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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - midget ride height

Help arggggg! last night thought I would jack car up, take front wheels off give her a good clean, and grease up some nipples, left it jacked up overnight,this morning put wheels back on, and the car is sitting 3-4" higher why?
my car is fitted with Fronline suspension mods gas struts etc. since buying the car it has always sat very low at the front,(see profile pic) I guessed this was the way the previous owner set it up, and I have jacked it up before and it has always gone back to original height, anyone experienced this before, what have I done?

cheers Jack

ps: no I have not left the wife under the car!!!!
J Torrance

Stop panicing as soon as you drive it it will settle back down to where it was before you jacked it up.
:)
Bob Turbo Midget England

Jack, when you raise the front suspension the track there gets narrower as the A arms drop. When you place weight back on the tyres they can't slip sideways so they keep the A arms held in a dropped position and hold the front of the car higher than normal. Just rolling the car forwards and backwards a few feet will allow the tyres to move outwards and the front will return to it's normal height. Since the rear settles normally the angle from front to rear accents the front height and even makes it look higher.
Bill Young

Thanks Bill/Bob I was worried, I can now understand what you are saying about the wheels etc., I actually like it a bit better a couple of inches higher, how can I adjust this do I do it on the gas struts or is it more technical?

cheers guys this forum is great you guys are so helpful, since I bought this midget I have learned so much from the forum, glad I joined.

cheers Jack.
J Torrance

Get used to the car as it is before you think about raising it. If you really are too low and have a major problem with speed bumps (sleeping policemen I think you call them over there) then you probably would have to install new springs. You probably have gas filled shocks (dampers) but they won't offer any suspension increase. Gas shocks only contain an inert gas to keep pressure on the fluid to reduce the chances of it foaming. Adding pressure won't raise or lower the car.
Bill Young

Jack if you have FL at front you may have their 1" lower front springs too, I have them and was told by FL before I bought them that the car would only lower by half an inch, then after they were fitted and clearly it sat lower than half an inch suddenly it changed to half to three quarters of an inch (this should have warned me about them)

With a change of tyres too and these 1" lower springs my car sits about an inch lower than before which isn't the best thing as my exhaust hangs very low at the front and I've worn thro' two U-bolts already

I think the FL 1" lower springs are grey (can't check as mine are covered in waxoyl now) and my standard springs were black

Ignore my profile photo as that was taken before changes I'll have to update that photo
Nigel Atkins

Thanks guys, Nigel I'll have a look at them see what colour, I thought they were black, but I'll look again. I like the low front as per my profile pic, and the car drives,corners, and sticks to the road like Sh-- to a blanket, but as you say, when I go for a run with the car club, country lanes and pub car parks also sleeping policemen are a nightmare, I'm going to France next year, probably Portsmouth ferry I'm not happy about the car scraping up the ramps, could get caught out on that one!, thanks for the info, may look at original springs then!

cheers Jack.
J Torrance

Insurance photo from June this year

I think the car may have settled down a little lower since then even

Back sits higher as it's on standard springs (another long boring FL story there)

Others will have other ideas rather than swapping springs


Nigel Atkins

You could try making the damper harder by clicking on all a couple of clicks then test driving and making a note of setting and your feelings of the ride, if not enough keep doing this until ride becomes too hard and go back to where ride was were you like it

Even if it doesn't cure your problem you've sorted out your ride preference and it's a good excuse to go out for a ride

My problem is this silly low exhaust which hopefully will be replaced early next year (unless the usual happens and something else goes wrong or wasn't fitted right but there can't be much left)
Nigel Atkins

sorry pressed wrong button


Nigel Atkins

I still have some 340?lbs 1 inch lowered Frontline frontsprings somewhere in my workshop but they are green.
Could be the pressure the springs can handle what determins their collor.

I drive my midget with 5 clicks from full-hard at the front(+ 400lbs springs), yes it can be a bit bouncy on some roads but it corners as if it was on rails.

I thought that at the frontside of my sill there is 16cm between the bottom of the sill and the road.
Its sligthly higher at the rear which i like and it almost evens horizontal when in the car insted of sacking thrue at the rear you see on many cars.
Arie de Best

Hi Jack

Stiffening the shockers will do nothing to change the ride height, this is done by the length and strength of the springs. Normally with a Midget the problem is that the rear of the car sits too low (IMO) rather than the front.
I had loads of trouble when we used my Midget for touring France I was always fighting the car being too low. However I fitted some good standard front springs and the height was not too bad. Just lately I have retempered my rear springs to raise the rear of the car to suit me!

I think unless you have some over riding impulse to run the car as low as possible then keep the springs at standard height and enjoy getting all your stuff in the car complete with wife/girlfriend and enjoy life touring France. When they are not on strike they love old british cars.
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

I was suggesting that adjusting the dampers would raise the car just perhaps smooth out the ride according to Jack's normal driving style and speed

Also I was suggesting checking the exhaust as a mate has a Spridget that looks lower than mine but had no grounding issues like mine as his exhaust is a lot closer to the body of the car and has a much firmer suspesion

My FL springs are 340lb, 1" lower and I remember them as grey but I could well be wrong (what with having a poor memory), FL showed me a customer car they had in with the same suspension set up as they were suggesting for my car and told me that the customer's car regularly toured Europe - at that time I believed them, well they were the experts, I've paid to know different now

I have my dampers set about 3/4 clicks from softest setting so opposite to Arie

from the bottom of the sill crease to ground is 5" (127 mm) with the car unloaded

I've taken this Midget fully loaded to France with standard suspension set up at the front with no problems but I've also taken a few of other lowish cars fully loaded also without grounding problems

Some roads sometimes the only solution is to slow down and as those roads tend to be the ones I like I agree a low ride height isn't a good idea

Nigel Atkins

whoops, done it again >>I was suggesting that adjusting the dampers would raise the car <<

should have been - I was NOT suggesting that adjusting the dampers would raise the car

sorry I often miss a word out but can never see it at the time, not is a particularly important word to miss out tho'

like I should have put perhaps put - You could also try making the damper harder

instead of >>You could try making the dampers harder<<

my typing skills are as bad as my mechanics skills
Nigel Atkins

Nigel

I'm not sure if it just me, but when I look at your photo I would say that the front is about right BUT the rear is too high (I like to see roughly the same distance between wheel and arch all the way around). Of course, with a full load the rear end may settle and be about right. If necessary, lowering the rear is easy with spacers.

Chris
Chris H (1970 Midget 1275)

This is how low I run BRB (encl); back a little higher so that the combined weight of my elder son and me... let's say 27 stones(!) ... can be accommodated.

BTW - front lower than rear promotes stability at speed.

A


Anthony Cutler

A you have a nice looking car

On mine the back is about correct altho' the Yoko A-drive tyres do make the gap at the back appear bigger

In my personal opinion and each to their own, the modern fashion to have the wheel arch filled out with tyre looks ok but is not that practical for unclassified roads that I like

Bear in mind when the car has the driver and then passenger plus luggage it sits lower

Photo below is an earlier one with standard springs and larger (155/80) tyres but still has a good gap and sits level and no trouble with grounding

If you look at period photos you'll see cars sat higher


Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 19/10/2010 and 20/10/2010

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