Suspension
Bushes
The best thing you can do for your Minor's suspension is to
replace all the rubber bushes with one of the latest plastic-style
bushes; Nolathane and polyurathane are the most readily available.
Nolathane/Polyurathane
Bushes
In New Zealand, Nolathane is by far the most readily available,
and is in most cases actually easier to get than the standard
rubber bushes. Polyurathane is available but not as
readily. Nolathane is generally of a harder grade than polyurathane
bushes and is a much nicer red anyway. Nolathane is available
at most suspension shops and even some service stations, and
Morris Minor-spec parts are usually available off-the-shelf.
The
only problem with Nolathane is that it is a fairly hard material,
and will stiffen the ride of your Minor quite considerably
if you replace all of the rubber bushes in the Minor suspension
system with it. If this is what you want, (maybe you're happy
to sacrifice ride for handling), then Nolathane will do the
job brilliantly.
A
happy compromise can be reached by replacing only some of
the standard rubber bushes. The combination is up to you,
but I recommend fitting Nolathane bushes at the front to the
lower swivel pin (where the wheel upright meets the wishbone),
the front of the torsion bar (where it fits into the chassis
eye-bolt), and in the leaf-spring hangers at the back of the
car. With this set-up, you will notice the difference in handling
but will still have a fairly forgiving ride.
In
the UK, polyurathane bushes seem to be the prefered option.
There is a poly bush replacement available for every rubber
bush on the Minor.
Telescopic
Shocks
Telescopic shocks fitted to the front and rear of your Minor
can transform the handling from nervous and jittery into cool,
calm & collected corner-taking. There are a number of
kits available as bolt-on modifications, and as such are generally
very good value and are recommended for most modifiers out
there. Full instructions should be provided with these kits
and should only take a few hours to fit, even for the novice.
For most applications, standard gas filled shocks will be
sufficient, but for those of you who may want to do a bit
of rallying, sprint work or towing with your Minor you may
want to look at adjustable shocks such as Spax Adjustables.
These allow you to simply turn a screw and instantly either
harden or soften the ride. Although more expensive, they are
definitely useful.
Front
The general idea for front shock kits is to retain the standard
Armstrong lever-arm shocks only as a top locator for the king-pin.
In some cases the oil control valve mechanism in the shock
is disabled, although this is not strictly necessary.
The
telescopic shock is located at the bottom end by a bracket
or bolt on the outer end of the lower wishbone. Some kits
bolt to the side of the wishbone, others use a clamp arrangement
to provide a locator on top of the wishbone.
This
is a Minor Mania Ltd kit using Spax adjustable gas shocks
and uses the clamp method of locating the bottom of
the shock, ensuring it doesn't move along the wishbone
arm by way of the plate that runs the length of the
arm. |
At
the top end a tried and trusted method is to bolt the shock
to a thick steel plate that bolts to the outer face of the
lever arm shock absorber. Note that you'll need to replace
the standard blots with special longer versions with the
correct thread style. These are not available in New Zealand
and must be specially made.
A
vertical slot is cut in the inner guard to accept the plate
and the telescopic shock bolts to it under the guard. Longer
bolts are required for the lever-arm shock since the steel
plate should be at least 4-5mm thick.
Another
option involves bolting or welding a long thick plate to the
inner guard which has a mounting for the shock welded onto
it. This avoids the need for cutting a slot into the inner
guard and avoids having to find longer bolts with the correct
thread.
With
either method, the shock should be oriented with the top end
close in to the inner guard and the lower end as far out on
the wishbone as possible. This is because of the arc the outer
end of the wishbone travels through when the wheel hits a
bump in the road. The telescopic shock will therefore provide
more resistance for bigger bumps and less for smaller bumps,
therefore smoothing out the small bumps and damping the big
ones.
A
coil-over shock kit is available from JLH Minor Restorations
in the UK. This kit is basically a standard telescopic shock
kit but it completely does away with the need for the torsion
bar due to the use of the coil-over unit. It is fully adjustable
for height, and the spring rate can be chosen to match the
type of driving you'll be doing.
This
shot is of the JLH testbed Traveller during development
of the kit. You can see there is a strengthening plate
being welded to the inner guard. This plate is gusseted
and welded through to the bulkhead for extra strength. |
Rear
Kits are also available for the rear end of the car. The
simplest method is to remove the Armstrong lever-arm shock
and replace it with a telescopic using a shock mounting
plate from the Minor Van. The lower end of the shock bolts
to this bracket which is bolted to the leaf spring where
the axle attaches. The upper end bolts to the pin that used
to carry one of the joints of the standard shock. This results
in the shock absorber angling back and up from the loer
mounting point - not ideal, but certainly more effective
than the lever-arm.
Another
option is to use the Van bracket again but this time the top
mounting is attached to a bracket that runs underneath the
floor from side to side. The floor panel bracket should be
a thick steel plate or bar which spans the width of the car.
This provides extra stiffness and location for the top shock
mountings. Again, the lever-arm shock absorbers can and should
be removed completely.
Independent
rear suspension kits are currently under development by a
few companies in the UK. I'll keep you posted as and when
I get the information.