SHOCKS - which way to go?

[Woodie]

spridgetpwr, I am looking forward to seeing your bolt on pics for the front. I am going to go with the monroe 5877's for the rear, and simply invert the spring plates for the lower , and mount in the rebound strap location on top. I'll use washers to space the top ones if needed.

Do I need to cut the dust cover off the monroes or not?

I was thinking of leaving the rear levers in place even with the monroes on, any thoght on this?

 

[spridgetpwr84]

Spridgetpwr84, question as I am one of the folks that sells the composite rear leaf spring I see in your photo, are they floated at the spring clamps with spacers and not bolted thru in anyway and using anti tramp bars to locate the rear end. The reason I ask we always instruct people to mount them that way because drilling into the composite material can cause the spring to fail.

Hap,

You're right those are composite springs that I am using. Good eye even with my horrible pictures!

They are essentialy "floating" all though the on the top and bottom I have made a rubber pad for them to sit in on the top and bottom. The rubber pad looks like this [ ] ( the brackets/pads are rotated 90 degrees obviously) with the spring sandwiched between the two. This fills up the space between the ubolts and the spring. They have never moved at all. The rear is located with anti tramp and panhard bars. Drilling through the composite spring is not an option.

My data acquisition from this year with this setup shows that I have been pulling 2 g's and sustaining those forces through an entire turn. I have put my rear setup through the tests this year and I'm confident there is no movement in the spring the way I have it setup.

 

[Atrus]

Thanks Tony - I actually saw on another thread on here how easy the rears are.

It'll be a while before I do this. The plan is to tear out the interior and refnish that over the winter, and possibly some or all of the drivetrain. Next summer will be body work, and then suspension/reassembly. We know how those timelines go though, I have a gut feeling I won't be driving it much if at all next year. ;-)

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Spridgetpwr84, question as I am one of the folks that sells the composite rear leaf spring I see in your photo, are they floated at the spring clamps with spacers and not bolted thru in anyway and using anti tramp bars to locate the rear end. The reason I ask we always instruct people to mount them that way because drilling into the composite material can cause the spring to fail.

Hap,

You're right those are composite springs that I am using. Good eye even with my horrible pictures!

They are essentialy "floating" all though the on the top and bottom I have made a rubber pad for them to sit in on the top and bottom. The rubber pad looks like this [ ] ( the brackets/pads are rotated 90 degrees obviously) with the spring sandwiched between the two. This fills up the space between the ubolts and the spring. They have never moved at all. The rear is located with anti tramp and panhard bars. Drilling through the composite spring is not an option.

My data acquisition from this year with this setup shows that I have been pulling 2 g's and sustaining those forces through an entire turn. I have put my rear setup through the tests this year and I'm confident there is no movement in the spring the way I have it setup.

Glad to hear that, I recently saw a set of MGB composite springs that had been drilled thru and they had splintered and cracked. Those composite springs are made right down the road from me. The guy who makes them has been building composite leaf spring for dirt race cars for decades, I'd recognize his aluminum ends anywhere, The catch for our cars is they have to be bought in set's of 5 to get him to make them, many vendors have taken the plunge over the years nad had George make them for just about anything you can imagine. T&S Imports, Winners Circle, Myself (Acme Speed Shop), and Craig Chima have all sold them over the years.

Just curiuos, who do you race with, I've been racing these little cars for about 25 years now, and most of my racing has been with the SCCA, I do go to some Southeast vintage races with some of my engine customers, but most of my racing has been SCCA national racing. I've been to 20 SCCA runoffs, 5 as a driver (2 in EP, 2 in FP, 1 in HP) and the other 20 as either crew or spectator. Oh and what's your name, I'm Hap Waldrop by the way.

 

[Branson]

I found a tube shock conversion kit for my 65 on ebay...ended up getting it with a pair of KYB shocks for about 1/2 of what Moss or VB want....thats the only reason I did it...

I would be interested in a tube shock conversion for the front though....trying to keep things consistent.