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MG Midget and Sprite Technical Too much positive camber? BBS discussion at MG-Cars.net
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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Too much positive camber?
| I'm in the process of building a 1500 midget into a new BMH shell. The front suspension seems to have quite a lot of positive camber - is this normal? It looks to be a fair bit more than the .75 degrees the manual says it should be (maybe closer to 2-3 degrees, and the top trunnions are fitted the right way round!) The engine is in, so the ride height should be settled at about the right level. I know that these shells aren't particularly accurately made (occasionally you find a captive missing or in the wrong place), so maybe to too surprising that it's not to spec? Does anyone think that I should be concerned? If it were to have too much positive camber, I was wondering about using one of the negative camber kits that are available to try to bring it more "in-spec" does anyone have any ideas or advice? Thanks |
| John Sellick |
| Too much positive, something must be wrong somewhere. Could you post a pic, normal problem as you say is the top trunion the wrong way round but that does result in massive amounts |
| Bob (Robert) Midget Turbo |
| have you driven it jet? they always seem high (an much positive ) when fresley rebuilt and not driven. when you sit on the front does it get better? |
| Onno Könemann |
| Try it out on the road should help settle the suspension, if it feels skittish then get it checked out. |
| Shaun |
| Reversed the top trunion links... WOW... Those where the days took me six weeks to find this site and and learn what happened, been here everscence, and never left, what a godsend. As your looking at the front of the car, does it look like a benny the walrus trying to clap with its flippers (tires), if so links are reversed 180 degrees If im mistaken as to your situation and the tires are trying to look like wings... sticking out at the bottom of the wheel....look under the shock lever there should be a triangle bulbous shape rubber block that attaches to the car and the lever arm may or may not rest on top of...it may be missing or in need of replacing prop |
| Prop |
| Any Pics John? Mark |
| Mark T. Boldry |
| Maybe tightened the suspension while it was hanging, and the car is not settling down to ride height because of binding? |
| Trevor-Jessie |
| "It'll ride down with wear" "They all do that sir" Take the car out for half an hour then come back and without jacking it up, slacken and retighten the front suspension nuts and bolts. I'd expect that to help |
| Bill |
| Thanks for the advice - it is probably just because I haven't fitted the bumper and taken it out for a spin (this picture was taken with some extra weight at the front of the car to compensate for the missing bumper) - I think I'm starting to get paranoid about this rebuild! Pics are attached (hopefully) sorry it's taken so long.  |
| John Sellick |
And other side...
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| John Sellick |
| John, is the engine in the car yet? The car looks high and as the top and bottom suspension points move on different radius' the camber will change with ride height. The 1500 lower pick up points are in a different position to the earlier cars to compensate for ride height change of the later, higher riding cars. You may find all is well once assembled. Mark. |
| Mark T. Boldry |
| John, The odd thing is that, regardless of ride height, the camber on the front wheels should match, side to side. They clearly don't on the photos which does suggest that something is amiss with the suspension mountings. You have confirmed that the top trunnion is fitted correctly. You said it was a Heritage body, but maybe there is a fault there... Are both pairs of inner fulcrum bushes properly seated - i.e. the large stepped washers sit tightly into the larger holes in the frame webs? Are the frame webs the same, side to side - measure the offset between the mounting holes and the side of the chassis rail. Check the angles of the damper mounting plates. If you put a straight edge or string line or a laser beam down the slope of each mounting plate, the lines should intersect on the ground at a point exactly on the centre line of the car. The only other things would be if you have a damper with a bent lever arm - it does happen, or a mis matched pair of lower A frames. Bent stub axle? Guy |
| Guy Weller |
| The engine is in the car, the only things that are missing are the bumper and lights. It looks like the N/S shock may be duff - it appears to have leaked a lot of oil from the arm to shock body joint and now creaks as the car is bounced, probably because of this it seems to be binding, the N/S does seem to be sitting a bit higher than the O/S - I'll try another shock and see what happens. The A frames both came from the same car, the large washers sit in the holes correctly and neither A frame looked bent, I've got another pair so if the shock doesn't fix the problem, I can change the A frames. |
| John Sellick |
| John, If you have any doubts about the Heritage frame that check of the damper mounting pads is very easy and accurate to do, but the car must be level, on level ground. But it sounds as if your shock bearing may have collapsed. |
| Guy Weller |
| John, have you consulted Heritage about this? Mark. |
| Mark T. Boldry |
| Mark, I haven't yet, but I will if it does turn-out to be a problem with the shell itself. I'll check the damper mountings this weekend... John |
| John Sellick |
| John - If it's any help, I posted the factory chassis measurements on my website a while back, and the page is still there if you need it: http://www.ketcherside.net/chassis.htm Cheers, -:G:- |
| Gryf Ketcherside |
| you can clearly see in the 1st photo that the trunion links are installed correctly by looking thur the turnsignal hole... wrong springs maybe??? can you pull the wheel and take a few more pics prop |
| Prop |
| He still needs to hang a 50 lb bumper on the front and let it settle. |
| Trevor-Jessie |
| Try rolling it up & down the drive a few times, see if it settles out. Brad |
| B Richards |
| If you look at the 1st photo it apears that the king pin isnt vertical leaning towards the right at the top (thur the turn signal hole...opty olussion???) I think trevor may have this one..... >>>>>>Maybe tightened the suspension while it was hanging, and the car is not settling down to ride height because of binding? <<<<<<<<<<<<< It really appears that the lower A arms are not settleing....holding stiff...in the bottomed out postion....what happens if you jack it back up, off the ground??? prop |
| Prop |
| Sorry, Im tired today, Scratch the above post, that didnt make any scence at all, (but in props world, does it ever... Alice would make a great GF...LOL) But I still think treavor is in the hunt prop |
| Prop |
This thread was discussed between 18/10/2008 and 22/10/2008
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