Hello Montegue I have driven a Supersport fitted with SSL 5l rear and there is not a lot difference between them, if anything the SSL didn’t feel as planted on the road.
That's interesting SBP, I haven't driven a Morgan fitted with SSL 5l rear but I'm not surprised after trying both arrangements your opinion is that
"there's not a lot difference between them". The elephant in the room as I see it is the beam axle, if the SSL 5l rear gave us fully independent rear suspension I could be tempted, but a price of £6k fitted for what amounts to a pair of trailing arms and the move to coil springs seems a little strong to me given the beam axle remains.
Ok, so a beam axle suspended by a couple of cart springs is hardly ground breaking tech, but it's not like you can't make a car handle on a well pinned down leaf spring solid axle setup, a gazillion rally Escorts are proof of that. However, what you'll always struggle to achieve is refined ride quality, but with decent leaf springs that are rated correctly for the vehicles mass paired with the best possible dampers that are well matched to the spring rates, and as long at you're not expecting Citroen DS levels of ride quality the antiquated arrangement can work just fine.
My personal opinion is the. SSL 5l rear definitely has its place, but you've really got to value the small improvement in ride quality coil springs offer to shell out £6k on the setup. It's also worth remembering as crude as a solid axle is, it does offer one clear advantage, unlike a fully independent rear there is no camber change. This actually makes the handling of my Morgan more predictable than that of my TVR Chimaera, and predictability gives you confidence to press on. The TVR certainly had much better ride quality, but that rear end could also bite, coversley the Morgan bangs and crashes about a bit but the handling on the limit is so much more predictable and confidence inspiring I can really play with Monty safe in the knowledge if I push it too far recovery is just a touch of opposite lock away.
Ultimately, while I could never argue Monty's rear end offers the last word in ride quality, it absolutely does deliver a really wonderful connected driving experience and safe predictable handling thats super fun to play with.
My opinion is it’s not the rear end that’s the problem it’s the front end and your car has the multifab suspension which I assume makes the most significant difference to the handling. The Supersport has all the necessary modifications to front end but that’s as far as you can go on sliding pillar suspension.
I genuinely think the Mulfab front wishbone conversion is a Trad Morgan game changer, having now sampled the delights of the sliding pillar setup I can hand on heart say if I had a standard Plus 4 and £6k burning a hole in my pocket, I'd choose the front wishbone conversion over the SSL 5l rear every time. I got lucky with Monty as the previous owner coughed up the money for the excellent Mulfab front end, all I really needed to do was throw a further couple of grand at the best possible leaf springs, dampers, a Panhard rod, lowering kit and Techniques Morgan setup to bring the rear end up a standard to match the front end handling, if not its ride quality. To be fair most of that sum was labour as the parts were very reasonable.
In summary, I doubt very much that spending the additional £4k on a SSL 5l rear would have been worth the considerable extra outlay.
