Another Rotary Sprite

[Bugeye RX]

Hey William, all the front end piece at new including the springs.  It track straight does not shake or shimmy.  It just seems to lift and the steering gets really light at 65+.  I'm going to replace the front shocks as well, it seems bounce at this speed as well.  

PS you can hear this thing a mile away, so I'm hoping the children are taking cover!  And you should see the kids on four wheels that race through the neighbor, lol, I'm the one that better not run out in the road, believe you me!!!!

[B-Fast B-Strong]

LOL ! Ah living in the country ! I hope I will not have that problem with mine as I am going to put mustang 2 built front end on and coil-over shocks. You know they make those add on shocks for Sprigets, you might try that It looked like it was handling the corners good. I'm going to put mine a little bit nose down and I am sure I will have to have some kind of air dam up front . I'm putting a 160 speedo in it and I want to be able to bury it or it just won't be fun. I had a 280ZX turbo and it would peg the 150 speedo and it got a little light , but then you expect that at 150 but not at 65 ! Well keep out of the road you don't need any of those little knobby tracks on you ! LOL
William

[Healey Z]

great video.  you can bearly hear it, but I heard your neighbor say "What in the &%#$ just went flying by?"

[jim]

your car looks real good I have a 59 sprite with a 3400 and five speed if I get much over 70 it feels light in the front end
I had the front end alighment thats all set but I think the stearing is so tight and quick that it makes it feel squirlley I dont get much wheel spin mine just squats and its gone these cars are a blast to drive with the power again good work
jim

[B-Fast B-Strong]

Nice looking Bugeye Jim,
That's what worries me the most is how mine will handle at high speeds. Being that I will be running tires 8.5 inches wide on the front and a custom front suspension using Mustang 2 spindles , coil-over shocks and a nice size sway bar, I am hopeful that I can take mine to 150 before it does any floating around, I guess we will see. I want a fast little go cart that will give a Caterham 7 a run for it's money . I am designing a 3 bar rear suspension that's almost like a uneven 4 bar and coil-overs with a few little tricks up my sleeve . The fiberglass front ends have some nice flair to it and I will have to come up with some way to keep air out from under it, should be interesting !
William

[Bugeye RX]

BAHAHAHAH, 150 mph  good luck with that William.  I'd suggest you do a wind tunnel simulation and install an ejection seat because 85 felt like 150 so I'm thinking 150 will be like Warp speed!!!

[HealeyRick]

150 mph in a Bugeye would be my definition of "Scary Fast"

[cdodgyd]

I can vouch that even 100 mph in one is frightening! They're so close to the ground that you really feel the speed and the wheelbase is so short that they become very twitchy. You're going to need some pretty radical suspension and body mods to keep control - I expect you'll need a fair bit of time for development on a race track!

[jim]

I took my bugeye out today with my GPS and found out my speedo is twenty mph slow my bit over 70 was a bit over 90
you want to hang on but at legal speed it still a blast to drive
jim

[roverman]

Headlites = bad air ? Under dumb idea/aero enhancement, how 'bout Opel GT. or Porsche 928 type headlites ?

[BlownMGB-V8]

Odd as it may seem, those headlights could actually be helping with high speed stability. Looking at the car, the whole thing has the appearance of a lifting body or airfoil shape, which means unless you do something to keep the air out from under the body, the faster air going over the top is going to create a low pressure area and the slower air underneath is going to push upwards on the body, creating lift. The nice curve of the valence compounds the problem. Because the headlights create a boundary layer separation and create turbulence they might actually help some to reduce lift, as might the irregularity of the underside of the car. If you really want to do 150 with that thing you had better be thinking about ground effects.

JB

[Bugeye RX]

LOL Jim, I don't have any aspiration of going 150mph in this thing, that's William's death wish!  I just want to be able to cruise at highway speed and have enough handling to get around 100ish when the need arises.  I agree the car is a natural wing, I'm going to try a couple different air dam set-ups that a few local era correct vintage racers suggested.  Hopefully this will help!

[jim]

post some pictures of what your doing I think jims got a point Iv had mine out with out the bonnet latched and about 45-50 the air from under will lift it right up a few inchess the way it closes I did not figger it would lift it

[Bugeye RX]

I will post the mods, I've been told I need to remove the air that gets trapped in the pocket between the body wheel well top plate and the bonnet underside.  I can either vent the wheel wells to reduce the pressure by introducing flow, or dam/redirect the air around the pocket creating a low.  I'm going to see the mods this guy has done to his track car this weekend and will take some pics.

[jim]

Dave I contacted spridgetech and they have a mold to make an air dam for a non flaired mk1 there supposed to send me some pictures when they do I will post that info

jim

[Bugeye RX]

Jim that would be a great help thanks.  Maybe just the bolt on fix I'm looking for!  Dave.

[roverman]

Getting air under the car does not equal lift. How it interacts with the air going over,(top side of wing), does. The speed differential between the two basic air flows, helps determine lift. Well designed lip spoilers, skirts and air dams are effective in reducing lift by reducing volume of air,(bottom side of wing), under the car."Turbine" wheels are an aid, as they tend to pull air out, from under car, while better cooling the brakes.  Belly pans "reduce" lift, because they speed-up the air flow under the car. By reducing the speed differential top/bottom, that crude wing becomes much less effective.Since  belly pans reduce aero drag, car will be faster. 2cents, roverman.

[Bugeye RX]

Thanks Roverman,  I will be looking at a few different  local Bugeye's that are in racer trim and implore a mix of skirting, dams and spoiler pieces to remedy the lift problem, or so they say.  I'm currently building a new header from some 1/8" tubing, seems the 20 gauge I used actually melted at high speeds.  Come to find out these Rotary run so hot that regular header piping will just crystallize and melt away!  Crazy stuff these Wankel's.  Here is the batch of thick wall piping and flanges I picked up on E-bay.  I'll post a pic when I'm done.  I'm glad I paid for that 2000* heat shield because if not I'm sure the car would have burned to the ground when it blew!

[Bugeye RX]

Check out his aero package, interesting!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1959-Austin-Healey-Bugeye-Sprite-Speedwell-Engineering-/220697103445?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3362928c55#v4-38

[jim]

here is the picture of spridgetechs mold for the non flaired bonnet they can do it with or without brake air ducts
they quoted me $ 100.00 + shipping I think I will try it

jim

[Bugeye RX]

I'm going to look them up!

[jim]

I have not tried to fit this yet the fiberglass is race weight bit lighter than my speedwell bonnet
but overall it looks good Ill try to fit it some time this winter

jim

[Bugeye RX]

That looks awesome, how are  you going to attach it!

[jim]

I havent got that far yet more than likely fiberglass I will work on it later this year but should have it ready for spring

jim

[Bugeye RX]

That shape does not looks as complex as I thought.   I wonder if I can pound one out of sheet metal as I could weld it on?  Seem like that bottom bead will be the tricky part.