• 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

Lean back

Share this page

jcatnite

jcatnite

Jedi Knight
Offline
About 3K miles ago, I thought I corrected my leaning 76 Midget. It had the usual sag in the left rear. So I put new bushings in the rear. Swapped springs around, etc. etc. etc. While that helped some, it didn't take it all away. What I think made it much better was when I rebuilt the front suspension. I also swapped front springs to move the "weaker" one to the passenger side. Anyway, flash forward to 08 and the lean is back with a vengence. I am almost a full inch lower at the fender arch on the drivers side than the passenger. I lifted her up and checked all the bushings, made sure the shackles weren't binding or bent and then decided to get drastic. I made some 1/2" spacers and put them between the spring pan and the A arm on the passenger side. This gave me about 3/8" back but I'm still off a quite a bit. I guess my question is this. I'm planning mount a set of chrome bumpers and grill from a 69 sprite on her. But I'm keeping the 1500 lump for obvious reasons. I'm thinking about new springs from VB for the front. I would like to get it closer to the ride height of the chrome bumper cars as well. Does anyone have experience with new coil springs from VB? I will probably go with poly bushings this time as well if I take it all apart again.
JC
 
I went through 3 sets of springs before they sent me the right thing. What was supposed to be for a Mark IV Srite when I put it on the car made Bugsy look like he had an off road setup. Ride was almost 1 1/2" too high in the front. Ended up with Springs supposedly for a BE in order to get any kind of normal ride height. This one is tricky.
 
I'm also concerned about the lever arms. I have a nice set of PeterC rebuilt front shocks. I'm wondering what that is going to do to the camber when I drop it. I was thinking the spring height and weight ratings were the same for all the chrome bumper cars as well as the bugeye. Perhaps not...Anyone have any stats on this? I know the RB springs are 9.8" height and the later CB cars are supposed to be 9.4 inches. Not sure if the BE's are different though.
JC
 
JC -

I think I would call Peter C and run the issues by him. He's the suspension expert. I've talked with him numerous times and is extremely knoledgeable on these issues.

GJZ
 
JC,
First, 948 and 1098 springs are the same. Then 1275s, then 1500s. The stock length in the same order is 9-5/8, 10, and 10-1/4
Second, the camber shouldn't change, I don't think, so long as the mounting of the shock and of the A-frame remain the same. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. To change camber would require the distance between the 2 pivot points to inctease to increase negative camber.

Peter C
 
Wow,
Thank Peter. Guess I had my data wrong. I pulled it from the British Leyland shop manuals. Anyway, that gives me a place to start. I am totally uncomfortable with the spacers between the spring pan and the a-arm. I went to take a rather spirited turn at a country intersection today and chickened out. I kept seeing those little 5/16 bolts snaping.
In my mind, the lever arm was traveling up because the a-arm was traveling up with the lowered spring height. That was why I was asking about the camber problems. Just went out and looked at it. I was having trouble getting my head around the whole arc deal. Anyway, I think I'll be going for the bugeye springs. That will bring me down almost an entire inch. Now next question, is that going to ruin my chances with minilites...lol
JC
 
JC, The spring info came from Moss, and it may reflect what is current (as of a few years ago).


Minilites....... send 'em to me, and you wont have to worry.


Peter
 
Oh I don't have them yet but I can dream big... Looking at the sumitomo HTR 200. I was hoping for 205/60HR13 but can settle for 175/70HR13. Either of those would keep the speedometer pretty close. I wanted some Yokohama A539 but it is to find them over here. I think I want these wheels.
JC
 

Attachments

  • 11250.jpg
    11250.jpg
    24.3 KB · Views: 164
That's quite the wheel. I like that look a lot!
 
JC -

Where you getting the minilite's from? They look sharp. Thinking of those (although am literaly waiting on FedEx for a new weber setup).

Tx-

George
 
I put the lowering kit on Bugsy my '68 and as long as you are careful negotiating speed bumps and curbs. It did make a difference in handling. Would I do again, probably not. Got to be really careful or you'll tear off the exhaust pipe. Mine has some good dents in it. The fact that I don't have the transmission exhaust pipe supprt bracket allows pipe to move around when I enouunter speed bumps if I anm too aggressive with speed.
 
Thanks Jim I'll keep that in mind.
George, those minilites pop up on eBay from time to time. Look for the screenname mgbreaker. He sells them. I think others on this forum have used him.
BTW my chrome bumpers came in today...yeah.
JC
 
Back
Top