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Spectacular Bugeye!

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CurtisJ

Jedi Hopeful
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Have you guys seen this one yet? I think it's a beautifully engineered and detailed conversion. But even if you don't like engine swaps (?), you should check out the many other upgrades (including front and rear suspension, brakes, hood tilt mechanism, etc.)

Bruce Uchida's BMW-powered 1959 Austin Healey Sprite
https://www.britishv8.org/Other/BruceUchida.htm (41 photos)

BruceUchida-AA.jpg


BruceUchida-BB.jpg


BruceUchida-DB.jpg
 
Now, THAT'S the way to do a conversion...

...if you're gonna do one!

Very nice, indeed!
 
That's a very clean conversion, and I bet it's a hoot to drive!
 
I think this car is beautiful, but I don't get the BMW conversion. It's not like BMW has a great reputation for reliability or parts availability/affordability. I guess it has more power than a 1275, but is it really enough to justify all that labor.

Oh well, I guess if the builder is happy with it than it's worth it. I much prefer this lump to say a big American V-8 lump.
 
I think a lot of swaps are based on what someone is familiar with or what is sitting in the back corner of the garage.
 
That is a pretty conversion Not a painted up .. I like the minimum of "stuff'on the car. Upgraded but it"s still a sprite.
 
If you google bugeye and go into images, on the third page is an S2000 driveline installed in a 59 Sprite.
Now somehow , that makes sense to me

It looks as good as this car does.

JMHO
Dave :savewave:
 
14dna said:
If you google bugeye and go into images, on the third page is an S2000 driveline installed in a 59 Sprite.
Now somehow , that makes sense to me

It looks as good as this car does.

JMHO
Click to expand...

Here's a direct link to the S2000 (VTEC) Sprite... but you really can't tell much about it from just three photos: VTEC-powered Sprite
(I'd publish more photos of the VTEC installation if I knew where to get them.)

Don't underestimate the BMW engine... a whole lot of people have raced with that engine over the years, and hop-up parts are plentiful for it.

A little bit of the back story on Bruce's car: his dad bought it back in the early sixties and raced it in SCCA. Then, the Sprite sat in the back corner of the garage until the seventies. Bruce adopted it and installed a Buick 215 aluminum V8 in it... but he ultimately decided that the BMW engine would suit the car better. With the Buick V8 the car was definitely faster, but it was also "unbalanced".
 
I saw this the other day and I indeed thought the same thing. I don't have any thoughts on the bmw conversion, but the craftsmanship of all of the work is absolutley superb.
 
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