• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Bugeye racecar questions

Share this page

VelodromeRacer

VelodromeRacer

Jedi Trainee
Offline
I have a few questions for the bugeye or midget racers.

The Bugeye I recently purchased has been raced for 30 some years. I have been upgrading and looking over her and have a question. It is not running a fan at the radiator, should I add a fan for cooling?

I am also trying to hook up a petronix Ignitor system to the car as well, but I am having no luck. Following the instructions and adding a Lucas sports coil, I connected the red lead to the + side of the coil and the black lead to the - side of the coil. The coil had a yellow lead from the harness to the - side and a black lead from the harness to the + side. Now, when I throw the ignition and fuel switches, nothing! Any ideas before I go back to points? It had a blue Bosch coil that I replaced when I did the Ignitor.

Help!
 
You do not need a radiator fan if the car is moving. I haven't had one in years and I often drove my street Spridgets with no fans too.

But remember; you can't "stand" too long....gotta keep moving (the faster, the better, but at least 15 mph or so).
And a normal fan eats 3 HP or so....deleting it is adding power /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif

As far as the Pertronix:
Go to their website and click on <u>Support</u> (on left side).
Then pick <u>Instruction Manuals</u>
There should be a choice for 12V negative or 12V positive ground. Pick the appropriate choice and see if that helps.
There is other stuff in the Support area that may help too. I did mine years ago and I forget the wiring setup (but it's worked great for me).

https://www.pertronix.com/
 
I would employ an electric fan. Takes away no horsepower and the weight is negligible. It is true most road race cars don't have fans, but some pace cars go slow enough that the air speed through the radiator is too low. Depending on how built your motor is and the size of the radiator, you may overheat. Also if you are a fan of drafting, it might come in handy.
 
I like a fan in my car, I also have an Alt. in the car another item some do with out.

It does take HP but I like having the security of the fan.
 
""""""" It is not running a fan at the radiator, should I add a fan for cooling?""""""""

We assume that this is a road race car?

It all depends on the cooling system you have. If the radiator is of sufficient size and cooling capacity for the horsepower you are generating on a somewhat warm day on track and the water temp doesnt go above 190* then you dont need a fan. Adding an electric fan instead of using a larger capacity radiator for example just complicates things.

Pert unit follow above posts.....remeber to use a coil with the proper internal resistance or a ballast resistor.
 
JerryB, yes I ope to race her next year with VSCDA. I had her at Putnam Park race track 2 weeks ago for testing where it was 87 degrees and the water temp was showing 200 to 210...? I am running water only with water wetter.
I just don't want to have issues with her next year. With the Petronix in, I am getting nothing. Would that make it so that I can't even get the fuel pump to click?
 
Velo.....

That motor is really not happy at 210...(assuming the temp gage is correct).

Water wetter seems to help about 5%...so use it.

The stock body grille opening is not very big but shud be big enough. Thaa a look at your tinwork especially above the radiator and make sure you get all the air that comes thru the grille going thru the radiator. Also try a session removing the grille mesh....that mesh cuts down airflow a lot. You want to determine if there is an airflow across the radiator problem or an insufficient capacity/frontal area of the radiator problem.

Alkso make sure the rad is clean. That is , after 30 years has sediment and crud closed up some of the bottom tubes? Remove it and if its bottom heavy it might be time for the radiator man. Those rads with a BIG top tank have a lot of capacity.

"""""""Would that make it so that I can't even get the fuel pump to click? """"""

prolly not. Bad bvattery cutoff switch? Check voltages form the battery forward.
 
Back
Top