MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite Technical - 1500 hide height adjustment

Well I am currently in the middle of my suspension overhaul. Which will involve chrome bumper springs front and rear and poly bushes all round.

Didn't research the front springs properly as all you old timers will know chrome bumper and rubber bumper springs are pretty much the same height, thankfully I only paid 99p for them off eBay otherwise I would have been well annoyed. What is the difference anyway are rubber bumper springs slightly stiffer to accomodate the extra weight ? or visa versus to give a smoother ride ? The chrome bumper springs were only about about 5mm shorter.

Anway I hope the rear leaf springs are actually lower please correct me if I am wrong on this one ? to give a standard chrome bumper ride height at the rear.

My question is what size spacers do I need on the front lower spring seats to drop the ride height to match the rear ?

I believe rubber bumper midgets run 1.5" higher than chrome and the spring seat is about midway between the chassis and the king pin so I am guessing the spacers would need to be about 3/4" ?

No doubt someone has done this before and will hopefully save me doing it by trial and error.

I have heard that rubber bumpered MGB's lowered back to chrome heioght in this manner suffer from bump steer. Are Midgets so effected ?

Put my new chrome bumpers on the front and rear this morning and am so pleased with the results (appologies to all the rubber fans out there) boy those rubber bumpers are heavy they must have RSJ's inside or something. I am sure there must be a market for making light alloy armatures to replace those rusting steel ones, lots of modern cars have alloy bumpers sitting behind the plastic trim I bet there is one that could be cut down to fit.
Ben Brown

Ben

Do you have any pictures of the car with the new chrome bumpers?

I've been toying with that idea too...I'm not really fond of the big black bumpers.

Dave
Dave Rhine ('78 1500)


In recent months there has been a lot of correspondence about cheap leaf springs & at £20.00 a coil spring I think the quality here is dubious too. On the leaf springs some think you are better off having the current springs re-tempered. As you will have 1500 springs you will need further advise on how to tackle this though. You might find suggestions about where to go for this on the archive. For the coils again I would await recommendations.

Good luck.
GN Rowles

LOL - I would actually agree with you on the stupid steel contents of the rubber bumpers, it's just getting around to angle grinding the sods out ... ;)
rachmacb

Hi Dave,

You should be careful what you say "I've been toying with that idea too...I'm not really fond of the big black bumpers" such talk can get you lynched on here :-)

Tried to take some photos but my camera is rubbish at taking pictures in the dark will try and get some in the daylight.

Basically chrome front wings are really quite different to rubber ones, really noticable on my car as someone fitted a chrome one to one side and left the rubber one on the other side :-( I am trying to source another chrome one at the minute on eBay but they seem quite expensive. When you take the rubber bumper off you will be left with a big hole were the sidelight should go. You can either fit chrome wings like me to fix it or you will need to do some delicate bodywork to fix it, you might be able to get a lower front wing repair panel I dont know. Allot of people just blank it off and fit a simple round light but that is not the look I want. On a rubber bumper the head light sits lower by 1.5", also the wheel arch by 1.5" so you will have less room for your sidelight at the front but still plenty of space.

When you get your front bumpers get the mounts too they just bolt straight on behind the tow eyes you need to enlarge the hole a little where they pass through the front valance.

At the rear when you remove the bumper you will see a flat section under the rear lights and a raised piece where the old bumper fitted. You can reuse one of the mounting holes either side and plug the other with a grommit then drill three more either side to take the standard mounts. This mounts the bumper very slightly higher than standard and usefully hides to a degree that flat section under the rear lights. I also drilled a couple more holes to take the number plate light looms. You will need a square number plate too to go in the middle.

Basically when your done it looks just like a chrome bumper car only the eagle eyed enthusiast would really notice. If you filled in those flat sections at the rear and fitted chrome wings then they would look near idenical Apart from ride height and rubber rear wings have lower arches too like the front.
Ben Brown

Hi GN, I have genuine chrome bumper springs up front 99p off eBay and also genuine chrome bumper rear springs £1.24 they came off a very low milage 74 reg Midget that had been off the road for 20 years both appear to be in excellent condition and very good quality.
Ben Brown

Some pictures ... I need to adjust the barckets on the left hand mount as it is sitting a bit too low.


Ben Brown

And the front .. you can really see the differnce in the wings on this shot.


Ben Brown

Ben

That's nice...you've given me some ideas!

Dave
Dave Rhine ('78 1500)

This thread was discussed between 20/03/2010 and 22/03/2010

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.