Replacing a Leaking Front Shock

In completing a little clean-up of the Bugeye after the trip to/from Safety Harbor, FL for the All-Brit car show, we noticed some very clean oil on the left front under carriage of the car. We narrowed it down to a leaking shock absorber. The front shocks were rebuilt by World Wide Auto Parts in Madison, Wisconsin. Peter and Jane Caldwell are the absolute best for rebuilding these shocks, but this one didn’t pass the test. Of course, the Caldwell’s stand behind their work and we had another freshly rebuilt shock shipped from Wisconsin just a few days later. We painted the “new” shock to match the one remaining on the car and installed it right away.

New Shock

We jacked up the front of the car and placed it on jack stands. Fortunately, it was NOT necessary to remove the coil spring to do this job and that made things move along pretty quickly. After getting the “new” shock in place, we torqued the three mounting bolts to 28 ft. lbs., mounted the tire/wheel and lowered the car to the ground.

Front Shock Mounting Bolts

This turned out to be an uneventful and fairly quick repair! 

This video shows the shock replacement process from start to finish:

https://vimeo.com/1140563266/ab1e98ddbe?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

 

The First Post-restoration Car Show

On Saturday, October 25, 2025 the Tampa Bay Austin-Healey Club hosted the 38th Annual All British Field Meet and Autojumble. The event attracts approximately 200 British cars and is held on Main Street in Safety Harbor, FL.

Event Placard

Father entered his 1960 AH 3000 BT7 and son entered his AH Sprite AN5.

BT7 & AN5

Both boys took home first place in their respective judging classes.

1st Place!

This is a shot video about getting to the event and heading home:

38th All British Field Meet