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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - MGB Front dampers

The front dampers are shot on my midget and I've been looking at the various products available. Frontline looks good but very expensive, I'd fab some up myself but don't have the time. Peter May's kit looks ok but I'm drawn to Mamba Motorsports adapter plates to fit MGB dampers, for the price they seem to be what I'm after and offer adjustable camber. Has anyone ever fitted their kit? Any opinions?
J White

Im not aware of this modification can you post a link...it sounds interesting

thanks

prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Wouldnt moving the shock body backwards and forwards cause more bump steer as it would upset the alignment of the pivot points...?
See picture..


Andy Phillips (frankenfrog)

Hi Prop, here's the link
http://www.mambamotorsport.co.uk/components/spridgetfrontsus.html

From your pic Andy it looks like the track rod end should be moved to cure the bump steer if I've just read a couple of articles right. Interesting subject and I think I'll call Mamba to discuss how well their system works.
J White

I was only talking to the man at Mamba Motorsport about this a couple of days ago.
Apparently the plate allows adjustmenr for camber. The double arm shock holds the kingpin. / stub axle more rigid.
A telescopic shocker can be added to the MGB conversion if required.
A small bit of the inner wheel arch needs to be cut away to cater for this modification.
An alternative is to fit an Austin A60 shock absorber.
Alan


Alan Anstead

Putting MGB dampers onto mod sports Sprites was fairly commonplace in the 60's and I put twin arm dampers on the Frogeye in the early 70's - and ran with them up until a couple of years ago. I used the pre '62 Farina ones (Austin A60 not MGB) and as installed gave a nominal 1.5 degrees negative camber.They seemed to work very well,never wore out and kept all the damping loads inline, so was a much more elegant solution than the offset telescopic ones.I don't recall any bump steer issues with mine,and it never created any comment from any MOT tester.But mine were very much home tweaked so can't comment on the Mamba installation.
Fergus

The original LA dampers work very well if suitably cared for. I reconditioned mine and firmed them up a touch using slightly heavier grade oil - Silkolene fork oil 30 IIRC. A few places do an exchange...
M Ogden

M
Several places do an exchange some even new .... problem is most are not fit for service. Leaks and even the arms pulling out let alone different damping rates. Complaints seem to be same whether new or recon.
Alan
Alan Anstead

Peter Caldwell damper rebuilds in USA seem to be well regarded in terms of quality and can send to UK (but not cheap):


http://www.nosimport.com/Lever-shocks-remanufactured

Cheers
Mike
M Wood

Peter Caldwell shocks can be a hassle especially when you get some bad ones.
Alan
Alan Anstead

Alan

In that case, I would at least attempt to improve upon the original LA dampers first. My hydraulic oil was horribly grey, so it was flushed out, pistons/cylinders cleaned, and replaced the oil with the Silkolene. I think I also replaced various bits with a kit. Pretty cheap and simple to do, and for me anyways, a noticeable improvement. I did do all 4 though....
M Ogden

That is a really cool idea

i wonder if you cant make one of those plates for the frontline kit to add in some castor

my guess is the plate has a grove on the bottom side of the plate that the bolts for the LA come up thur and the plat just bolts to the 3 LA mounting holes

if thats the case... you could scrib some degree measurement lines into the plate to monitor any movement and to easily set up

Using an mgb shock would certianly give a nice triangulation of the LA set up
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Best you keep quiet or you will have a queue forming up your garden path by people with shock absorbers for resto.
Alan
Alan Anstead

I can't see how the caster can be changed - surely it's fixed by the spring pan bushings.Or have you got your cambers and casters mixed up.
Fergus

Castor / Camber explained.
Alan


Alan Anstead

Duh... yes chamber
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

I think I need to ring Mamba, I'll be lowering the car when I debumper it (rubber bumper model) and I want to know what effect that will have on mgb dampers and if you can adjust the arm position if needed like the Competition prep manual suggests for the standard midget dampers
J White

J White
As mentioned above by Fergus, MGB shock conversions used to be fairy common without any noticeable side effects
If you are also going to lower your car as mentioned it would be a good idea to check for bump steer while the springs are out- It's reasonably simple to check. -- Adjustment is by either remounting the rack higher or lower
Or fitting different height rod ends to get the same result
On my old experimental car I had a fabricated rocker arm suspension with inboard mounted telescopic shocks and on that particular car I cut the rack mounting X-member out and had to drop it as far down as it would go to get a result but that doesn't mean yours will be that far out-if at all
It will be interesting to see what Mamba have to say
In releasing a kit to the public you would assume they have done the maths on it
willy
William Revit

Am I the only one who can't get the mamba site to open?
Onno K

You are not alone
William Revit

I've no problems loading the site in Firefox and Chrome but I do find it a disappointment as the images are low resolution and no possibility for higher resolution by the look of it.
David Billington

I think the connection issues are at there end... it just started workijg for me this morning ... but only part of there website is working

im thinking you may have to turn off pop up blockers

but the company has some great ideas ... they have an addaptor for the A+ engine to work inline ... im not sure the adptor is for sale and a roller bearing kit for the clutxh and from what i gather a new carbon ring design for the clutch also and they are also doing work with duratec engines ... they also have a tube shock conversion and a new steering rack thats fully adjustable... looks like JHL has some competion

i must admit ... i do fear for the long term viability of these companys... just a look at ebay shows the writting maybe about to be visable on the subway walls

all the ussual suspects ebay and craigs list is showing reduction in whats for sell on a daily basis

prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Did anyone do this? I have emailed mamba for a price as I am very interested in upgrading over my standard dead midget dampers..
Karl Bielby

This thread was discussed between 25/03/2016 and 31/03/2016

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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