Morris Minor Owners Club

can anyone supply any pictures of their fitted front coilovers please ( and any sizes) etc im wanting to make a set so could do with knowing what steel to scavenge

I believe Jono has very graciously put up pictures of his kit in place. But to be fair - it is his design, and so to ask to make a 'copy' is a bit cheeky!

Rossrox has fitted some to pedro ( see resto thread) but I also agree with bmc as regards to copying. Once you have made them up and bought all the brackets dampers etc I can't see it being a lot cheaper, or as secure/solid.

number 1 is ( i dont copy) i just wanted ideas like hole centres the technical bits IF THERE ARE ANY ??? ,, ..presumed they would be quite important ??????to get right angles for springs ETC ???? and also sizes to mounting points from pivots etc ....as for cost there IS NO COST its all STAINLESS STEEL AEROGRADE and my time costs me nothing ..anyway just made a start on pivoting ends at moment will take time to do.... any input gratefully recieved .. im no good with all this camber ,,spring rates and all that but show me a picture and a drawing and i will make one.. but i will look at pictures and put all the bits i like from them all and create my own[frame][/frame]

oh and as for solid /secure ( you jest ) it will be solid .......literally......... no tube in this construction and it may add half a pound in weight i can live with that

the jlh kit basically modernises the minor setup. still retaining the minor swivel pins and trunnions, so i imagine the geometry is largely similar, but with the lower arm made into an A wishbone.

the critical bits are getting the sping damper unit as close to the bottom trunnion as possible (as far out from the chassis as possible), to get the best mechanical advantage. and ensure that the top mounting point for the coilover is good and solid.

the other important thing is to get the camber of the wheels to be negative, by roughly 1 degree.

negative being like this: / --- \

that angle is governed by the lower wishbone length, but it'll also change with suspension travel. you want slightly negative camber at normal ride height. you could make the lower wishbone adjustable, or deliberately make it too short, so that it can be packed out from the chassis leg as required.

are you planning on using the standard minor lever arm damper as the upper wishbone, or create something different to replicate it?

to be honest if was more knowledgeable about this kind of thing i would make anything to improve or change i see more and more pictures of this jlh kit and its spin offs with bits added and taken away to peoples own liking and yes would love to change or manufacture something for top but dont know enough about angles etc to do it if that makes sense

chrisryder wrote:the jlh kit basically modernises the minor setup. still retaining the minor swivel pins and trunnions, so i imagine the geometry is largely similar, but with the lower arm made into an A wishbone.

the critical bits are getting the sping damper unit as close to the bottom trunnion as possible (as far out from the chassis as possible), to get the best mechanical advantage. and ensure that the top mounting point for the coilover is good and solid.

the other important thing is to get the camber of the wheels to be negative, by roughly 1 degree.

negative being like this: / --- \

that angle is governed by the lower wishbone length, but it'll also change with suspension travel. you want slightly negative camber at normal ride height. you could make the lower wishbone adjustable, or deliberately make it too short, so that it can be packed out from the chassis leg as required.

are you planning on using the standard minor lever arm damper as the upper wishbone, or create something different to replicate it?

[frame][/frame]

a bit like this maybe ?????

yeah, but you need something good and solid to put all your mountings on. that one does ok as it's got a box section chassis.

What do you hope to achieve by fitting coil-overs?? There is very little wrong with the standard torsion bar spring, after all - it's just a 'coil spring' that has not been coiled up! Issigonis was no fool - and his design ensures the reaction forces of the torsion bar are taken in the strong centre section of the car chassis. The shell was not designed to take the front suspension forces in the front bulkhead - and so to go that route will involve considerable re-inforcement of the shell. You may also run into problems with the new ruling about structural modifications to cars - and could end up needing to pass a VOSA /SVA test - and could be issued with a Q registration, and have to pay Road Tax ..............So -what's the point of going this route??

dont really just needed a new project took a year putting 1800 engine in and as always ( i presumed) more weight beef it up a bit ?????????

You could just upgrade to Marina torsion bars.........

are they a straight fit but beefed up ????? are they hard to get hold of ???

I honestly don't know how easy to fit, but it has been done, I'm sure those who have done it will be along shortly - yes they are higher spring rate, and yes - probably hard to find now........
It would be easier to just ADD some lighter coil/damper units to the existing suspension if you feel the MGB power unit is making the front end too soggy......

whats chances of q plate or pay for tax etc will it be brought in for mot check???? or just find you if you had an insurance claim ???

Chances are low - but MOT place may 'refer' the car - and then you are stuffed! So - best to keep it standard 'looking' as far as you can.

little by little getting there[frame][/frame]

adjustable is good in theory, as you can adjust it to get the perfect geometry. but in practice, the adjusters prove to be weak points and fractures occur at the root of the threads.

it's best to have adjustable 'dummies' that you can use to get the perfect dimensions, and then use the dummies to make rigid final components.

just my 2 cents

Marina/Ital torsion bars are slightly higher rated, the van being the highest at about 25% more than the Minor.

The front end of the bar fits as a standard Minor, the bar needs to be shortened by, I think about 8/10mm (it's hardened, so careful angle grinder job), and the rear needs an adaptor that used to be supplied by Owen Burton - what happened to them?

Once the adaptor is fitted into the rear lever arm, the whole torsion bar goes on to the car in exactly the same way as a standard one. The only difference is the stiffness, which means that one spline will change the front height by ~1.5", instead of the standard ~1.25".

On the car they do not feel very 'stiff', still need to have dampers set 'hard' and obviously good bump stops!

If I hadn't had the recent problem on the Euroclassic with wheels cracking (they are 40+ years old!) I was going to go to Castle Combe to a JLH organised track day, and would have had the opportunity to do some comparisons. Now have to sort out what wheels to get, and it looks like alloys are the only real answer. I just like the look of steel wheels on a 50's car, alloys are great, but just not 50's.