The front end design on my 1959 Morris Minor

[mikec4193]

Hi Morris Minor folks

I have been reassembling the front end on my old 1959 Morris Minor and I have torn apart and put back together a lot of older and some newer cars too (1990's vintage Dodge Neons)...the older stuff has been of German decent and American iron...this front assembly I have never ever seen anything like it before....

I think what is amazing to me is the fact of way the top of the spindle mount is held in a vertical position in place with the arm that mounts to cube shock....it is crazy to me but it must work...how many million of those these old cars were build and how many are still being used in the world today....

Alec Issigonis was renaissance man for sure...

When he was designing this car (1940's) the American iron of that same time frame were still leaf springs with a big cumbersome steering box to steer the front wheels down the road with a rather large drag link...I don't thing anything from America time frame even knew what torsion bars were back then...

The German stuff from that era was an air cooled affair with torsion bars fore and aft....

I have never driven one of these cars before but I have say if I ever do I don't know what I will think about it...it is such a strange set-up to me...

The rear end set-up I can relate too sorta...shocks are bit clunky and odd to me but the leaf springs are normal stuff for me...

I am still amazed at this little car...I remember my dad said to stay away from them...I think he was bit with the Lucas bug when he was in West Germany back in the 1950s...

Quirky I guess is the best words to describe the this old man to me...I don't swear too much at it but I shake me head a lot...scratch my chin a lot too...

Just my observations from the Mechanicville New York part of the world...

Sorry for the ramble...

MikeC

[philthehill]

The Minor front suspension was ahead of its time and provides the car with good front suspension at a reasonable cost.
If anything the rubber bushes of the front suspension let it down but that can be overcome by fitting poly bushes which stiffen the suspension pivot points and add longevity to the bushes. When the Minor was first produced poly bushes were not even thought of so rubber bushes it was.
The dampers are used as the top suspension mounts/link and are adequate provided they are serviced at the recommended service intervals.
Changing the damper oil to a straight SAE30 or SAE40 can be of benefit.
Hudson cars had torsion bars fitted in 1934 with Packard following in the 1950s and Chrysler in 1957.

[ManyMinors]

I hope you DO get your Minor completed and then are able to drive and enjoy it a little. I think you might be surprised by just how well a Minor drives. The suspension - and particularly the steering were streets ahead of anything comparable at the time and even today I think that the Minor steering is very good being very direct and reasonably light - particularly with the correct tyres fitted. There was nothing wrong with rubber bushes - in fact many car manufacturers still fit them - but the new ones available today to Morris owners seem much less good quality than the originals and most owners will fit the alternative poly bushes now.

[philthehill]

The eye bolt rubbers even when original BMC/MOWOG items were rubbish and had to be replaced on a regular basis.

[ManyMinors]

It depends on what you mean by regularly I suppose. I still have some new spare original "MOWOG" rubber bushes. It must be around 10 years since I last replaced the eyebolt bushes in my car but they are still fine after that time

[mikec4193]

I hope you DO get your Minor completed and then are able to drive and enjoy it a little. I think you might be surprised by just how well a Minor drives. The suspension - and particularly the steering were streets ahead of anything comparable at the time and even today I think that the Minor steering is very good being very direct and reasonably light - particularly with the correct tyres fitted. There was nothing wrong with rubber bushes - in fact many car manufacturers still fit them - but the new ones available today to Morris owners seem much less good quality than the originals and most owners will fit the alternative poly bushes now.

Honestly I don't think I want to drive it on the roadways...it is a super cool car to work on but driving it where I live would not be a smart thing to attempt...the chaos in my once quiet little town is off the charts...just too many wackos on the highways these days...the speed they run out in front of my house …. I would need big push bumpers on all four corners just to make it around my crazy busy town...

Thanks for all the insight guys...you guys are awesome on here...

MikeC

[kennatt]

Be ok,they will ALL slow down to watch you go by and wish they had one. I bet on a twisty country lane they will beat all of those heavy soft sprung petrol guzzlers by miles.

[jaekl]

One of the issues with the eyebolt bushings is the diameter of the pin. Considering the weight of the rear is spread between two pins whereas the front is carried by just one, it's under designed compared to the same bushing/pin used on the rear springs. The front also carries more weight and has to deal with more rotation. The rear shackle rotates a bit but the front pin barely moves at all. Then compare it to the pin for the upper trunnion, more rubber and larger diameter. There is much less loading going through these bushings. It is a weak point of the design. The eyebolt bushings last a bit longer if the are installed with no pre-twist but that takes some care to accomplish.

[philthehill]

The dia of the Minor eye bolt pin and the rear spring shackle pin(s) are the same at 1/2". The eye bolt pin is the same item as the rear spring rear shackle pin even though they may be issued with a different part numbers. The same applies to the actual rear spring bushes in that they are the same bush as that fitted to the eye bolt.
The eye bolt pin is more than adequate to carry the weight and loadings imposed on the eye bolt, it is the bushes that are the weak link.
If the rubber bushes are smeared with red rubber grease before fitting the rotational stresses on the bush are considerably reduced and the bush is given an improved life.
Way back the go to modification for Minor eye bolt bushes was to fit the Austin/Morris J4 shackle Metalastic bushes. Later Minor Mania produced hard plastic bushes for both rear shackles and the eye bolt. Both these have been supplemented by the poly bush.
I have used both standard BMC eye bolt bushes, the Minor Mania one piece bush & poly bushes and am currently in the process of utilising the shortened Metalastic bush in the eye bolt and the rear spring front eye.
The Metalastic bushes are available but may require some searching of the web.
Minor Mania also produced hard plastic bushes for the top trunnion eye. The top trunnion eye also benefits from having poly bushes installed with grease nipple fitted so as to be able to lubricate the bushes/pin.