John came over on Sunday July 20, 2025 to check out the progress on the Bugeye restoration and take the car for its first real drive on public streets. We had a wonderful visit and John and I got to experience Donald Healey’s little car on the open road. Of course, this also gave us the opportunity to assess what was working well and what needed improvement.
First drive on the open road
The car performed without incident – always good! The engine ran very smoothly and sounded great but did not have the acceleration we expected. The suspension offered a plush ride compared to what John had been used to pre-restoration. New springs, rebuilt shocks, new bushings everywhere, a new steering rack, new Pirellis and reupholstered seats with new foams all contributed to the improved ride. The 3.9 differential that replaced the 4.2 may have had some effect on low end torque.
After John returned to his home on the other side of Florida I spent some time trying to analyze how we lost some performance. I discovered that the butterfly in the carburetor was not fully opening when the accelerator pedal was depressed. This was due to the addition of the Speedwell Engineering hanging accelerator pedal assembly, combined with layers of dynamat insulation, aluminum insulation, plush carpet, and a rubber Matthau all combined to prevent the accelerator pedal from completing its natural travel. As the attache video shows we removed the aluminum duct insulation and cut away the offending carpet and rubber mat thereby freeing up the pedal to full open the carb butterfly.
We also substituted a fast-drop carb piston damper LZX 2085 for the original. We are hoping that these improvements and substitutions will give us the performance we are looking for. All of the spark plugs look great with a tan burn residue. Timing and fueling appear to be spot-on.
Bugeye Restoration Video Episode One Hundred-Fourteen shows some of the initial drive of John’s Bugeye:
https://vimeo.com/1105259492/319edbc3f6?share=copy
