Suspension Sort Out

grelley

Silver forum user
Messages
70
I had a few spare hours to fill in in the weekend, so decided to have a bit of a sort out on the Tiger suspension. It had originally been built up by a previous owner for Historic racing and it always felt a bit stiff for our not so smooth roads. I suspected the front springs were too hard and it was a bit understeery. I corner weighed the car and was surprised by how good it was. The total weight was 2519 lbs with hardtop and less driver. The LF was 635 lbs RF 642 lbs, LR 613 lbs, RR 629 Lbs Front 50.69% and rear 49.31%. Diagonal weights were also very close. It would be difficult to build the car much better. The front spring rate measured at 360 in/lbs which is a bit high and according to the online spring calculators should be 280-300 in/lbs. Something I did notice when removing the front swaybar was that it was binding on the bushes. When I refitted it I lubricated the bushes with rubber lube so that it would allow some movement with suspension travel. I also put 1/4 degree neg. camber on the front and 1/16" toe in. To soften the back I removed the lower leaf from the springs. This had little to no effect on the ride height but gives a much better ride. The car now rides and steers as good as I would have hoped. The car did have excess bump steer but by changing around the front MGB arms have managed to eliminate nearly all of it.A very pleasing result for a few hours work.
 

Tiger tamer

Gold forum user
Messages
318
It doesn't sound like you have removed your front springs and replaced them with a softer spring. I was told the Tiger likes the front to be stiff and the rear a bit soft. My rear springs were re-set to original settings from Snell springs when I restored the car.
I replaced the front springs with 450lb fronts and couldn't be happier. Car handles much better and doesn't feel harsh in the front over bumps at all.

Cheers Mal
 

grelley

Silver forum user
Messages
70
Hi Mal, yes I left the original 360 lb springs in. Most of the stiffness was from the anti roll bar bushes binding up. Did you ever get the power steering fitted to your car?
 

Tiger tamer

Gold forum user
Messages
318
Next time I have the sway bar off I will use some rubber grease on them. Not the most fun job getting those brackets back on. Then the red rubber grease may help with that as well.

Yes MX5 power rack is all fitted. In the end I went with Alpine tie rod ends over hemi rod ends. I could only get the rod ends in 12mm and I thought that was a bit light. I used Minx spindles and made up some bump steer bars and played with the rack height to get the bump steer as minimal as I could. In the end where I had it first set was right. Drives like a dream.

Mal
 
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