Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Improving the ride

I second that, makes a big difference, even SWMBO noticed the improvement from the passenger seat.

I agree....but if you don’t want to go down that expensive route, changing your shocks to decent adjustable that are set up for Morgans, such as Rutherford, is the way to go. And accept that your car with its low mileage still probably needs the front end to bed in.

But going back to the MGB comments, whilst a Morgan may handle better, it will not have such a comfortable ride on anything other than a smooth road due to its short travel suspension.....even the five link cannot cure that.

Yes, there is a difference with the Rutherford AVOs over standard AVO.

It's also worth checking you get the right stroke length. The Rutherford AVOs come in 3 different strokes, but when we measured up my car we found none of the standard lengths was right. Tim Ayres was able to get a set made up for me with the correct lengths and it didn't take long. Excellent service.

Tim raises a very good point above and it's the reason I don't like AVO's, as their internal design is that if they bottom out on full compression it busts the internal valves and they leak oil, then have to be sent back to Mfr for a re-build, as they have no internal compression limit safety stop

Your initial reaction to the harshness of the suspension is not uncommon with new owners.

I felt the same 2 years ago but just put it down to Morganeering and resolved to get used to it.

Then my Wife came out with me and hated the ride with all the crashing and bumping so I knew I had do something.

After a lot of research on TM and elsewhere I opted for the SSL (Suplex) front end and new matching dampers all round.

BTW the SSL front end is adjustable so you can get it spot on for your car.

If you are reasonably competent with spanners and workshop procedures then it's a fairly straight forward DIY job.

On my car it made a huge difference and SWMBO was very happy with it but each Morgan has its own character and what I now deem to be very good may not feel the same to another driver.

It's all part of having fun making your Morgan do what you want.

Tim Ayres at New Elms fits bumps stops which would stop them bottoming out.

Fairly obviously I recommend the full SSL setup. We often have heavy luggage on the rear of the car and SSL supplied a set of springs with a slightly higher rate than standard.

The ride is not completely up to the standard of a modern car but we did notice that it was more comfortable than a new VW Polo. Now that the Polo has done 10K it has softened up and probably fractionally softer than the Plus 4.

The limit, as John (NorthernMorgan) mentioned, is the amount of travel available and without substantial modifications to the chassis there is not much to be done about that.

My wife also noted the improvement and we do quite long distance in comfort. Expensive but highly recommended.

CONFUSION: GoMog website says this is an issue with Konis and that Avos have an inbuilt buffer to protect against bottoming out. So who is correct?

ME, from personal experience (& cost) I've bust two sets of rears & AVO did admit the problem, but not covered under warranty

I assume it's why Tim Ayres fits his own bump stops now