Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Are the Ohlins worth the £2.5 they now cost

Do the folks who have fitted the Ohlins coil over shock kit think it was money well spent. By the time I order them over the winter (they are now quoting November for fulfilment of new orders), I suspect they will be over £2500 for the complete kit. Mine is an April 2012 car but not much of that is left. It has had the chassis replaced twice and uses non-adjustable Spax shockers in place of the Suplex originals. I also have the steering comfort kit and use Excelsior Comp H tyres at the front and Yokohama all weather at the rear. My local authorities in France, where it lives, have just resurfaced the road I use more than any other, to go down to the larger towns with a wider range of shops plus a garage with 98 octane fuel. It is now like a billiards table, so not sure how much benefit I would get from the Ohlins. I do know how good they are, as I use them on my Porsche 911 RSR group B rally car but just not 100% convinced by the cost/benefit for the M3W.

I hope that if I do get them, Ohlins pre-sets the best compromise road use bound/rebound damping adjustments. They did this for my Porsche RSR when I fitted them 10 years ago and I have never felt the need to mess with them. I have a friend who cannot resist fiddling with things and after he tweaked the settings on the Ohlins on his Porsche 356 Carrera 2, he has never been able to get them right again - if it ain't broke - don't fix it!

Wilson

I doubt it will make it £2500 more enjoyable

That was rather my thinking too. If I drove it thousands of kilometres a year I might feel differently. I acquired it in 2015, when it had done 4000km and it has only done 11,000 now, mind you it has been sick rather too much of that period, what with the French Morgan Service dealer (Not M3W- Services) taking 11 months to put the new chassis in and then so badly that they damaged it and it had to go back from France to Malvern on a truck to be rebuilt from stem to stern, with another new chassis.

Wilson

Look at ATRs. 95% as good for 50% of the price.

Many thanks Andy, I have sent a query to Dampertech. In all probability if I decide to go that route, I will just bring the ATR kit out when I drive down to France again next spring as that avoids all the messing about with the French import centre at CdeG airport in Paris, which at best is very slow and at worst, stuff just disappears, without trace.

Wilson

Another vote for the ATR's. I big improvement over the standard and adjustable Spax at a reasonable price. They can be serviced and repaired, rather than just replaced.

I will go with the ATR units but given how much I have already spent on the Morgan this year, it will have to wait until over the winter. I can either buy from Dave at DamperTech and take them out with me when I drive out next spring (not in the M3W!) or get them from Steve at M3W Services, who keep them in stock.

Wilson

upgrading the shocks which ever brand you choose will reduce frame stress cracks and lessen the amount of things that rattle off the machine while in flight. Your posterior might appreciate less of a jarring too.

Assuming you're chasing better ride/handling, have you tried ditching the standard mudguards or swapping to carbon fibre ones?
Armed with a spanner or two, with/without standard mudguards is a relatively easy back to back test you can do. On private land, obviously...

If MMC had not strategically placed one of the bolts for the mudguards right behind the steering pivot that would be easy,, but they made it as difficult as possible.