Axle ?'s and Pics of Project

[AHBugeyeWRX]

How much HP have people seen the stock rear axle of a 1959 bugeye, and front i guess, able to handle? I am looking to have about 150hp to the wheels.

I finally was able to take a look at the project at hand and below is the pics. On saturday we are going to see if the tires can hold pressure, hopefully for at least 4 hours anyway. The hood looks bad, but it isn't, just dirty. The body only has 21600 miles and is in decent condition. It has been in a garage for 15 years. I am not sure about the engine, but that is coming out anyway. The car was last registered in 1990 and probably not started in 10 years

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Check out the aftermarket picket fence hardtop
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With a little spit shine this oak dash should clean up real nice
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She looks pretty solid.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Who are the people in the back with the "doubting" look on their faces?
;-)
150 HP may be too much for the stock axles. Esp if it has the early halfshafts. You might consider upgrading the half shafts or if you plan on driving hard then you might want to get a 1st generation rx7 rearend and have it narrowed.

 

[AHBugeyeWRX]

[ QUOTE ]
Who are the people in the back with the "doubting" look on their faces?
;-)
150 HP may be too much for the stock axles. Esp if it has the early halfshafts. You might consider upgrading the half shafts or if you plan on driving hard then you might want to get a 1st generation rx7 rearend and have it narrowed.

[/ QUOTE ]

The people are my dad, aunt, wife and my uncle's brother. Not doubting faces, but happy where in the heck is the money going to come from for this project. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Is the RX7 the best way to go. I figured that i would have to try and find another cars rear end and have it shortened. I may measure the stock rear end and go to a junk yard and see if i can find something close.

Should i replace the front also, or as long as it is in good condition keep it.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

I know we referenced his site before, but here it is again:
https://www.the-mite.com/mite22.htm

There have been several other people that used an RX7 rearend.
One fellow (Brust) adapted a miata IRS, but said he'd do the RX7 if he had to do it again.

 

[aeronca65t]

How much HP have people seen the stock rear axle of a 1959 bugeye, and front i guess, able to handle? I am looking to have about 150hp to the wheels.

I'd break around 2 or 3 stock axles a year if I was running single bearing hubs. The double bearing hubs won't guarantee that axles will hold up but I'd say about 1 a year would be expected. My car has maybe 75 HP at the crankshaft. My buddie's car (also double bearing hubs) is always good for snapping one stock axle a year or more. It makes about 90 HP at the crank. These are race cars that run about 25 hours of track time a year.
Running 150 HP to the rear wheels of a stock Spridget axle sounds like a recipe for failure to me.

 

[Tullamore]

aeronca65t I am very surprised that your car does not have more HP, makes me feel better about the engine in my sprite.

 

[AHBugeyeWRX]

[ QUOTE ]
I know we referenced his site before, but here it is again:
https://www.the-mite.com/mite22.htm

There have been several other people that used an RX7 rearend.
One fellow (Brust) adapted a miata IRS, but said he'd do the RX7 if he had to do it again.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is pretty much what i would like to do to mine, obviously some minor changes hear and there, but that will be a great site for me to check out when i really dive in. Thanks.

Its not going to be much of a track car, maybe some 1/4 mile and maybe a few scca events, but i definatly want it to be a daily driver during the summer when it is nice out.

 

[Matthew E. Herd]

If you're seriously considering 150 hp to the wheels, i doubt that it'll ever see the light of day for the next several years. Also, it probably will not be a fun car to drive if it is that tweaked. I'd stick with the normally aspirated 1275 (hopped up a bit) with 1275 ribcase trans and stock rear end (and change to later halfshafts). All of that will still take a long time to do, and you'll enjoy the end result. I know the feeling of always wanting more power, but the car weighs less than 1500 lbs. You'll still get amazing performance with relatively stock components. P.S. It'll end up in E-Mod for SCCA autocross if you swap engines. Also, any time trialing (including hill-climb) and roadracing you'd plan on doing requires a full cage (except for time trials when the car is classed as 'stock' or 'street prepared'). While this limits your level of prep considerably (no internal engine) in street prepared, but updates/backdates are allowed (which means a stock 1275 w/ any intake/exhaust is fine in a bugeye), street prepared is the most I would go for a car that ever sees the street.

I've found that dual purpose vehicles are more trouble than they're worth. If you really want to drive on the street, stick to relatively modest changes. Otherwise it's a huge hassle.

 

[AHBugeyeWRX]

Well it looks like about 100 hp for the real axles so that isnt gonna work for me. I will look into some other ones then. Thanks for the input.