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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Shocking Subject..

We will be fitting tube shocks, front and rear to a '70 MGB with 215 engine,T-5 trans and currently stock suspension.
I'd appreciate some advice from those that have done this swap- what's a good choice for front and rear gas shocks- by product name and code. The intended use is mainly city/highway driving.
Thanks, JM
John Morgan

John,

I used Koni adjustable shocks. Its 5 years ago i fitted these so i cannot help you with partnr.
I am happy with these.
Regards
Peter
Peter

John,
The Konis are available for front and rear from Brown and Gammons. I think I laid out about $500 all told. Everything fit up really well.

Best, Joe
Joe Ullman

I built my own rear upper rube shock mounts & used Doug Jackson's lower mounts in conjunction with his anti-tramp bars....used Ron Hopkinson's front kit that completely does away with the original shocks & replaces them with his upper control arm...used the Bilstein shocks Ron sells with his kits on all 4 corners
Tony Barnhill

I too used Konis - but again it is more than five years ago, and I no longer have the part numbers.

The shockers have been excellent though!

NJSS
Nigel Steward

i agree with tony, bilstiens are the best you can get, also i have uased doug jacksons rear fiberglass leafs along with his anti tramp bars and it is a great set up, good luck, jim
jim madson

The Spax shocks seem good in conjunction with the composite springs. One decent thing is that they are adjustable on the car, and the more I drive it the stiffer I seem to want them. I think the composite springs are too soft, though, and you can't really make up for that just by tightening the shocks -- at a certain point the ride becomes whacked. I am going to try a set of Doug's traction bars and perhaps pre-load them a little so as to give some more solidity to the rear susp. -- have to get some fabrication done first, though, to hold the rear sway bar links (PITA, that!). One thing that'll be pretty cool is apparently Doug is working on some coil-over helper shocks ... you keep the composite leafs on the car, but they add a little to the spring rate _and_ you'll be able to adjust the ride height of the rear in seconds.
David

Spax, front and rear with Hopkinson sway bars has worked well for me for a number of years.
martyn

From personal experience of MGB and Mini's (and Astra's, Cav's, Cortina's etc) Spax dampers 'seem' to give a harder ride than Koni's, but they are easier to adjust. There are some new names in dampers recently, AVO and GAZ but don't know about them yet. Current MGB is V8 Roaster with Ron Hopkins front conversion, I think it uses Bilsteins, and ST rear springs. For me the ST springs are too hard, so will be looking into either std springs or these glassfibre composite jobbies, and panhard bar/positive axle location.
Phil Hill


John,
My '71GT (Buick 215 / T5) gets suburban and mountain road use. I've been running the Moss
coil-over kit up front, and I've been satisfied. It's eight or nine years old already, but only has about
eight thousand miles of wear. However, the Moss rear-end tube-shock conversion kit proved to be complete rubbish! They should never have sold such junk! Horrible ride!!! I tore it off and fitted
Monroe Sensi-Trac "Colt" shocks per advice found on the following link:
http://www.mgbexperience.com/service/rear-shock.html
The difference was absolutely amazing! Wonderful!!! I can't recommend it enough, especially for the bargain price and ease of getting spares (though I hope to never need them.)
A stiffer front bar, roll-cage, and panhard ride also helped, and I'd recommend all three. The net
result is a car that's "reasonably" comfortable but carves up a mountain with real precision. Just
don't sneeze or twitch or anything...
-Curtis




Curtis

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies to the question I originally posted...what a neat bunch you all are...
JM
John Morgan

This thread was discussed between 16/01/2002 and 19/01/2002

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