bugeyeguy.com

While preparing Timothy’s teal Bugeye (above) for his road trip, I was briefly caught in a shower. I zipped into our garage and dried the car, and forgot about the deluge until we removed the windscreen the next day to replace the windshield to body seal. Much to my surprise, the depression in the cowl under the windshield pillar was quite wet 24 hours later. The rust commonly found at the bottom of Bugeye A pillars was starting to make more sense.

These seals are extremely important. About 50 percent of the Bugeyes we see have some form of blistering at the union of the A pillar and rocker panel. If the windhshield doesn’t seal properly, water runs into the little cavity shown, which funnels water right into the front windshield post hole. You can see how the captive threads are wet, so it’s easy to imagine water dripping down into the flat A pillar floor and ruining your car.

The seals that keep out the water have to be done right. I’ve written before about rolling the cowl gasket under so that it forms a tight seal. When it’s unfurled flat, that cowl seal will wick water underneath the windshield, which will run down to the mounting holes and into the car. This car had cracks in the seal, which made water entry easy.

The pad gaskets also have to be sound. We routinely enlarge the holes on these to get them to fit, so that has to be done carefully or there will be more opportunities for water to find its way into the A pillar. Lastly, make sure to tightly butt the new windshield to body gasket right up against the pad gaskets. If they overlap, water will get in, and if there’s a gap, water will get in there too.

We sell new gaskets and you should check to make sure yours are sound. If yours are cracked, you’re due. Voids in the gasket under your windscreen will let water in even when you are washing the car. Good rubber will help you keep the water out.

To buy new ones click the links:
New windshield to body gasket that fits
New windshield post pad gaskets

There is only one way to put your fuel sender into a Sprite tank that will have the sender work. But that doesn’t stop people from getting creative. The unit has to be configured with the arm on the sender running parallel to the car and perpendicular to the tank. In the photo above, you can see the sender installed at 45 degrees, which limits the full swing of the float and limits the travel of the fuel gauge needle. The upward dent on the tank in front of the sender allows the float to swing upward for a full fuel indication. It won’t work if the sender isn’t oriented correctly.

In the photo below, you can just make out the fuel 1/3 up the inside of the plastic float. We have published this many times but still see so many of these in the field that it bears repeating… plastic and ethanol do not mix. Plastic floats are attacked by ethanol, fill with fuel and sink. We have seen this happen in a matter of months. Throw away your plastic float before verify this theory. We sell a nice metal one instead, that should last longer than your car! You can get one by clicking here, and you can find it already paired with a new fuel sender by clicking here.

A younger version of myself had plenty of fuel run into his armpit while rolling by creeper under a Bugeye and bench-pressing a full fuel tank up into position. A lift and a helper make it a lot easier these days. But you still only want to do this stuff once, so best to do it right the first time.

It’s really not good craft to run a rubber fuel line under any car. It puts flowing fuel in harm’s way in a less than secure envelope. For example, if you run over an alligator, he will have the last laugh as you both go up in flames.

The factory ran a metal line nested in the a metal channel to protect this fire source. In the picture above, this builder ran a rubber length right across his low Sprite-should anything sharp scrape the bottom of the car with this configuration, a 7 gallon fuel leak might result, and a fire too.

It’s probably been this way a good long time, and as long as the car stays on the road, it would probably be fine, but the proper metal line is cheap insurance. The correct way to run the fuel line is down the passenger side flange, all the way to the front cross member behind the bumper, then across the frame cross member to the carburetors.

Whether you have HS1 or HS2 carbs, you can make a line using this coil which comes with the correct fuel tank fitting and is long enough to run the entire length of the car. This is a good thing to do correctly. We run metal lines, and try to keep the unions up out of the gator zone.

These lines will be added to our product catalog in the near future, but if you’d like them sooner you can call us and place an order.