Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Rear springs

So like I said, the car drives very well without LBs in terms of cornering control and general driving feel.
But I had the impression that especially on the highway the suspension does not swing properly. It was somehow very uncomfortable with rough bumps. In the meantime I learned that this happened when bouncing. Travel way to bump is more than sufficient.

Today I did a workshop afternoon with my son. At the beginning we left the full two layer rebound rubbers in place as they were ever. First we removed the old shock absorbers on the lifting platform with the wheels hanging down at their upper fixing point to see if this old dampers still had some reserve in the length. The number according to my Morgan garage four years ago is Rutherford AVO TB 1260. But they have no reserves even with two layer rubber. Without the LBs which I let remove last week they are on the lift at their maximum length. I even suspect that the uncomfortable ride on the road since the LBs are out was partly due to the thick rebound rubbers which came closer to the axle now, but also to the fact that the shock absorbers were at the anchor point in the rebound situation even having kept the thick rebound rubber.

Here a pic of this situation, the old damper without reserve at full length.



I had ordered new shock absorbers from Cain at Wolf Performance. Not because I thought about the length, but because the old shocks were leaking. So it is just a lucky circumstance that Cain's shocks are longer.

old damper at full length 29,5 cm from hole to hole (center of holes).
new one 30,7 cm hole to hole.



old damper fully compressed 22cm hole to hole
new one 23 cm



That means because the LBs are removed the dampers are 1.9 cm less compressed generally. Therefore the difference of 1 cm of the new one more in compressed length is more than on the safe side.

Then we removed the upper thinner layer of the rubber.






I wanted to proceed carefully and perhaps we will reduce even more the hight of the rubber. But even with only 6mm less it is a huge difference to the better. At least I had some kind of small gap even with the full rubber to the axle when standing on her wheels. But I think the dampers had an influence to stop the free rebound as well as said before. Note, with the reduced rubber from 2,6 cm to 2 cm I could not remount the old dampers any longer. They are simply too short on the lift with the wheels hanging down.

The new dampers at full length, mounted at the lower point and here with 6mm reduced rubber on the lift. They make it well.


Enough reserve re the u bolts as well with reduced rubber with wheels in the air on the lift.


enhanced gap between axle and reduced rebound rubber left and right when standing on the wheels, I guess, about 1,3 cm now if you compare the gap with the 2cm hight of the rubber in the pic below. Have not measured it. But good drive.





The dampers of Caine have this name, M6. I have no clue if this is a differentiator, I have to ask Cain. He said the dampers were Mogsport dampers and more for racers, but I must say they are smoother than my Rutherford old ones. Perhaps the Rutherfords were not any longer like new. As I said they leak a bit but they are harder.

[img]https://www.tm-img.com/images/2020/11/14/FBDEC8C9-B28B-4B59-8163-F57767944249.jpg[/img]


The shock absorbers feel very good with my 4 seater 4 leaf springs together. I still have to fine tune the setting. But the first driving impression with the thinner rubbers and the longer new dampers is fantastic! My car never drove like this before.

To Peter's post (Gambalunga). It is an important thought that the disadvantage of the cut off rebound may be an advantage of less body roll. But the cornering is still very good, even if the tail moves a bit more in the curve with rebound possibility. It is a controlled movement. Only on the race track it would be an advantage. But there the laws and conditions are completely different anyway.