Rebuilding Lever Shocks

[Burkee]

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.

I’m running Vredestein 185R 15 with 5 inch rims and going back and forth with regular suspension vs upgraded. My opinion changes with each post. Certainly don’t want to put stress on suspension components with stiffer shocks or stronger parts.

 

[Jack T]

If you want your Healey to handle like a Miata, you could always just buy a Miata.

Or an S2000, as I did.

 

[Burkee]

A lot of cowl shake on the TBird particularly with the removable hard top off.

 

[John Turney]

I sat down with Denis Welch years ago, while he was still around. Based on our discussion, I have the 7/8" anti-sway bar from Denis Welch, with poly bushings on the links, rubber for the mounting bushings. I used 1/4" x 6" Gr 8 bolts and 1/4" galvanized pipe to make new links. The stock links aren't strong enough, and because the front end is lowered about 3/4" using spacers above the spring pans, the length of the links had to be increased so the antisway bar arms are parallel to the ground.

I'm running 185/70R-15 Pirellis on 72-spoke rims. Camber is adjusted to -0.5 deg using offset bushings. Wear on the tires is even across the tread and they don't rub on the fenders.

On the rear suspension, the Panhard rod has the same poly bushings as the from antisway bar. (So does the transmission rear mount.) No other handling changes were made to the rear.

Been running like that since 2002.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

John, Where did you find 185/70R-15 Pirellis? My BJ8 had them--'P3s' I think the where--when I bought the car over 40 years ago; replaced them once and haven't found them since.

 

[John Turney]

John, Where did you find 185/70R-15 Pirellis? My BJ8 had them--'P3s' I think the where--when I bought the car over 40 years ago; replaced them once and haven't found them since.

The ones I have are P6000's. They are available at all the major sellers, but I found an on-line seller in Long Beach that had a really good price (that price is no longer available.) I forget their name.