Ride Height
Thanks, Ray. I'll give it a go next week and post the results....
Seeing as everything is brand new I dont think there should be a low side yet but I know what you are getting at.
Where did that 'Smiley' come from? I try to include them on my posts but they never seem to work but one has appeared now, even though I didn't try to use it! Strange!
Ray
Hi Colin, It took a while to determine what springs have been fitted (I had to buy a trolly jack because I haven't taken any wheels off since buying the car last October and I'm not sure whether to trust the standard jacking points! ).
The springs both have BHH1767 written on them and each has 7 leaves - the shortest at the bottom is only about 6 inches long. There are no lowering blocks fitted - it all looks very standard and both sides are the same in terms of height.
Not sure where to go from here. A side by side comparison with another R/B GT would probably be a good idea but I think mine is the only one in Shetland - a trip south beckons !
Ken - I'm sorry to hear that you too have similar problems - I'll be interested to know how you get on.
The riding height - weird we can only messure it when the car is standing still - of the MGB is only arranged by the springs, both front and rear.
By older cars of which we do not have the history or the knowledge what has been replaced it is only guessing what has been done to it on the past, like replacing the spring only on one side.
For as we know that a car needs at least a driver we can be sure that at least on one side someone was sitting during when the car was in use, the passenger seat perhaps not always occupied, I am not going into details that driver and passenger do have a difference in weight.
Ok now serious, please note that springs do rust, some goes for all parts involved. I had a problem with my 1978 MGB with original only 11,000 miles - the rear springs were just tired (and had surface rust) and the back of the car was much lower as the front side and lower on the back as my other low mileage MGB's, visable without messuring.
Take in mind that the springs have been supporting and carrying the car all its life sofar.
Also it is fact that when you drive your car in the wet the individual springleafs in the springspackages do get wet and rustly lateron, dispite that foil what is in between.
I remember that about a 20 years ago their was a company in the UK offering a kind of wrapped rear springs for the MGB - how about a car driven in the wet (it only rains twice a year in the UK someone told me once -one time 180 days the other time 185 days, except in odd years) with one person in it and parked and that for years.
Some people here in Holland do take the rear springs apart clean them, paint them and both them back on (must be really dutch), I bought a new pair of rear springs including all fittings and the car is ok in riding height on both sides on the rear on the back.
So the difference might be caused by single persons use of the car incombination with rust and or just tired springs.
I assume that wheels, tires and tirepressure are equal on both sides on the rear 😉
For the record I replaced the rear springs of the a.m. MGB roadster with springs for a GT, it has to tow a Eriba Puck caravan this year to France. The GT springs are stiffer as roadster springs because of the slightly heavier back of a GT compared with a roadster.
So that should hopefully compensates the little additional downforce on the trailer hitch, fitted Spax shocks on the rear at the same time.
Pretty much agreeing with my thoughts Rob. By the way, I see that you use 'smileys' regularly on you posts. How do you do this? I can't get them to work at all!!!!
Ray
Hi Ray,
Well the smileys do work rather simpel, put the "cursor" (flashing vertical stripe) where you want one. Go with "mouse" to the disired smiley and enter. Must be simple othwerwise I couldn't do it. B)
Also when you type a reply there is a frame under it with the smileys and under that one a box which you can tick to disable the smileys, perhaps is that one swiched off.
Previous I also had popping up unwanted smileys - not only here also on another forum - perhaps given by mistake the computer code for the smiley and they pop up.
For as you also an older die-hard in the automotive industrie, do you also remember those wrapped rear springs which I referred to above ?
rgds Rob
Hi Rob,
Alot of pre war quality cars have or rather had their rear springs greased and then a leather gaiter was stitched over them.:D
This would presumably be beneficial from the point of view of stopping them rusting and keeping them lubricated,the leather gaiter may also have stiffened them a bit.
When I have got my GT back on the road one of the things I intend to do is to grease the rear springs and wrap them in denso tape to see if it makes any difference to the handling.Has anybody else done this?
My old GTV8 had those leather covers c/w grease nipples etc./ cost a fortune (£300 ish) and although they didn't squeak I'm not sure what other difference they made. It is also possible that they were so stiff that they were affecting the movement of the spring-which needs to flex quite a lot, especially with a v8. I think a liberal covering of Wayoyl does the trick well enough although be sure to let it dry thoroughly before driving otherwise whey will become like fly paper hovering over horse s**t :o:(;):D
🙂
AHA, you are correct Rob. It confused me because when I selected one it showed a symbol, 🙂 for example, but not the smiley. As you see I've just done a test and it works.
The second Austin 7 Ruby that I restored about 15 years ago had 'wrapped' springs. I stripped them down and they seemed in very good condition so I must assume that it works. Don't think that it would stiffen the suspension much though.
I think that also sometimes it was done for appearance as many sporty pre-war cars had exposed springs particularly if the car had 'cycle' wings. The leather wrapped springs looked much better thab exposed leaves. To me it seems a lot of work to wrap them for probably little benefit.
Regards, Ray B)