All so true, The facts as stated though mean that its never going to give you a BMW like ride. How can it when the suspension travel is way under 2". Julian has it spot on in that unless all the variables are addressed at the same time you will never achieve the best ride it can give, although that will never be anything short of challenging unless the road surface is like a billiard table. Don't forget the classics we are driving today were developed on the race track and there's no pot holes there!
Shock absorber travel length is a problem especially on the rear. between top and bottom mounting point the distance is short so to achieve a functional working length is difficult as either on compression or over extension the operational length will present a problem somewhere which is likely to damage the shock absorber.
The long and the short of is, it needed a higher top mounting point allowing a longer shock to be fitted. This would allow for over extension of the suspension to occur without full extension of the shock and under compression of the suspension it would not hit the minimum compression of the shock.
On my car I seem to have been lucky enough to have just crept in before the dodgy rear leaf springs hit the production line. I have religiously serviced my rear springs, changed out the Sachs original fitment shocks and fitted Spax adjustable's from SSL with Rog's suspension assisters. The spax adjustable shock has a huge range of adjustment and I run mine set at just 4 clicks up from minimum. At this setting I can feel a stiffer function from the shock than the originals gave yet it allows adequate travel without crashing.... I haven't tried them without Rog's excellent assisters but why would I need to as they along with the BRB's were the best functional mod's I did to the car.
The front end does still crash a little to much for my liking and I think that only fitting progressive rate springs could help this a little. The bump reaction felt at the steering wheel seems to not be present when power steering is fitted.... Perhaps a steering damper could replicate that? With spring assist to help self centring a bit!
I think that I could enjoy my car much more if I could resolve these front end issues.
