A few questions here…

[Deadeye]

According to my local British Car service center (Jack Merryman – ever heard of him?), I am in desperate need of king pins and control arm bushings. And I also have a partially collapsed front spring. So, looks to me like I should buy a complete front suspension kit. Is that the correct call, and which of the many providers has the best kits for the best price? Also, after the above work is completed, the front end will ride higher than the back end, So then I’ll be looking for corrections to the rear springs. (already has tube shock conversion) Do I have the rear springs re-springed (!) or go with a new rear kit, and if kit is the way to go… same question as above. Lastly (for now), I might be having a total re-paint done and if I do I’ll be buying fresh side trim. So, same question as above… which provider has the best quality for the best price? Oh yea, Anybody want to paint a car? If I had everything above accomplished, I'd have a killer driver. Hopefully I'll live to see the day!

Thanks a bunch!
Deadeye. ‘72B

 

[tony barnhill]

Deadeye...while you're into it, if the only thing you've modified in the rear is installation o those tube shocks, put new or rebuilt original shocks back on - your handling will improve over the tube shocks!

 

[Mark Beiser]

Toss the tube shocks and go back with the lever arm shocks. If you want stiffer dampening than the standard lever shocks, screw in the heavy duty pistons that Moss sells for them.

It sounds like you have a generally worn out suspension. It is well worth it to completely redo it, king pins, tie rods, front and rear springs, front and rear shocks, and all the rubber parts.
Don't get your rear springs rearched. It doesn't last very long, and brand new springs are not very expensive.

Unless you are building a race car, don't go with polly bushings, stick with the standard components. If you want things to be a little bit stiffer, get the MGB V8 front a-arm bushings and the uprated pistons for the shocks.

You may also need to replace the lower a-arms. Closely inspect the holes where they mount to the lower pivot of the king pin. Things tend to sieze up in there and it causes the holes in the a-arm to get ovaled out, or even sloted. I actually had one break through on me at about 70 mph on my 2nd B.

I have had an MGB with a completely stock suspension, one with full tube shock conversion, polly bushings and uprated sway bars, and one with stock components with uprated shock pistons and v8 a-arm bushes.
The one with the shock pistons and v8 bushes as the only mods had almost as tight of handling as the fully uprated one. Its ride was nearly as smooth as the completely stock one.
I hated driving the one with the fully uprated suspension because the ride was unbelievably harsh, heh. Like $2k in performance suspension components wasted on that car.

 

[Jim 67B]

If your suspension is that worn you should take a good look at your motor mounts. New motor mounts and a transmission mount are cheap insurance. You don't want that motor moving around after you get that new tight suspension.

 

[Bruce74B]

One of this winter's projects for me is to rebuild the front suspension...new shocks and either a major rebuild kit or a minor kit, too. I am curious as to what others have to say here too, so how about some othe opinions on the best way to go???
Sorry, don't wanna hijack your thread, just wanna share some of the great knowlege of some of the members here!

Bruce

 

[Dave Russell]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Bruce74B:
.new shocks and either a major rebuild kit or a minor kit, too. so how about some othe opinions on the best way to go???
Bruce<hr></blockquote>

Best way to go on what? Major or minor kit? Tube shocks?

I completely agree with Mark on the shocks & bushings. Also Worldwide Auto is the only way to go for lever shocks. https://hometown.aol.com/bgahc/myhomepage/index.html

Do whatever is needed to put things in good condition. Quite possibly all of it.
D

 

[Tom Bedenbaugh]

Mark said, "I hated driving the one with the fully uprated suspension because the ride was unbelievably harsh, heh. Like $2k in performance suspension components wasted on that car."
I am glad you posted your experence with the upgraded suspention. I have been trying to convence some people on another board that for street driving you can not beat the stock set up. I use the V8 bushing on all my front end rebuilds, but that's as far as I go with modifications. If a B is set up with a good solid stock suspention you can't beat it. Now if your going to run it in a road race then that a different story. You need the stiffness to take the curves at excessive speeds, and you not dealing with pot holes and the likes.

 

[Baxter]

Generally speaking, I'm with you, Tom... uprated bushings are nice, v8 or maybe poly, lowering it can help, bigger sway bars can help (as the MGs biggest handling fault to me is a fair bit of roll)... but here's the big thing:

MOST MGS ARE OVERSPRUNG TO BEGIN WITH.

Putting in stiffer springs only makes it worse. You can't have great roadholding if the cars skittering all over the road.

My 2¢

 

[Gary Lloyd]

I'm with Tom completely!! My car will do whatever I ask her to!! And man!! I am demanding sometimes!! V8 bushings and everything else stock!!! ENJOY!!!!

 

[MGFever]

I can confirm the posts about the original suspension components. Back in "74 I was lucky enought to order a new MGB. That car handled great with no modifications. Currently I'm driving both a '74 Midget and a '72 GT, both with tube shock conversions. They both ride like a 3/4 ton truck, tight as all get out. I'll be going back to the original lever action shocks as soon as I can swing it. When I do that, I'll be sure to let anyone take these shocks off my hands!