Rebuilding Lever Shocks

[Burkee]

Sent out my front and rear shocks to be rebuilt. Is the heavy duty rebuild style worth doing or should I stick with the standard rebuild? No competitive driving just back road driving. Left front was completely gone, the other three were leaking, Ed

 

[John Turney]

Sent out my front and rear shocks to be rebuilt. Is the heavy duty rebuild style worth doing or should I stick with the standard rebuild? No competitive driving just back road driving. Left front was completely gone, the other three were leaking, Ed

The standard rebuild is fine.

 

[Burkee]

Should jack stands be on rear axle when reinstalling rear shocks?

 

[red57]

Shouldn't matter, the shock swing is greater than the axle travel

 

[Healey Nut]

The heavy duty valving is well worth it . It makes the front end much better . That great cast iron lump makes the front end wallow in corners and getting the heavy duty valving improves it a lot .

 

[Burkee]

Is there more resistance that would make reinstalling difficult than the standard rebuild?

 

[Healey Nut]

Doesn’t change the installation at all . Basically it is a valve with a smaller hole in it which restricts the flow of oil in the shock to give stiffer damper effect . The look or installation is all the same .
I did it to all my Healeys .

 

[Burkee]

Doesn’t change the installation at all . Basically it is a valve with a smaller hole in it which restricts the flow of oil in the shock to give stiffer damper effect . The look or installation is all the same .
I did it to all my Healeys .

Is the ride a lot stiffer, more apt to feel the road imperfections?

 

[Healey Nut]

Yes it’s a stiffer ride but the handling improvement it gives you makes it IMHO worth it .

 

[Burkee]

Thanks for all the input, much appreciated.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

The heavy duty valving is well worth it . It makes the front end much better . That great cast iron lump makes the front end wallow in corners and getting the heavy duty valving improves it a lot .

So does a larger front sway bar.

 

[Rob Glasgow]

So it looks like the answer is yes and no……

 

[Healey Nut]

So does a larger front sway bar.

All the more reason to do both

 

[Bob_Spidell]

150K miles driving Healeys and I've never once thought "I wish my shocks were stiffer."

One thing I learned about messing with suspensions is you change one thing, it affects all the rest. When I put urethane bushes and uprated brackets on the BJ8's stock sway bar I promptly broke a link (the uprated anti-sway bar came with beefier links). I also had a front shock mount crack; I've never thought they were a robust design to begin with. Carroll Smith, the renowned chassis builder, advocated using stiffer springs and softer shocks, to keep the wheels planted.

 

[Jack T]

So does a larger front sway bar.

Bob, that caught my eye. I run 185 tires on 5" rims and sometimes get a bit of rubbing on the fenders in turns, even with new springs and rebuilt shocks. What size sway bar did you use?

Thanks.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Jack,

I bought my bar from Addco (NFI: > ADDCO - Performance Sway Bars for Cars and Trucks - Addco <). I don't see anything available for Big Healeys now--they do offer for Sprites--but you could inquire. I've run 185/70-15 tires on 6in/72-spoke rims on my BJ8 since soon after I bought it, and the only rubbing issue I've had is with the R/R tire rubbing on a bolt head on the rebound block, in hard L-H cornering only. I now think the 6in rims are too wide and would go with 5.5" if I ever replace them. As soon as I started driving it harder I started breaking spokes in the OEM, 60-spoke wheels (another example of 'messing with one aspect ...'). I'm not sure on this, but IIRC the Big Healey chassis was designed for bias-ply tires, not nearly as 'sticky' as the radials which came later--first as an option ('Roadspeed') if I'm not mistaken--and which we all drive on now. I think 185s on 5in rims is close to OEM on Big Healeys--my 100 has them--and I wouldn't expect any rubbing unless something is 'off.' Note going to lower profile tires stiffens the suspension as well.

Further to shocks, the ideal is a 'progressive' design, which is soft in the first fraction of travel and gets stiffer the higher the wheel moves. My Mustang has Magnaride, which increases offside stiffness in a turn, adjusting electronically and many times per second. IMO, it rides too stiff for normal driving, with 19" rims and low-profile tires (and no 'softer' setting available). My best-riding car is a Lincoln LS, which I inherited. It's a Jag S-Type under the skin, has near perfect 50-50 weight distribution, has the most comfortable ride and corners well. It also has a lot of 'British car quirks,' but its 3.9L V-8 is silky smooth.

 

[Jack T]

Bob, thanks for that. I see DWR has uprated bars in 3/4" and 7/8" and include heavier links, brackets, and bushings. AH Spares shows 3/4" bars only, at significantly less $$$ than DWR. Based on your earlier post, it might be worth it in the long run to go with the more expensive option. I went with the 185-15 tires to soften the suspension a bit and give a bit more ground clearance. No thoughts of going to 185/70s.

 

[Editor_Reid]

Geoff Healey, Donald Healey's son most responsible for design and engineering at the Donald Healey Motor Company, cautioned in the 1980s that he was concerned about fatigue of suspension components as the cars grew older and given the additional stress placed on them by radial tires. He spoke about this at Healey club events in the USA.

Yes, Healeys came with bias-ply tires that broke loose easily. That was just the way you drove them - drifting and countersteering to correct it was just the norm. (If you've never driven a Healey with bias-ply tires, you've never experienced what it was like to drive a new Healey.)

If you want your Healey to handle like a Miata, you could always just buy a Miata. If you just want to improve your Healey's handling a little bit, you might ask yourself why. Using radial tires already makes huge difference.

 

[Burkee]

Jack,

I bought my bar from Addco (NFI: > ADDCO - Performance Sway Bars for Cars and Trucks - Addco <). I don't see anything available for Big Healeys now--they do offer for Sprites--but you could inquire. I've run 185/70-15 tires on 6in/72-spoke rims on my BJ8 since soon after I bought it, and the only rubbing issue I've had is with the R/R tire rubbing on a bolt head on the rebound block, in hard L-H cornering only. I now think the 6in rims are too wide and would go with 5.5" if I ever replace them. As soon as I started driving it harder I started breaking spokes in the OEM, 60-spoke wheels (another example of 'messing with one aspect ...'). I'm not sure on this, but IIRC the Big Healey chassis was designed for bias-ply tires, not nearly as 'sticky' as the radials which came later--first as an option ('Roadspeed') if I'm not mistaken--and which we all drive on now. I think 185s on 5in rims is close to OEM on Big Healeys--my 100 has them--and I wouldn't expect any rubbing unless something is 'off.' Note going to lower profile tires stiffens the suspension as well.

Further to shocks, the ideal is a 'progressive' design, which is soft in the first fraction of travel and gets stiffer the higher the wheel moves. My Mustang has Magnaride, which increases offside stiffness in a turn, adjusting electronically and many times per second. IMO, it rides too stiff for normal driving, with 19" rims and low-profile tires (and no 'softer' setting available). My best-riding car is a Lincoln LS, which I inherited. It's a Jag S-Type under the skin, has near perfect 50-50 weight distribution, has the most comfortable ride and corners well. It also has a lot of 'British car quirks,' but its 3.9L V-8 is silky smooth.

I had an 04 TBird, same car.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

I had an 04 TBird, same car.

Yep. I'd forgotten about that (though I think the T-Bird was a bit smaller, and should have handled even better).