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Tube Shocks Conversion

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BJ8TONY

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Hello

I am considering converting from the stock lever shocks to tube shocks and am looking for the opinions from those who have already done this.
Is there a significant difference or am I better off just staying with rebuilt lever shocks.

Thanks and have a great day
 
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One of the best improvements I did to my BJ8. No more bottoming out, smooth ride and they work great with the sway bar to make the cornering better. I give it a thumbs up!
Jerry
 
Many years ago I put Konis on my BJ7, they're great. I've got another set of brackets & set of new Konis that I plan to but on my '67 BJ8 when shes put back on the road. Ride is firm, but cornering is amazing. cheers
 
I have the Bilstien conversion from Farspars on my BJ8

Bloody brilliant and while expensive, it is money well spent. As the front lever shock is the upper A-arm, I send the old shocks to World Products to be rebuilt, less hydraulics, thereby removing the slop in the control arm.
At the same time I used the urethane suspension bushings from Farspars and suspect that both these mods added to the noticeable improvement with the shocks
 
My BJ8 has the Spax (Gas) version with valve removed from standard shocks and Poly bushes

DSC_6960a.jpg
 
I built my own fronts and fixed faults in a Cape setup for the rears - SPAX all around - and it wound up being only slightly less expensive than the Udo Putzke Fahrspass kit (I paid for welding and machine work).
Have helped install at least three sets of Udos. IMHO the ride is better with the Bilsteins than the SPAX - and yes it's a noticeable difference over the lever shocks.
Good shocks are expensive and make up around half the cost of the Udo kit.
 
A friend that owns a 1956 100 with the LeMans conversion and front disc brakes from a 3000 is thinking about fitting the Fahrspass kit. Anyone done that?
 
I installed the Fahrspass kit on my Series 1 BN7. It wasn't particularly challenging, though I think I actually removed and replaced the front shocks (the valves were removed, as noted by an earlier responder) in the process. The details elude me, but it was a minor change from the instructions supplied with the Bilstein kit. I probably don't drive this car hard enough to really notice the improvement from this upgrade.
 
IMHO the Fahrspass kit (Udo Putzke) is fantastic. My last BJ7 rode better and handled better... all good. I will have Udo's kit on my current BJ7 build... I have it on the shelf ready to go... I believe it is definitely worth the cost.
 
Our BJ7 has the Udo Putzke Fahrspass Bilstein shock conversion and polyurethane kit. We also went with the 5.5" wide chromed wires, replaced the top of the shock towers with camber/caster adjusting plates, and added trunnion bearings. The shop doing the work felt that the car was the best riding/handling Healey that they'd ever had. A buddy who is restoring his BJ8 took it for a ride and commented that it was much better than his stock Mk III. Good fortune on this. Sure looks like the consensus is that Mr. Putzke has done a magnificent job in designing his kit and specifying the characteristics of his Bilsteins.
Norton Commando AND a Triple? I'm hoping to have my 69 Kawaski 500 triple back this spring after effectively parking it half a century ago; also hoping that the old body can still ride it. Doug
 
twas_brillig said:
Our BJ7 has the Udo Putzke Fahrspass Bilstein shock conversion and polyurethane kit. We also went with the 5.5" wide chromed wires, replaced the top of the shock towers with camber/caster adjusting plates, and added trunnion bearings. The shop doing the work felt that the car was the best riding/handling Healey that they'd ever had. A buddy who is restoring his BJ8 took it for a ride and commented that it was much better than his stock Mk III. Good fortune on this. Sure looks like the consensus is that Mr. Putzke has done a magnificent job in designing his kit and specifying the characteristics of his Bilsteins.
Norton Commando AND a Triple? I'm hoping to have my 69 Kawaski 500 triple back this spring after effectively parking it half a century ago; also hoping that the old body can still ride it. Doug
Click to expand...
Would you mind revealing which adjusting plates you have--Kilmartin, Monaco, or ?--and your caster/camber settings? Stock Big Healey settings are 1deg pos. camber and 2deg pos. caster, but I don't think they were set all that precisely from the factory.
 
Bob: I bought the plates used (probably more than ten years ago). Have a look at Moss Motors https://mossmotors.com/media/instructions/856-115_INST.pdf as the notes there (made by Kilmartin; sold by Moss) match what I was able to find in my files. Also note their comment about the precision required for welding: the shop (and I have no complaints or criticisms for their work) weren't able to quite get the front end alignment figures they'd hope for on our Healey, presumably because they hadn't been able to get the plates mounted as precisely as hoped for. And I'm afraid I don't have a record as to what they were trying for when they did the alignment. The resto shop we used has moved away from that work, but I'll touch base with them and the alignment shop, just in case they have the specifications that they used. Doug
 
I dropped a note to Mr. Putzke, suggesting that he look at the praise his efforts were getting in this thread, and got this reply back:
"Thank you Doug for the information. Over 1000 kits world wide and still counting. And it is still a hobby."
Cool.

Also - when trying to dig out stuff for Mr. Spidell, I found a note from a Healey owner we had met at the VanDusen show in Vancouver a few years ago. His only suspension change had been the Fahrspass kit, and he raved about it. Later, Doug
 
Doug,
Thanks for the reply. Unless they were modified, you can't get much, if any, caster adjustment with those. The caster setting would have to be done when welding them in; which would be tricky. My BN2 had extreme neg. camber when we bought it, and we could never determine why (chassis measurements weren't out of whack, but the car did have front-end damage). I don't know if the welder even tried to set caster, but the car tracks straight and I was able to get near zero camber.
Bob
 
Just dropped notes to Denis Welch, Kilmartin, and Norman regards optimum settings for the front end (I mentioned running 5.5 inch wide rims). And forgot to chase the long shot of records for our alignment, many, many years ago. I'll add whatever I learn; would appreciate hearing waht advice others have received. Thanks, Doug
 
I've been doing some investigation on front-end alignment, and bought a rig to measure and set tow, camber and caster. Zero camber is generally recommended for 'street' cars with radials. Zero or slight toe-in or out is usually recommended; slight toe-out provides a little better 'turn in.' Caster isn't easily adjustable, but you can us shims to change damper angle slightly; the shop manual for Big Healeys calls for 2deg pos. caster, but I think it varies. Most newer cars appear to have slight neg. camber.

I used offset trunnion bushings to get 0.6-0.7deg negative camber with 1/16" toe-out on my BJ8, and it feels more responsive but tracks true. I have 185/70 radials on 6" rims, and steering is ponderous, even with torrington thrust bearings, but the neg. camber reduced that some.
 
Got this reply from Denis Welch Motorsport:
"Thank you for contacting DWR, With regards to your question it does depend on what the car is being used for and what tyres you have on the car. But for a typical road car you would be looking at 3/4 & 1 degree negative."
Doug
 
Got this reply from Kilmartin:

" I think most people would go for around 1 degree negative camber for road going Healeys. For competition maybe 3 – 5 degrees negative.

Kind regards

Greg Kilmartin

Kilmartin Automotive Sheetmetal
 
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