Morris Minor Owners Club

My car has telescopic shocks and had lowerered suspension but the lowerering kit has been removed in an effort to get a softer ride
The ride is better now but I believe it could be better
Rear springs look new
Any thoughts on how i can make the ride more compliant withour replacing the shocks ?

What rear springs have got fitted?

Are they 5 or 7 leaf?

5 leaf springs are nominally softer then 7 leaf.

Wish I still had my original MM springs, 7 leaves of thinner section (7/32 I think instead of 1/4)
Have now removed the bottom two from the setup which has helped.

Alan

are softer torsion ars available ?

I don't think so, perhaps just worn out ones!

I've heard fitting strips of teflon between each spring, removing friction between them, can improve matters too. Plus I've read on here of turning the top leaf over to soften the ride.

How old are your tyres? I had very old tyres (10 yrs +) on my MGB and when I got new tyres it transformed the ride.

The top leaf of the Minor cannot be turned over and refitted to the rest of the spring leaves.

The ends of the spring and shape of the spring do not facilitate such a modification.

You can take the bottom leaf and place it on the top of the top leaf or you can remove it altogether as I have done with the 7 leaf traveller springs fitted to my Minor.

philthehill wrote: ↑Mon Jul 29, 2019 7:33 am You can take the bottom leaf and place it on the top of the top leaf or you can remove it altogether as I have done with the 7 leaf traveller springs fitted to my Minor.

That must have been what I was thinking of!

'Softer ride'? What year and model is your Minor?

Dampers can make the suspension feel harsh/hard. What telescopic dampers are fitted and are they adjustable?

At the front the standard torsion bars are very 'soft', and even with a slight upgrade to the Marina van bars, they are still pretty soft. What diameter are the torsion bars on your car? A standard Minor is 3/4" (19mm), and the Marina van is 20.6mm.

At the rear the earlier 7-leaf springs (7/32" leaves) on the saloons and convertibles were a bit hard/harsh, and could be replaced with the later, slightly softer, 5-leaf saloon/convertible springs. Alternatively, if you want a slightly lower rear suspension, either remove the bottom, smallest leaf altogether, or remove the bottom leaf and reassemble the spring with the bottom leaf turned upside down on the top of the other 6 leaves, to lower and soften the rear a little more.

The Travellers all had slightly thicker (0.25") leaved 7-leaf springs.

As has already been asked, which rear springs are fitted?

Removing the lowering kit should not affect the ride quality, and unless the suspension was bottoming out - are all 4 bump stops in place and in good condition? With lowered suspension, the 4 bump stops need to be reshaped to allow for the lowering.

Removing the lowerering kit did make a difference but perhaps it was bottoming out
The shox were bought as a kit from ESM looking at the receipt but not sure what rate they are
I may revert back to original to get back to a baseline
I cant think why there is a need to mess with the suspension.Its a complete waste of time in my view for a road car even with a tuned 1275cc

alawrence10360 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 2:05 pm I cant think why there is a need to mess with the suspension.Its a complete waste of time in my view for a road car even with a tuned 1275cc

IMHO My Moggie was totally transformed by having the suspension professionally set up and it's always something I'm happy to pay for. Not by a random chap at a franchised tyre centre with a bendy, random laser beam and no clue, but by a dude with a piece of string who knows what they are doing. I had the privilege of having my geo set up my Alonso's / Jenson Button's suspension engineer and the result, after an hour of twiddling, was a totally transformed car. Both in ride and handling. Massively happy and £££ very well spent.

It's the same with my motorbikes. I always have them set up by a track side pro rather than a mechanic and it's knee down all the way.

Just my tuppence from my own experience.

There is very little of the standard Minor suspension left on my car but it still runs the original torsion bars on the front and non original leaf springs on the back but of course both suspension types have been considerably tweaked.
As someone who has always driven their Minor very hard I would suggest that the Minor standard suspension is more than adequate for the 803cc, the 948cc and the 1098cc engines but once you put in a 1275cc engine (or even tune the small block engines) the suspension is lacking and it does need fine fettling especially if the car intends to be driven to maximise the additional power.
If you drive the Minor fast and hard you will soon discover the inadequacy of the Minor suspension.

Fast and hard is deffinatly not my thing, Especially in a car..
Im replacing the rack soon as its a bit clunky and once this is done i will look further into the ride.
I have spent $£€ on suspension set up on race bikes in another life and I hope I dont need it now ive reverted to a Moggie

the rear springs look new

That may be your problem I've fitted two sets of aftermarket rear springs on two minors and every one produced a very harsh ride. One in particular so hard it was only springing on the tyres very little movement on the springs. I think its simply the quality of the tempering .one I took the bottom leaf off the other.I was lucky to find new old stock and that put the car back to original ride, Trouble is that which ever trader you get them from they all come from the same manufacturer so you take your chance on the batch some will be ok others hard or soft. good luck

Ah, so that’s what it is. I fiited a pair of almost new springs picked up on fleabay and was wondering why it was so hard. That also explains why these little used springs were up for grabs!

posted in error

acrobinson wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 6:49 pm

alawrence10360 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 2:05 pm I cant think why there is a need to mess with the suspension.Its a complete waste of time in my view for a road car even with a tuned 1275cc

IMHO My Moggie was totally transformed by having the suspension professionally set up and it's always something I'm happy to pay for. Not by a random chap at a franchised tyre centre with a bendy, random laser beam and no clue, but by a dude with a piece of string who knows what they are doing. I had the privilege of having my geo set up my Alonso's / Jenson Button's suspension engineer and the result, after an hour of twiddling, was a totally transformed car. Both in ride and handling. Massively happy and £££ very well spent.

It's the same with my motorbikes. I always have them set up by a track side pro rather than a mechanic and it's knee down all the way.

Just my tuppence from my own experience.

So,just as a matter of interest,what were the final settings "dialled in" to your moggie? ( castor,camber ,toe , ete , etc. )
John

Is there anything to be gained by adding poly liners between the leafs?

Straight answer - No.

The springs in good condition are more than adequate and do not require poly liners between the leaves.

Phil

acrobinson

I also would be interested to know what your professional suspension man did to your Minor suspension to make such an improvement..

With the Minor there is no facility to change very much as regards caster & camber.

Unless you have adjustable suspension the most you can do is slightly increase/decrease the camber as all the other suspension location points are fixed by the non adjustable mountings on the body.

Phil