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MG MGB Technical - Steering, Driving me round the Bend

Just done a front suspenshion rebuild on my 1965 b roadster and have a few problems... mainly that it just dose not feel right.Replaced all the dampers, lower wish bones, all the rubbers with poly bushes, new track rod ends ect. Had all the tracking done (1/8 th toe in ). It still dose not self centre and feels light at the front. My first thought is are the dampers handed left and right ? and dose fitting them the on the wrong side alter the caster and camber angles ?? and also there is a slight clonk from the steering rack but no play from the steering wheel to wheel movement. My car was converted to right hand drive b4 I owned it, and it looks like they just turned the steering columb over when the moved it to the right hand side. Is this normal (my indicators are on my right hand) a result being that the indicator suround is on upside down and the indicators dont self cancel. Any one have any more ideas b4 I buy a new rack ?
regards
marc
M C Lovell

Marc,
Front ampers are interchangeable left to right. Did you have weight on the wheels and bounce the front end a few times before torquing the A-Arm bush nuts? If the nuts are torqued with the wheels hanging, the suspension will remain somewhat elevated and will shift the center of moment to the rear, making the steering feel light. If the rack were able to be inverted, the shaft angle would not come close to intercepting the ujoint. There's a '65 in my shop right now for a stalk switch but it's 100* in there and the humidity is about 101% so I'm holding off until about 5am tomorrow morning. I seem to recall that the early switch can mount on the left or right, and the canceller cam can be rotated to suit the hand. I'll verify it tomorrow.
Mark Childers
The MG Asylum
Mark Childers

Marc,
As Mark said, the dampers are interchangable. There's not much in the front end that can effect the caster and camber if all the bits are in good condition. You may have worn lower trunion bushes causing your clunk, but unless they are severely damaged the steering should still track. It's more likely that you just need alignment. Check your toe in setting, if thats out of spec the car will wander.
Bill
Bill Boorse

Thanx for all your help Guys.The lower trunions are new as well as the king pins, the only parts I didnt replace on the front was the rack and the springs (bits for the MG are so cheap I adopted the if in dout throw it out mentality) I retorqued all the bolts with the weight on the suspenshion, reshimed the steering rack and it feels loads beter.I think the clonk (only slight) is from the wheel splines.I think some of the problem maybe spending to much time driving my Jeep with power steering and my bmw CSL thats razor sharp. Next job on the list is the back end, the Diff is well worn so thats coming out next week for a rebuild (thats not helping it want to turn from the straight ahead position) and also have a leaking rear damper. I have a spax kit to fit for the rear along with new bushes and springs. While I was out at the week end brought my self a nice new set of crome wire wheels and new tyres and an original steering wheel as the motolita one thats fitted at the mo is way to small (makes the steering to heavy after driving cars with power steering, or am I just getting to old !!)It still dosnt self center but I can live with that if I cant gona buy a new rack and be done with it (can get one for 62 new) as times money these days.
At the moment cant keep out of damb thing when the suns shining. The '61 midget is now starting to look good, the new boot floor is in along with the rear wings and iner wheel arches, the passenger side floors are now out along with the iner and outer sills and 'A' posts and the new ones should be in by the week end. By the time its done it will be almost a complete new body shell made up from parts.. pity they dont do new shells for the Gan 1 it would have worked out cheaper.We have took loads of pics of the midget rebuild and as soon as I get my new Home page up and running will post some pics of it along with the suspenshion rebuild and car pics of the mgb.
I must get around to joining the MG club, got my eye on a mga twin cam to rebuild next...
Next on the list is putting the batmobile aero kit on the 3.0 csl and a bare metal repaint ( its totaly rust free 2 owner car thats done 70k but the last owner I think wore a diamond ring when he washed the car and has scratched the roof and boot lid to bits)

back to the garage...

all the best
marc
M C Lovell

Marc,
stiff kingpins can cause the car to not self-centre (I know they are new, but....).
Maybe, for your own piece of mind, take the wheels off and disconnect the steering to feel if they're okay.
Rufus
R Pool

This thread was discussed between 24/07/2004 and 27/07/2004

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