Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) 4/4 4 seater spring rates

I loaded up the 4 seater with all the gear I needed for a bike trackday I was doing at Cadwell Park on Tuesday - leathers, tools, jerry cans etc etc so there was quite a weight in the old girl.

However, driving along I was amazed at the improvement this weight made to the ride quality whilst only slightly degrading the handling. It actually felt like I had proper suspension, that moved and absorbed bumps, rather than driving something like a four wheeled pogo stick, hopping and bouncing around at the slightest undulation.

So I presumed that this was due to the spring rates being set up to cope with the possibility of 4 people being aboard, which inevitably means that for the majority of my driving, when there is only me, the springs are too hard - would this be a fair assumption, or could it be that I need to adjust my Koni damper settings ?

If it is the springs, is there anything that can be done about it (fit 2 seater springs perhaps ?) and how much might it cost ?

Ideally, I'd like the suppleness of the heavily-laden ride, with the handling of the single-driver one.

thanks chaps - still loving every minute of it, almost a year on.

Oh - one last thing - mine's got the 5 speed sierra gearbox and it is becoming quite problematic to select first gear. Is a rebuild in the offing, or is there a little fiddling I can do myself to help things ? I keep adjusting the clutch cable which has a beneficial effect for a short while, but then the reluctance returns.

thanks

Matthew

not sure about the springs... but agree with you as it is the same on mine which is a 87 4/4 4 seater...

As to the clutch... i have the same for reverse sometimes.. think the problem is the design of the clutch cable. it the tighting nuts come loose over time therefore making it harder to engage gears, normally just tighten it up a bit and it sorts it.

Will

Mathew - I have had both problems on my 1989 4/4 4 seater

First the 1st gear - I suggest you first try a slight adjustment to the clutch cable. This is simple, you need two spanners to ensure it is unlocked and then locked again.

Secondly suspension. The road leading to my son's school has some mean speed bumps. Very soon after buying my 4/4 I realised that I needed to improve the rear suspinsion. I had the telescopic rear shock absorber kit from Rutherford Engineering put on, plus Koni shocks, plus I had the number of leaf srings reduced to 6 (as suggested by Rutherfords). Later on I had a panhard rod fitted becuse the bodywork would touch the prop shaft on fast bends when the car was loaded.
The car is now transformed. Bummps are no probelm.

Interesting thread, my 1999 4 seater 4/4 is fairly similar in all conditions but noticeably quicker when unloaded, ie no ball chain and two petit packets on board, (mind you more like strapping great lads these days) also the handling is a bit sharper, on the whole I agree less bounce fully laden but roads round here are rather bouncy. Certainly the springs are compressed as the load increases and that should induce a better ride I doubt that major works on this suspension will improve things much, I used to be a bike rider and very fast, it was at serious 3 figure speeds that the bouncy rear end made its unwelcome presence and the mog will not make these speeds, on the bike Fornales gas shocks improved matters. I'll have a crawl underneath though and see how original it all is.

In terms of gear selection I note that this may be a lack of servo which is there on the Ford version, a hard setting and a joy of driving induces an almost clutchless style so when certain conditions occur the gear change may be difficult, try a mental check and see if pushing the clutch harder helps? - just interested

Hi,
Just checked under the plus 4, it has 4 leaf springs. And it is quite supple across speed bumps and such like. How many springs does the four seater have?
Guess it is a trade off between comfort and the ability to take passengers. Specially with a light car, the passengers and or lugggage make a big difference to the overall weight so it is difficult to cater for both. JT

Here's an update on the ride :- I had the car serviced at Mike Duncan's the other week, and asked him to check it out for me. He backed off the Spax dampers from position 3 to 1, and the result is remarkable - a superior quality ride, with ability to absorb bumps and humps, with only a marginal increase in roll when cornering. So a great improvement in ride with very little detrimental affect in handling. Just what I wanted.

And now, when I go out on a trackday, I know that I can simply up the dampers to 3 or 4 to get a much firmer result.

Good news all round !

Matthew

What year is your 4/4/4? The new 4-seater has new, redesigned springs and shocks that improved the ride of my 2-seater to no end!

I uses 10 clicks all round on the flat rad for track days

Julf - it's a 1986 model.

In that case you might want to give the new 4-seater springs a try.