lower the car to give it a proper ride height. We disassembled these springs, removed the poor paint, cleaned them and repainted with POR-15 and installed teflon tape between each leaf to reduce friction and squeaking. That process is shown in Video Episode Fourteen: https://vimeo.com/754389824/9ab8550b67

Most of what we have read on the various forums is that the rally spec springs are a bit stiff and don’t give the ride that the original springs provided. Tom Colby of Speedwell Engineering has suggested the removal of three of the leaves to offer an improved ride and we decided to try his suggestion. We can always back up and reinsert the leaves we take out.

Tom Colby’s Spring Modification

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Sixty-four shows the deconstruction of the springs.https://vimeo.com/989814778/55abef9a4c

It wasn’t quite as easy as just pulling out a few spring leaves. Because the remaining collection of seven springs isn’t as high as the ten leaves, the bolts and springs clasps need to be modified as well. The two 3/8″ hex head bolts (per spring) that are 3 1/4″ long were replaced with two bolts that are 2 1/2″ long. The 5/16″ compressing pins that are 2 1/2″ long were replaced with 5/16″ socket head screws. Socket head screws were used because the compressing pins have round heads that also serve to locate the spring in the chassis spring plate. Rather than rounding the edges off of a hex head bolt the socket head should work just fine.   

Two of the spring clips or brackets are of sufficient size to permit drilling an additional hole in the arms of the bracket to fit the new spring height. There isn’t room on the other two so we will try them as they are or modify at a later date.

The true test will be the ride and that is still months away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accelerator pedal

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The accelerator pedal in the Bugeye was mounted on the floor board as seen in the illustration below:

Sprite Accelerator Pedal

We have decided to hang the pedal from the shaft rather than mounting it on the floor and we purchased a kit from Speedwell Engineering that has a throttle return spring so that the mechanism is not dependent upon the throttle plate return spring on the carburetor. 

Episode Eighty-nine of the Bugeye Restoration Videos shows the new pedal arrangement installed in the car:

https://vimeo.com/1029000934/d39495fc82?share=copy

Lighting

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Sidelights/Flashers and Tail Lights – We had previously switched the incandescent bulbs in the flasher/side lights and tail lights in favor of LEDs. These are much brighter, consume lower amperage, and produce less heat. This requires replacing the flasher relay can with a substitute suited for LEDs. In our case, the LED flasher relay is incorporated in the Classic Technologies Fuse Box.

License Plate Lights – the original light fixture used two small incandescent bulbs.We converted these to LEDs sourced from Moss Motors.

Headlights – We ordered new headlights from The Bus Depot. Their web site states: “Essentially generic knockoffs of the old Cibie Z-beams, these are tested and certified to meet stringent E-Code and TUV standards.  This means better light distribution and visibility than the cheapo knockoffs sold on Ebay, etc. (which are not E-code and often don’t even come with protective boots on the back). These are direct bolt-on replacements for your stock 7″ sealed-beam headlights; just pop them in and you’re ready to go. They also have curved glass similar to how the sealed-beams looked, whereas most other E-codes have flatter glass that is more common in Europe. (The difference does not affect performance and is just a matter of personal taste, if you care at all.) They also feature a special anti-fogging coating on the insides of the lenses.”

Cibie Headlights

Then we needed to find some LED lights to put in the headlight bodies. After some research we decided on these units from Classic Car LEDs. These were very reasonably priced for what appears to be high quality units.

Classic Car LEDs H4 Mini

Classic Car LEDs

Driving Lights – We have considered, but not decided on, installing Lucas driving lights. Since it is a possibility for the future, the wiring harness has incorporated the wiring for the lights should we desire to add them at a later date. This image shows what they look like once installed.

Lucas Driving Lights

 

Fancy Battery Box and Cables

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We purchased a fiberglass battery box from Tom Colby’s Speedwell Engineering. The box is nicely made and comes with a high quality rubber strap to secure the top to the box. The strap ends connect to the original Bugeye brackets. We had the box painted in Cotswold Blue to match the car.

Fancy Box with Positive Cable

We then made our positive cable that connects to the starter switch and the negative cable that is secured to the firewall. The positive cable is just a modified NAPA red cable and the negative cable is a car stereo cable that is extremely flexible.

Negative Cable

Buseye Restoration Video Episode Eighty-four shows the installation process for the battery box:https://vimeo.com/1002028718/c25503bd0f?share=copy

0:00 – Box installtion

2:13 – Battery cables

Three Point Retractable Harnesses

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We had three point harnesses in the Bugeye before restoration; however, the belts were always getting caught in the doors and could cause paint damage. This time around, we decided to install three point retractable belts. We purchased these from Bugeyeguys. https://bugeyeguyparts.com/products/3-point-inertia-seat-belts They are a little on the burgundy side but we think this color will go better with the red in the car than a bright red would.

We fit them before paint because installation required drilling a number of holes in the chassis. The Bugeye Restoration Shoulder Harness Video shows the installation process. https://vimeo.com/985658212/a3227b71de?share=copy

Custom Brake Switch

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Recently produced hydraulic pressure switches for brake light activation are often faulty and/or don’t last long.

Hydraulic Brake Light Switch

We decided to use an electronic pedal activated pressure switch as a complement to the hydraulic switch. We sourced the switch from Moss Motors, part number 542-371.

Lucas-type Brake Light Switch

We have modified the wiring harness to accommodate both switches. Trevor Fawcett, in the U.K., fabricated a simple bracket to hold a Lucas pedal switch and we used that as a model for our own bracket – similar, but not the same.

Trevor’s Brake Switch and Bracket

Trevor’s Brake Switch and Bracket Mock-up

This was our starting pattern (it was slightly modified later), and our bracket after a little bending of a single flat piece of steel in the vice.

Brake Switch Bracket Pattern

Brake Switch Bracket Fabricated

After drilling holes for mounting the bracket to two of the 1/4″ – 28 x 1″ bolts holding the pedal box to the chassis and drilling a 1/2″ hole for the switch we we ready to mount the assembly to the car. Following trial fitting we trimmed a bit here and there, rounded the sharp corners and painted it black.

Pedal Brake Bracket & Switch Mounted to the Pedal Box

Finally, we connected two trial wires to the switch’s spade connectors and tested the sensitivity of the switch with a test light. The results are depicted in the short Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Seventy-three below:

https://vimeo.com/982091053/002655f0fb?share=copy

 

Custom Master Cylinder, Pedal Box and Hydraulics

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Master Cylinders/Pedal Box

We had been using the original tandem master cylinder originally designed for the bugeye; however, it was a master cylinder sourced from Gerard Chateauvieux of Gerard’s Garage that was modified to incorporate 3/4″ bore pistons for the brakes and the clutch.

Twin Chamber 3/4″ Master Cylinder

Sebring Sprites used a custom pedal box with two offset Girling master cylinders with their own fluid reservoirs. We purchased a replica of the Sebring Pedal Box from Brookfab in the U.K. https://brookfab.co.uk/

We were quite pleased with the Brookfab assembly including the master cylinders, push rods and springs – very professional job.

Brookfab Pedal Box with Girling Master Cylinders

Brookfab Pedal Box

Brake Pipes and Hoses

All new cunifer copper alloy brake pipes with stainless fittings were formed and installed on the car for the 2024 restoration. In addition, Goodridge Stainless Braided (black) were also installed on the car. Both can be seen in the image below:

Cunifer Brake Pipes and New Fittings

Cunifer Brake Pipes and Goodridge Hoses

Brake Fluid

We have decided that because all of the brake system and clutch system are totally new we will use Dot 5 silicone brake fluid in the Bugeye.