Mark Warner's 1959 Bugeye Sprite, with a Nissan 4-Banger
(as recorded by Dan Masters)
Body: 1959 Austin Healey Bugeye (Frogeye) Sprite. Tube frame with integral
roll-bar and under-dash hoop. Optimized via FEA for weight and torsional stiffness.
Weight: 1590 lbs w/ perfect 50/50 F/R and side/side distribution.
Only pieces that remain original British are: body, wipers, rear-view mirror,
front and rear lights, and gas tank. Everything else on the car is either
custom-made or heavily modified from the original. The car is essentially the
result of 12+ years of on-and-off work. Lately, I've been motivated to work on it.
I'm hoping to get it road-worthy soon and to bring the car to Shasta this year (2000).
Engine: Mild-built L18 with peanut head and all the usual stuff, including porting,
dual Weber 40 DCOE's on Cannon, Mallory electronic dizzy. Header is a hand-built,
long runner type that dumps into a 2" exhaust and "turbo" muffler. Radiator is a
Griffin Scirroco, modified to fit the car and uses a large diameter pull-thru electric fan.
Brakes: Front are Ford, 10.5" vented disks with Chevy calipers. Rear brakes are 200sx solid disks and JFZ calipers on custom mounts. Dual CNC-made master cylinders on Neal mount with bias bar. Braided stainless steel flex-lines at all four corners. With only 1600 lbs, the car should STOP.
Steering: Fast ratio Sweet Engineering rack and pinion. It's fully adjustable and currently has zero bump steer, though a good alignement on the car is still needed. Other: cheapo, small diameter steering wheel on a quick release adapter.
Tires/Wheels. Front: Weld Racing 5-lug 16x7's w/Yokohama A520's (205/40VR16s). Rears are currently my old 4-lug Centerlines with BFG rubber. These will soon be replaced/changed to 5-lug hubs with Weld rims and 225 Yokos.
Interior/Wiring/Instrumentation: Paddy Hopkirk racing buckets-- and not much else :-) Aluminum dash (though I'm thinking about building a carbon-fiber version (always wanted to try that). Custom electrical harness being built this month. Full complement of VDO gauges (speedo, tach, oil pressure, volts, amps, water temp, fuel).
Mid/near future plans: EFI. LSD rear. Small steel bubble flares, followed by body and paint work.
Far future: Frankenstein LZ motor w/ turbocharging. I'm thinking seriously about Jason Gray's long-rod turbo combination (2.1 litre). My goal is to keep the car's weight under 1650# and to pump 200 hp (crank) out of the motor. I'd also like to get a set of smaller diameter, very lightweight rims (15"??) and Hoosiers for autocross use. The car is currently legal in either SCCA's DM or EM, though with the bigger motor it will be EM-only. This is okay, as I'm very near the lower weight limit in EM, so the car could potentially be very competitive.
Cost: Don't ask! I give up, weeping, every time I start to make a tally :-)
Would I do it again: YES! I'd change a few things, but I'm very happy with the way the car is turning out.
(Note: This material was "lifted" from Mark's personal webpage and reposted here with Mark's permission.)
