coilover front suspension

[lukedauvergne]

I'm thinking about fitting the spax coil over kit to my car but the pictures on esm's website have left me a bit confused. i can't understand where all the plates go etc. has anyone fitted these maybe have pictures and any information about how it goes together. what kind of work is involved in doing it etc.
would be very interested in finding out more. also what are they like to live with?
CHEERS

[bmcecosse]

Why do want to do this ? What advantage do you hope to gain? The T bar suspension very cleverly feeds the load back into the centre of the bodyshell..... The front end is not designed to take coil spring loads - considerable strengthening will be required - and if in involves 'modifications to the monocoque' it may require a full SVA inspection, and could acquire a Q plate.....

[Innovator]

The gold coloured ones go around the lower arm.
The bigger silver ones on the right will mount off the top damper. The other silver ones with the oval hole will bolt to the inner wing. The oval hole is a similar shape the the hole in the inner wing that the top arm comes through. The small right angle brackets will bolt to this and be one side of the upper coi over mount.

I have never fitted one of these kits, but by looking at the brackets I think that is how it goes together.

When I fitted coil overs I welded my brackets to the end of the engine bay cross member (the one the standard dampers bolt to) and welded them to the lower arm. I also tied my welded in roll cage into the engine bay crossmember.

There will be comments about strength but generally the shock loadings from stiff dampers will be greater than from soft springs, which this kit appears to have. Many people fit tele damper conversions with less reinforcement so this kit should be OK. (The previous comment was posted whilst I was writing this)

I fitted coil overs as the front suspension was too soft for the way I drove on the roads I drove on. The suspension and vehicle would bottom out with standard springs.

[lukedauvergne]

hi thanks for your help.
i have oil tele dampers up back and work well but starting to leak and will be replacing them soon I'm still using the standard armstrongs up front constantly bottoming out very wobbly ride and a bit uneasy at speed. i would eventually like to take my car round a track all be it far in the future but want to start doing the suspension mods now as i am begining to do the car up and want to do a proper job of it and make it what i feel it should be like for modern use.

i am interested in peoples own experience with different suspension set ups on there cars. my car will never be a track day car but would like to do it 1 day to say i have so i would like something that is at home on the road.

[Alex'n'Ane]

If you want some good quality suspension mods, that will last, and have already been tested on a track minor, then this is where you want to be looking. http://www.jlhmorrisminors.co.uk/store/ ... at&catId=2 A much better design than these bolt on ones which load the shell in very odd/bad ways. Their tele damper conversion has been well reviewed elsewhere, if you don't have the money to go for the full on amazing A arm conversion.

[millerman]

+1

[bmcecosse]

Absolutely - Jono at JLH is your man. But not inexpensive. Have you drained and refilled your front dampers with SAE 40 oil? I don't think you will find the suspension 'wobbly' after doing that.... Especially if you add a little bit of negative camber. The coilovers that are welded to the ends of the crossmember will be fine (assuming decent welding/no corrosion) - but I suspect any other location will be decidedly poor for structural strength - especially anything that 'bolts on'........

[MartinB]

When I first fitted coil over shocks to the front of my Minor (with Minor suspension), I welded the lower mount to the lower arms and bolted the upper mount into the inner wing. Of course the brackets were quite large and properly supported, but were bolted all the same. I fitted these back in 1989 I think (and were removed in 1996 when I made/fitted different suspension and moved the engine back a foot). I ran these with 400 lb springs and had the torsion bars fitted, to try to spread the loads into the shell a bit. This set up could run quite soft damping as the car was properly supported by the springs and didn't need stiff damping to try to compensate for inadequate spring rates. This was used for hillclimbs,sprints and road use so was well tested and developed during the years it was fitted.

Definitely best to go for a system that is properly tested, JLH's version seemed to work well when I drove JLH's track Minor round Castle Combe a couple of years ago.