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MG MGB Technical - Coil over conversion

I have a 1972 mgb roadster, purchased new by my father in 1973, and I am now beginning a restoration. Does anyone have any information or advice regarding changing the Armstrongs for coil over suspension. Thanks. -Chris
C.E. Sampson

Chris,

If you really want to go all out, check out Fast Car's new MGB IFS.

http://members.aol.com/danmas/fastcars.jpg
Dan Masters

Chris-
Unless you're building a racer for track use there's not much point in spending the money to do a coil-over conversion. I'd suggest uprating the damping rate on the front Armstrong lever arm dampers by 20 to 25% instead. This can be accomplished by substituting the damper valves from a Triumph TR6. This will firm up the front suspension and noticably improve handling with only a minor compromise in ride quality. If that's not good enough for you, add a Panhard Rod to the rear suspension to improve tracking.
SteveS.

Chris,

Another option would be to try Bill Guzman's new FS setup, at http://www.classicconversionseng.com/
Dan Masters

I have a coil over from Moss on the front of my wife's Gt. Was well worth the $. Is hands down the best handleing driveing b I have ever driven. I have another one for my B if I ever get it done. If you can swing it it's the only way to go. Bob thompson
Bob Thompson

Chris:

For the moment the coil over kit supplied by Moss is off the US market. There were too many problems with tolerances and we also ran into some problems with the supplied shocks. This is a very big disapointment, as I ran one of the first generation kits on my 65 MGB and loved it. The overall design works, but QC needs to be cleaned up and some additional testing needs to be done. For now, my personal recomendation is to stick with the standard lever arm shocks. Use Poly or V8 lower bushings and Poly or Nitrile upper bushings which make future dismantling easier. Upgrade to a 3/4" front sway bar and treat the rear springs to Poly or Nitrile pads and rear bushes to reduce rear steer. I believe in rear tube shock conversions and can now recomend the updated Monroe rear kit Moss is selling. Axle location with the rear tubes is a bit better, and the damping is more controlled. That said, the original lever arms work well if in good shape.

Sorry, this started off as a brief answer to the coil over situation. But what the heck.

Kelvin.
KJ Dodd

Chris,

Doug Jackson offers this kit Stateside. Fitted it last year. The car loves to corner. I would be curious if anyone offers a faster ratio rack for the MGB however.

Shareef
Shareef Hassan

Kelvin:

Firstly, thank you everyone for your input. I was away a few days and not able to respond right away. Kelvin, I am having my car done by an excellent restorer and I have decided to add the Moss SC during the engine rebuild, (it will reduce the cost of the SC as I will not need to rebuild the SU's, etc) and therefore want to improve handling. The person working my car has fitted the Moss coil over kit in prev. projects, fairly recently, and it has worked very well. I think he has access to, or actually has a Moss coil over kit. He has told me they are off-market but that he can "make it work" and is rec. going with it (he does know what he is doing). The wheels are going to be Dayton 14x6. The Armstrongs are original and would need to be re-built. -Chris
C.E. Sampson

Rationalization takes command: I too can save money by buying the supercharger: that way I won't have to rebuild the carbs. But first I gotta call that guy about the boat....
MMD

I find it interesting that Moss USA does not carry the coil over unit and says that are quality problems and Moss Europe lists the coil over unit on their web site with both Spax or Gaz shocks. What is the real story here?
Jim Lema

This thread was discussed between 23/08/2004 and 26/08/2004

MG MGB Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGB Technical BBS is active now.