lowering

[dorisandjack]

so, the time is nearly upon me to begin the process of fitting my new 5leaf spring kit with poly bushes on Doris the 65 2 door, with 1.5" lowering blocks. with this done I intend to immediately (after a cuppa) begin lowering the front, which, is were I hope you ever assisting lovely bunch can help me out! I'm only going 1 spline on the torsion bars to achieve 1.5" at the front to Match the rear, replacing damper oil for sae 40 and putting poly bushes in the lower suspension arm eyebolt end along with new fulcrum pins, so, since my intentions have been made clear the question(s) I'm asking are.. what is the process necessary for turning the splines? and also, what effect will this have on the camber and what do I need to do to correct it? I know there will be some threads on the process somewhere but I'm struggling to find the complete idiots guide to lowering, I was simply hoping I may be able to get a short step-by-step! thanks in advance, jack.

[bmcecosse]

It's all been covered 1000 times... Use the search facility. But it's a huge mistake to lower the car as you propose. You will only batter the bump stops into the rear chassis legs - and at the front, into the inner wings. Far better to leave the suspension with some movement. The heavier oil is a great idea - the lowering is not...

[IslipMinor]

From 40+ years and 100,000+ miles experience of running a Minor that has been lowered by around 2", we have never had any problems of any description with damage to either front or rear of the car. The bumps stops must be shortened and reprofiled to restore the 'progression' that is lost by cutting off 1" of the top part.

1 spline and 1.5" lowering blocks will balance out well. At the front you will also need to space out the eye bolt to restore the camber angle - it 'goes positive' as the front is lowered. You will need some washers to space the eye bolt out - do not use a 'U' washer, it just allows muck and rubbish into the eye bolt fixing. I would try around 6mm or 1/4" of spacing, if the eye bolt thread is long enough to allow it - the eye bolt must protrude beyond the end of the nut by at least 1 thread when tightened up.

SAE 40 in all the dampers will make a big difference too.

[bmcecosse]

You 'forget' to mention that you have stronger torsion bars fitted Richard... I also suspect your car rarely has any rear seat passengers..

[The vast minority]

It takes 7.5 minutes each side to lower the front.
Possibly a little more first time.

[bmcecosse]

And another 7.5 minutes to crank it back up again when you realise you have made a mistake lowering the car so it bumps along on the stops.....

[IslipMinor]

For almost 30 years of 'lowering' the torsion bars were standard Minor, the Marina van bars were fitted as part of the restoration completed 16 years ago.

I repeat that we have never had a problem, and although we don't often have 2 rear passengers, we do have 1 quite often and much of the post-restoration mileage has been done touring around the UK and Europe with a boot full of luggage. The load has then progressively increased on the way round as we have bought bottles of wine! The record was 81 bottles, which with the luggage would have been well more than 2 average rear seat passengers!

[les]

7.5 minutes? It takes me at least 9.25 minutes, and if I drop the spanners it has take 9.75. Seriously though, I presume you're joking!

[The vast minority]

7.5 minutes? It takes me at least 9.25 minutes, and if I drop the spanners it has take 9.75. Seriously though, I presume you're joking!

No joke, Bmcecosse can do it in 15 mins for both sides. I'm about half an hour for both sides but I hope to catch up one day.

It's like stealing sweets from a baby once you know how. A road side job even


http://www.morrisminorowners.co.uk/view ... f=1&t=9834
Al

[bmcecosse]

Which is how I learned (the hard way) that lowering is not clever - and had to rapidly raise the car at the start of a rally when hearing that 'whites' were being used. I'm sure low is great for a track car - but on today's highways I seriously recommend to leave the car pretty much at standard height - it settles over the years anyway - and let the suspension do it's job. And yes - cut down the bump stops at the rear....

[les]

Yeah yeah, 5 minute jobs, well 7.536 minute ones, we've all heard of them. Wow he's good. What's the attraction in claiming to be able to do a job in record time. Just indicates to me that there are no niceties involved like cleaning bits up before assembly, and greasing bolts etc.
Tortoise and hare spring to mind!

[bmcecosse]

Oh yes = it's just a quick off and on job - on parts already clean and oiled...... and slightly tongue in cheek !