Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Upgrade front suspension for 'trads' advert

Mike, should be good. The owner of a +8 3.9 weighing 950 kg is very pleased with the ride and roll stiffness (even in 'sprint' competitions), so you should get similar results with a Roadster of quite simialr weight. Have fun, PJB.

I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on Mike as I have the same car and would describe the handling in the same way you have done earlier in this thread.

Mike, so who supplied the system, which dealer? Thanks PJB

It sounds like a good system.... and one I should probably have. How much roughly will it cost all in?

Thanks for that. PJB is the chap who designed this system isn't he? Who and where are Tudor?

I'm hovering over the notion of a +8. But if I can get the engine sorted on my Roadster, I may be more minded to stick with it and upgrade the suspension along with an anti-tramp bar and the other rod (which name escapes me).

Is there any concern that we'd have good front suspension matched with Elizabethan rear suspension?

Panhard (or fishing ?)

I'm also going for rear axle centralising. Why, after all these years, is the rear axle closer to the front of the car than the rear??

I'm also interested in the front suspension upgrade feedback. Had a five minute "Churchill" nodding dog episode on a not-bad-but-not-good road surface last week. Got very tiring/annoying.

Cheers

Jeremy

Indeed I was the test driver and engineering consultant to SUPLEX for this project, so helped develop the spring rate characteristic and did most of the Bilstein damper tuning/setting. The MD of SUPLEX & team developed the concept, did the calcs & designed the springs and other parts and of course manufacture prototypes and production parts. We joined forces a few yars ago as I was funding my own development work and the MD of SUPLEX needed a Morgan owning engineer to try out his ideas for improving ride and handling and to do the hands on bit - lots of practice swapping springs daily! ALSO good to have 'Morgan Test Driver' on my CV!

https://sites.google.com/site/morganatica/suspension/springs-progressive-rising-rate describes the theory and product and lists the first suppliers who have all driven and liked the test car; though any Morgan dealer can buy & fit/retail the kit.
Here are the supplier details from the 1st link.
https://sites.google.com/site/morganatica/suppliers

Rear suspension has to match the front, the 4 leaf and 5 leaf springs will work well as long as the dampers are not set too hard in bump. The 6 leaf are very stiff and will reduce the benefits of the front refinement. Certainly SPAX and GAZ adjustable rear dampers will work well, ie can be set soft enough. A Panhard rod is always a good idea to control sideways movement of the axle and will not affect ride. Beware of many popular types of antitramp bars as these will increase the vertical stiffness of the rear suspension to give worse ride, but they do stop windup when you drop the clutch on a bit V8 or V6 - stop doing that! Feed it in and press the right pedal hard!

Glad owners are getting the benefit of this work, it was fun!

Rear suspension next!
Just another nut behind the wheel PJB (Peter J Ballard)

Williams were keen to fit the rear axle centralising kit to my car when they fitted the Avon tyres. I've already got a Panhard Rod fitted and it sits very close to rear of the diff so the centralising kit would have meant moving the rod subframe further back in the chassis with cutting of the wooden tank support tray and drilling more holes into the chassis. I'm concerned about too many holes in the chassis plus Mulfab who make the kit do say that its more of a cosmetic benefit so that made my mind up!

Interesting stuff.... Is there a particular anti tramp bar you'd suggest Peter?

Hasn't yours got an anti-tramp bar fitted as standard, Neil?
Ian