This is my rendering of the perfect road and track car, drive here to the track , have fun , drive her home.
I call her "Jail Bait" because "she'll get you in trouble" if you go too far with her !
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In driving this around on the street , you don't think it has too much of a sleeper look do you. I didn't want to put racing stripes on it and attract attention from the police !
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Reminds me a bit of the Baby Cobra replica:
(http://i50.tinypic.com/23jl9gk.png)
http://www.sportscarmonitor.com/blog/1045259_only-in-japan-baby-cobra-replica-is-a-rolling-cartoon
Don't think I've ever seen anyone Cobraize a Bugeye with those types of flares before ... looks really cool. I could do without the lexan spoilers though.
Hey Rick,
Thanks for the link , I never heard of a baby cobra , I always thought the Bugeye or Frogeye Sprite was like a little baby cobra just begging to be re-powered with more HP.
The Lexan spoilers are not just on there for looks , this car weighs 1500 or less and would be powered by a Ford Duratec all aluminum engine with 300+ HP and I would dare say capable of speeds of 180 mph so the spoilers are there to keep it on the ground.I like the fact that they are clear and you can see whats behind you rather than the aluminum barn door spoiler on the green Sprite below !
As for the fender flairs they are molded into the fiberglass racing parts from Spridgetech , great looking parts and I would bet you will be seeing many in the future ! Everything is available now to build this car and at reasonable prices. True I did add the brake cooling slots and the oil cooler bulge around the front air intake from a Cobra that makes it look like a Cobra a bit.
Another thing is unless one of these Cobra replicas has 700+ Hp you will eat it's lunch if he tests you !
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When are you going to build this beast William? I like it!
Here's my real-life much modified Sprite over here in the UK. Front is glassfibre but the rear is steel apart from the flares.
It runs a tuned 60's pre-crossflow Ford motor. "Only" 110bhp but fun enough for road use!
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Dave ,
The Red track car is a dream track car based on an MG Midget and fiberglass Bugeye parts I don't intend to ever build it too impracticable . Now the blue car pictured above I am making part for it now and when I get a little further along I will start a journal with lot of pictures and how it was done. I am powering it with a Duratec Ford engine and for now other than the two 45 webers it will be stock. It still will put out about 200hp at that. I will build a stronger Duratec engine later if I feel I want more power. I may just find 200hp in a 1500 lb car may be as scary as I want ! After all you can only take it too as much as the tires will hold after that all the power in the world will not make any difference.
William
Chris,
Nice car and I bet 110hp really makes it go ! Tell me Chris would you like to have more power than the 110hp you have or is that just right for the tires and set up you have?
William
Thanks William,
I think 110bhp is enough to be honest. Maybe not for a track car, but on the road its great. It'll do 0-60 in about 7 secs and top speed is in excess of 110mph. In a car this small it feels plenty fast enough to me!
I'm running 15" alloys with 195 60 15 tyres and the grip is unbelievable - go kart stuff! The axle is also a Ford unit (in fact all the running gear is) from a 60's Mk1 Ford Cortina GT with a diff ratio of 3.54:1. No more broken Sprite axles! Do you know those cars over in the States? The only mod to the suspension is telescopic shocks at the back - front is stock.
Time permitting I may submit a photo gallery story of the car. This car was hot-rodded in the early 1970's with just a few modern extras. I restored it 3 years ago after long term storage.
QuoteTime permitting I may submit a photo gallery story of the car.
We'd love to see it!
Yes Chris Please,
I would love to see a how to if you have pictures !
William
Hi William,
nice art work you have going there. Great to see someone plan things out in advance.
My opinion, and take it for what it's worth (free), is that old cars like this should be remade in the spirit of their times. So the aero stuff that may produce results on a mod-class cone racer is not right for a 50 year old car. The Lexan spoiler belongs on a Miata, a child of that era. The Sprite deserves tricks appropriate to its age.
Kind of like you would not like to see a 50 year old movie starlet (Sharon Stone?) wearing tattoos like Angelina Jolie (or Megan Fox?). A sprite with a wing is like your grandma getting fake boobs.
:O
The flares are sweet though, and totally age appropriate. Like a lovely older woman in a sexy flattering dress!
My car is going to have stock fenders with skinny wheels and tires, followed around by lots of tire smoke.
Cheers,
Greg
PS, sports racing cars only started to add aero devices in the mid-late 60s. Look at what Porsche went through with the 917 at LeMans... lots of trouble before they got it stable at speed. Spoilers in '68-'69, wing in '70 (or close to that.)
A subtle aluminum sheet spoiler riveted to the boot could be done nicely...
Besides, a clear barn door attached to a sprite is still a barn door. It won't make a 1958 chassis any quicker than a 1998 Honda. :P
Hey Greg,
Well I like what I like and you like what you like . I'm know some will like it and some will not , the only one I have to please is me. It is not on there for looks , it is to keep the rear end from becoming the front end and I can see through Lexan better than aluminum . The car is being all moderned up after all the drive train is 2009 , this car is not for a purest , it has started out as a MG Midget and is mostly fiberglass, even some carbon fiber goodies ! It's a little street racer , hot rod , show off ! It's not going to be your normal Bugeye , Frogeye Sprite. Hey look what Carol Shelby did to the little AC , I bet AC owner had a stroke in the mid 60's . Oh well.
William
I guess you like the green car and not my blue car , I don't see a lot of difference.
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Funny how even us "modders' have a line we're not willing to cross. Some of us are only content with "period" mods. Others like William take it to the next level. My best guess is that Donald Healey would get a boot out of anything that would make his designs faster. Have at it, William, make DMH proud!
Here Here Rick !
You can see his beautiful design right through the CLEAR Lexan , better than sticking an ugly piece o' tin on it ! I M O
I love the period racers and they are quite fast and I love the looks of the Bugeye or Frogeye as the brit's call them.
I don't think I made the car look bad and if you don't like it , THAT"S OKAY too ! We all know not everyone has the same taste and I for one am glad everyone does not like the same thing. I love seeing all the different ideas everyone here have and some I may use
I just watched a custom car place in California take an old GTO body and put it on the new GTO ! I guess some old GTO guys may be flopping around on the floor , but I thought it was cool ! It went to a drifter car guy .
I'm for doing what ever custom you want to do to "your" car, bet your proud of it and I can't wait to see what you did , even if it's not my cup of tea it's your baby and your hard work ...... Good going guys !
William
P.S. Love those 3000 's almost impossible to find a nice one any more and you have a nice one I'm so jealous :-)
RE: ...I just watched a custom car place in California take an old GTO body and put it on the new GTO ! I guess some old GTO guys may be flopping around on the floor , but I thought it was cool ! It went to a drifter car guy .
I saw an episode of Street Customs where where West Coast Customs did that for an actor -- forgot who but the car was cool.
A '49-'51 Mercury will also drop right onto a late (mid nineties, I think) GM chassis/drive-train. This useless tidbit of information probably belongs over on the "when is an MG no longer an MG thread."
Interesting anyway, I thought.
Rob,
Yes West Coast Customs, I couldn't remember the name but the GTO was built for X Games class drifting champion Tanner Faust , they delivered it to him at the track and he drove it with one of the guys who helped build it. I thought it was funny after the ride when he said gee you didn't scream or anything. You might could call Tanner an actor as he host Speed Chanel's Supercars Exposed but I think he is more known for his driving skills , I think calling him an actor would be stretching it a bit and I bet it would get chuckle out of him !
Hey Dan ,
Not really getting off subject , we where talking about mods to cars some may consider over the top like my taking a MG Midget and making it into a Sprite , not so much that as other have done it before but that I am putting Lexan spoilers on it God forbid ! Some will like it some won't , Oh well !
Cheers All,
William
Will,
Don't be too jealous of the 3000. A Sprite will outhandle one any day of the week and with some motor upgrades will outperform a stock one as well. I'm waiting to see you build that dreamcar of yours. It's going to be great!
Actually Will, I was confusing two episodes maybe. The episode I was thinking of was where they put a 68 charger on one of the modern charger or challenger chassis. They did it for Gary Dourdan of CSI.
I also saw the episode of the GTO for Tanner but didn't recall that being a chassis swap.
Hey Rob,
I don't watch that show regular so I didn't see the charger one. I still had the GTO show on the DVR so I went back and looked . The older I get the more things run together , I guess my brain is getting full. HA! I was just flipping through and saw the preview and said what the .....
I just had to see that so I recorded it and watched it later, I couldn't believe it turned out that good , I was impressed !
I was right , I though it was a drifter car guy he made it for , I remembered because he took one of the guys from the shop for a ride and I thought it was funny when he said " he didn't scream or anything " he had probably taken some girls for a ride in the past and they screamed their heads off .
I'm not a drifter fan , takes more skill keeping a car in shape around a corner than getting one sideways and ruining the tires. I think it must have been dreamed up by tire manufacturers . :-)
William
I'm not a drifter, but I am impressed with what some of those guys can do. I've seen them spin around a cone keeping the corner of the car inches from the cone for 6-8 full circles. I've also watched them have two or three cars making various drifts in unison -- sort of like synchronized swimming. I think it takes tons of skill & practice just like any other motorsport... but i'm with you that it was probably dreamed up by the tire manufacturers!
Rob,
I agree there is skill in controlling that which is out of control , in racing go karts I did drift into corners in a controlled manor and it is a natural style of the beast of kart racing. Auto racing is different than kart racing and the drifters are more or less driving cars like karts.
I thought it was a lot of fun when I raced karts and I'm sure the drift cars are fun, I just never have been a burnout fan or a fan of the demolition derby , because it is against my nature to tear things up. I hate seeing the wrecks in Nascar ! I just hate that things get old and wear out , wouldn't it be nice if everything stayed shinny and new ! Not very realistic of me I guess !
William
I will have to join in with the no wing crowd but I would have to go with the clear one on the blue car over the one on the green car.
Hi William,
I actually like your blue car better than the green car, because that's a terrible shade of green! LOL.
Here's a couple of pics of period spoilers that would look right, and work. From this site's great pictorial of the Penske Lola....
(http://www.britishracecar.com/BillThumel-LolaT70/BillThumel-LolaT70-JA.jpg)
(http://www.britishracecar.com/BillThumel-LolaT70/BillThumel-LolaT70-JI.jpg)
Really, my distaste for the giant spoiler has more to do with its size and proportions, not so much the material. (But polished aluminum with bucked rivets is so much sweeter :)
Those barn door spoilers might make a slight bit of downforce at low speeds, which is what they are intended to do, but they make massive drag at higher speeds. That's why you've never seen one on a competitive road racing car. Balance is good, right? Weight, drag, speed, efficiency, aesthetics... all sacrificed for a tiny potential increase in rear grip in certain corners. Few drivers have the skill to take advantage of the small improvement that might be had from such a large spoiler, and that advantage would be lost at the sort of speeds that your modern drivetrain is capable of.
The bottom line is that 1960 Sprite will not be competitive with modern race cars unless you go all the way to tube frame and slicks, where upon it becomes a modern race car with a sprite body. Which is sort of cool, I guess, but not my thing. The sprite was intended to be a light, cheap, fun sportscar, and it has done more than anyone ever expected. But to beat a spec miata, you have to spend many times what it costs to field a miata... which defeats the whole purpose (IMHO, of course).
Having said all that, I have to eat my words. Because I've spent a bunch of time making mods to my car that will do f*@ck all to make it faster. I just like the way they look. (lightening holes in parts to save a pound). So you make your car the way you want it to look, and I'll cheer you on for having the spirit to go and do it the way you want.
Cheers!
Greg
PS: that spoiler would be lighter in aluminum. Even lighter if you poked some holes in it. :)
(Moderator: added image tags...)
Well I don't know how it would be any more drag than the front wind screen and I don't want to go too fast ! I would build something that is more fun than fast. I like safe now , when I was younger I did crazy. This is not a serious race car, it's a toy ! You can drive it to the track , have fun and then stop by the store on the way home and buy a dozen eggs to make breakfast in the morning. Look fast and make a little noise that is what I was shooting for ! Not looking to set a new lap record at Road Atlanta. It should be pretty fast for a street car , I just think it looks neat and I want it safe. Too much drag , nice thing is you can cut it down with a jig saw and sand the edge. I just like things that are wild and different. I will try it out before I paint the car , maybe it will end up smaller but it will be Lexan .
I just want to turn heads and I'm just not into purple Mohawks !
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I know your going to hate this ! I love the whaletails on the 911's so I think I will form a Lexan whaletail . Some black angles and stainless rods to hold it in place SWEET !
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If you don't like the clear how about carbon fiber. The dash is carbon fiber and it has a patch of carbon fiber on the rear flairs so carbon fiber whale tail spoiler and front reflectors would look good. Oh I also changed the seats to Carbeau Classic's from the Momo Atlantis seats. I like the classic's but they are a bit on the narrow side and I would like to try them before I would buy some.
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Yes, the more I look at this , the more I like it. Might end up with the car looking like this.
Carbeau Classic's
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Will, we used to have a saying when I worked at Texas Instruments... "there comes a time in the development of every project when its necessary to shoot the engineers & begin production"
I have heard that saying , I grew up in Texas and was an engineer. I love to change things , just an engineers nature I guess. I have all ready started to work on bits just have not decided what the final beast will look like.
Old saying is , If you fail to plan you plan to fail !
Yes, but vision without execution is hallucination.
Cypress is a pretty area of Houston , some beautiful homes there. I grew up around the Dallas , Ft Worth area and still have some people there. I enjoy restoring parts and making old things new , this is not my first project like this, but I think it will be my last. I just want it to be special and like nothing else. If it takes me year then so be it , I'm not in a big hurry , doing it is half the fun. Other cars I have done they had to be finished in three months or I thought they were not worth doing. I slowed down in my old age. I am even going to take a lot of pictures like a lot of my friends do. I can hear them give me a hard time now. I always told them you spent so much time taking pictures how did you fine time to finish it. I alway said who wants to see the carnage , I just want to see the finished product. I just looked a resto project and he has over 950 pictures of fixing places on the body, I will tell you now I will not take that many pictures. How did he fine time to work ? Maybe his wife was watching " that's neat what you did there SNAP "
I'm just messing with you Will. Now I know my problem -- I've been hurrying on my project for 4 1/2 yrs. Should have slowed down & got it done faster!
Rob,
I have in the past tried to get things done in a hurry only to find out later that I spent money on things that I could have bought for less. I like to watch Overhauling and I still don't see how they can rebuild a car in a week ! They have to cut corners I would not do on my own car. That is a good example of unlimited funds and man power, we don't have a team of experts and that kind of money.The first thing they do is set down and plan it all out and assign tasks to teams, they know just what , when and how they are going to get it done and I still don't see how they do it. I have to plan, plan, plan and search for parts at the best price and decide what level I will take it to. I have to know exactly what I am going to do and then do it, if not I will loose interest and not finish it, that's just me. You are different that me, I could never work on a project for 4 1/2 years I would have lost my mind 4 years ago. I envy you in a way.
William
Patience, Grasshopper. :)
I'll admit, if I'd have thought it was going to take me this long, I probably would have never started... but I'm really glad I did. It's been a lot of fun & it's very close now. We have family plans this weekend & next, but I'll be back on it the following weekend!
Hi Carl and Rob,
I admit I have persistence but little patience ! I have to admit also that I hate to mess with the style of the beloved Bugeye and I came up with this and it may just please everyone.
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Note the Brooklands Aeroscreen's and Vintage Racing Seats !
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Will, I like it, but I liked your other renderings too. At the end of the day all that should matter is what you like.
This is true , I keep finding new things like the the Brooklands Aeroscreens. They are so much nicer than just making some Lexan screens, kind of old school and I think they would look good and maybe not get a hassle from the Po Po . I want it as racy as possible but still be able to drive it around. We have a manufacture of A C Cobra kit cars near here and I would like her to be able to defend her honor, and with a Duratec engine with over 300 hp + and her light weight should make her hold her own. I did work out a problem of shifter location. I was trying to figure out how I could beef up the M5R1 but it just could not be done and gear ratios were terrible . That left me with the T5 and a shifter in my elbow . I wondered if a S10 tail shaft would work on a Ford T5 case locating the shifter 8 inches forward and I found someone that was making them but he was wanting 1850.00 for them , you would think he was trying to make some money off doing them. While I was looking in to it I discovered the S10's from 93 on that had T5's in them they were world class and built with ford cases , go figure. The ratios are terrible but all I have to do is change the gear set to a 295 and do the secret up grade to beef it to 400 foot pounds of torque and have a race prepped T5 with a new shifter location . I can buy a brand new S10 T5 for 450 and do the mods and have one for under 900.00 . Problem Solved ! I need to do an piece on this and share a how to. I will take pictures when I do it and give it to Curtis. I just didn't want to end up with a shifter like this this , not that his is not a good looking job and it would cost less, I just don't like the look.
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With regard to the rubber hood hold-downs, four is too many. These devices are most commonly used on heavy trucks (2 per hood) and on those trucks they'll see much heavier loads and more movement than on your bugeye. Smaller rubber hold-downs are commonly used on heavy truck battery box lids. IMHO, it would be far more elegant and convenient to have a cable operated hood release mechanism, as used on Volvo heavy trucks. If you feel you must have rubber hold-downs, perhaps consider recessed hold-downs. (As I recall, you'll find them on many Freightliners, and maybe also on some of the Mack on-highway models.)
I eliminated my grille quite early on. (The original one had been crunched.) I soon found that I needed some sort of screen to protect my radiator. I bought some stainless steel mesh from McMaster Carr... and I'd suggest you should probably plan on doing the same if this car will be driven many miles. If you like, you can have it powder coated or you can recess it so it's less conspicuous.
I have an s10 2.2 T5 in my bugeye the shifter is in the right spot I am told the 2.2 is the ford bolt pattern the 2.8 t5 is larger
I would like to hear more about your gear change first gear is way to low I just use 2-5
jim
Jim,
If it's a Ford pattern then it must be a 93 up transmission and those are world class , you can buy a 2.95 close ratio gear set right on Ebay for 388.00 and have a great transmission here is the link > http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350298474246&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMESINDXX%3AIT
While you have it apart replace that stamped retainer at 5th gear with a machined one and that will boost the torque it will take and make it pretty bullet proof. They are not really hard to work on and it does not take all that many special tools but you are not comfortable with that your local transmission shop would be able to do it.
That sure will make your Bugeye a lot more fun to drive and keep whatever engine you have in it up in it's higher range were it makes more power which will make it a little quicker too. Good luck with it.
William
that price is better than GM wholesale from a dealer I know well for 5th gear and syncro was $ 600.00 so I bought a used tranney
for $150.00 and it works good I will have to think about that gear set I have a converted fwd 60 degree gm v6 3.4 in the bug eye
it a lot of fun I just narrowed a GM 10 bolt out of a astro with a 3.42 with pozie gears have to get rid of that 4.10 sprite rear
just to low geared your concept car and your bug eye looks real good good luck
jim
Jim,
Do you know if your case is world class,. should be if it is a Ford pattern cased S10. I'm going to run a 8.8 Ford rear end with 4.10 limited slip but I will have an engine that revs 9000 rpm. Decided to build the impractical one , not going to drive it but on nice days anyway , mostly weekends ! You can find some bargains on Ebay for sure, so I guess you liked that link I PM'ed you !
Post pictures of your Bugeye in the Gallery , there is not one up there with a GM V6 you would be the first !
William
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Just attach body parts to this and you're good to go.