Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi,
One of the bolts on my front suspension dampeners has just sheared thanks to a large bump on a country road, and we thought whilst we were doing the suspension it might be worth upgrading to coilovers. Our moggie has already had all of the brackets and welding work done to enable us to put coilovers on so it is "simply" a matter of finding the coilovers to fit. Does anyone know which coilovers would fit, bearing in mind that our moggie is slightly lowered so the distance between the two mounting brackets for the coilovers would ideally be around 260mm?
Also, on a slightly different note, does anyone know whether the inner wings have to be removed when fitting a fibreglass flip front (such as the ones at JLH Minors) as our coilover mounting points are welded onto the inner wing.
Many thanks, Loz and Russ

I'd have though jlh would be the most useful people to answer both your questions. Maybe their coil overs would fit.

I have tried ringing them but they haven't got back to me yet, I'll admit that I'm being a little impatient

You say that you have the all the brackets welded on. What about the lower suspension arm? - the coil-overs from jlh come with the special fabricated bottom wishbone.

http://www.jlhmorrisminors.co.uk/store/ ... roductId=2

Not only do you need to know the length both compressed and free you also need to consider the spring rate.
http://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk have a good selection of dampers and springs if jlh cannot help.

There is a bracket already welded to the top of the lower suspension arm so it there was probably just a shock absorber there before but we thought we could go the whole way and put full coilovers on. Thanks, I will do some measuring and have a look at that website

Hah! These are just 'add on' brackkets for small dampers... Avoid avoid. You need to find why the bolt snapped. Are the bump and rebound stops in place and in good order? Budget around £1000 for a worthwhile 'coil over' set up, which I suggest is only worthwhile for a Track car. For sane road use, just drain/fill the dampers with Sae 40 or even 50 oil......cost less than £10, and it WORKS !

we've been thinking over a beer (and a Cider!). I am not utterly convinced that fitting the coil over kit will actually improve things unless it adds to the stiffness of the torsion bar - if you see what I mean. As the rear of our pick-up is so light the rear wheel lifts so easily on corners it is untrue, and the problem seems to be that the front is too soft? What we want to do is stiffen the front to keep the opposite rear wheel down on cornering. Thought appreciated!! Maybe we are trying to sportify the unsportifiable but it is so much fun trying..... except for putting a bag of cement on the back!

A bag of cement is a much cheaper option
The whole idea of the coil overs is to get rid of the torsion bar and rely purely on the coil overs for the front suspension.
You can uprate the torsion bars by various %.http://www.jagspares.co.uk/Morris/CarSe ... perpage=10
The pickup is lighter on the rear end than the car and has stronger springs for load carrying.
Whilst you can sportify the pickup it will cost money to do so.
I would as bmc says change the oil in the front dampers and see how it goes.
All I have on the front of my comp 1380cc Minor is standard torsion bars, uprated dampers and a 11/16" dia antiroll bar and it goes round corners very well.

Something wrong if the rear wheel lifts on cornering! Perhaps the lowering has upset the balance, I have a bog standard pickup and its remarkably stable for an old vehicle. Could be the shocks need replacing.

Remove one or two leaves from the rear, and perhaps fit an arb at the front, and a touch of neg camber.

Jono at JLH has no record of a call from you.... He suggests you make contact if serious.
However it is all clear on his website, so if you don't have the cash to spend, I suggest you don't waste each other's time !

I (laurence) rang twice on Friday on the number provided on the website but it has gone to answerphone both times so I left a message.
I am not after a full kit as the inner wing has already been significantly strengthened and brackets are in place for some kind of upgrade, I'm simply trying to find out what addition would be best. I don't believe I am wasting anyone's time

Hi again, I forgot to add in the last post that I had measured what the open and closed length between the two brackets that I have is: open=345mm, closed=215mm and when the car is settled at its usual height the distance is 260mm
Thanks, loz

Laurence
May I suggest some pictures of the mounts already fitted to the car to give some idea of what is required and help the request along.
I am not aware of any volume production coil over kits being produced before the jlh modification kit became available - all of the coil over modifications prior to that were home designed/manufactured/one off designs so anything could have been fitted.
Phil

The 'bolt snapped' comment worries me. Do you know why ? Are the damper mount bolts 'sandwiching' nasty brackets to carry a top mount for the tele damper?As Phil asks...let's see some pictures.

The alloy that damper is made of is too soft and is easily compressed when the 5/16" BSF bolt is tightened. The locking tab does not help either and from my experience is totally useless for its purpose.
The damper bolts need to be regularly checked for tightness and to that end I have done away with the locking tab and used a flat washer to spread the load on the alloy damper body with a flat spring washer under the head of the bolt for security.
Any movement of the damper body will soon start to effect the damper bolts with the bolts either shearing off at the bulkhead or damaging the captive bolt in the cross member.
Whilst it may be good to Loctite the bolts in place it does not get over the problem of the soft alloy damper body.

I think the bolt snapping was entirely my fault as I had undertightened a couple of the bolts, because last time I overtightened them and damaged the thread so I think I overcompensated. Perhaps a torque wrench is in order! The aftermarket bracket or any of the modifications doesn't touch or affect the dampener in any way, although this might not be so clear on the photos.
I am having a bit of trouble putting pictures on here directly but if you follow this like there should be a few there, one of the strengthening on the inner wing and one of each bracket (one on the lower suspension arm and one on the inner wing): http://www.pixum.co.uk/my-photos/album/7168370
Would putting some sort of dampener or spring in there firm up the front suspension as this is the main effect I am looking for, I know you can just uprate the oil in the dampeners but it just seems a bit of a shame to not use these brackets that are already there.

I am not aware of any torque setting for the 5/16" BSF bolts securing the damper (no doubt be proved wrong). They should be just tightened as normal but NOT to a setting for steel against steel (25 lb/ft for 5/16" UNF bolts) but for steel against alloy (if that makes sense) and the nearest comparator is the bolts on the water pump (steel 5/16" UNF bolts/alloy body).
Thank you for the photographs.
I am pretty sure that what you have fitted is the strengthened damper top plate/bracket and the bottom bracket welded on.
I am also certain that coil overs were not fitted as there is not enough room between the top mounting and the body to accommodate the damper/coil assy.
I suspect that the additional box section holding the top bump rubber was installed to give clearance between the top of the steering upright and bump stop especially as your car has been lowered. The normal way to overcome the clearance problem is to remove some of the bump stop cone to suit.
When the car was lowered the clearance may not have been considered and the bump stop could have eventually been forced through the body damaging the inner wing and what you have was a way of overcoming the damage/clearance.

Phil

I can't see anything from these pics on my phone. Fill with sae 40 and see how it goes .

Ah okay, thank you very much for all the help! I will change the oil in the dampers, looks like no coilovers for me