Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Rear suspension conversion 4 seater

G'day all,

I've just ordered the rear telescopic conversion kit and AVO shockers for my '75 4 seater.

While I am at it I thought I would remove one leaf from the existing 7 leaf pack as I shall rarely, if ever carry two rear passenges or any great weight in the back (I'll discard the four slabs of VB that sit on the rear seat at present when I've finished! )
A 6 leaf set-up should be a little softer and more compliant and any possible tendancy to excessive spring movement could be mitigated by increasing the adjustment on the AVOs.

Was out in the garage yesterday ( had already been for a long ) checking out what would be required.

Removed both rear seat squabs, custom-fitted rear storage module, metal floor panel and covers over the Armstrong lever arm shockers.

All seems to be reasonably accessible with the exception of the shackles at the rear of the springs. How on earth do you get to these to remove?
Do I have to remove/disassemble more of the car?

I would love to hear from anyone who has done this conversion, especially the removal of a leaf, and as usual, all pearls of wisdom greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Neil.

neil - This change made a great difference to my 4 seater. I had this conversion performed on my car by Tony Howard, but as he is in the UK this of little use to you.

Rutherford Morgan parts are now stocked by New Elms - perhaps give them a call. new elm

Have you looked at this gomog page? gomog

Thanks for the links Steve,

and encouraging to know that you were pleased with the conversion on your 4 seater. ( did you also reduce the number of leaves to 6 ? )

I've done just about all the research I can utilising printed articles,internet etc. including Gomog, they have all been quite useful but what would be great is advice from someone who has actually done it!


Neil

Yes, the leaves were reduced to 6. Not sure which one was removed though. - If you like I can ask.

There was a good article in Gomog ( "Improving the suspension on a 4/4 four seater" by Vern Dale-Johnson
http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan11.html that suggests removing leaf 5 ( 3rd from the axle ). This advice apparently comming from Dave Rutherford himself.

PS. scroll down to last article on page.

It certainly would be interesting to know if this was exactly what was carried out on your vehicle Steve, but only if it's not too much trouble.

Cheers,
Neil.

Does the telescopic damper conversion really make that much difference over properly rebuilt lever arms on normal roads? I am at the stage of removing my lever arms and debating whether to refurbish them / have them refurbished or to make the change to telescopics.

Comments from those who have done the conversion would be appreciated.
John

Telescopic Dampers..... Night and day

Other good point about telescopic dampers is when they wear out, changing them is a lot easier and quicker than lever arm swapping.

Tony believes that it was the third leaf from the bottom. Hope that helps. And the effect, as Andy says Night and Day.

Thanks for the replys - Telescopics it is then.