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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Rear spax conversion

After more than 18 months after buying them on ebay (only £30, couldn't believe my luck) I have finally gotten around to trying to fit my rear suspension spax conversion.

Problems!

The spacing of the holes for the leaf spring U bolts don't align with the plate the kit came with. Also the existing holes intended for the dampers are closer together and smaller than the holes on the plate provided.

Not as fantastic a deal as I thought then!

My question is; as I will have to drill new holes for the top plate should I situated directly above the hub so that the shock sits vertical instead of at an angle?

Frontline suggest their suspension kit is superior because it does just that. Is it propaganda or is there likely to be a noticeable benefit?

For the lower plate I thought I'd just weld it onto the pre existing plate that the damper attached to.

Thoughts?

(picture of bottom plate)


James Ballard

James

Most damper kits mount on a bolt that fits in the current damper mount hole - once the damper mounting plate has been swapped side-side and reversed. The orig plate is strong enough to be OK for this.

You might consider doing this with your dampers... assuming that the distance between top and bottom mount won't mean your dampers 'bottom' when suspension deflected.

I use FL kit, BTW. Reasonably easy to fit and works well - top mount uses the 'leather strap' mount holes above the axle.

What is the max/min length of your dampers?

A
Anthony Cutler

James,

I've fitted a Spax kit briefly to my frogeye and a mate has one on his Austin sprite, both body brackets bolted straight up without any drilling required. On my mates car being 1/2 elliptic the lower spring plate was inverted and swapped side to side as Anthony mentioned to get a longer damper stroke.

As your kit has been provided with a lower plate then the Spax kits must have been altered to provide a lower damper pick-up point from the look of the photo.

It's difficult to tell from the photo whether the hole pattern is square or not, but the normal alignment of dampers I have seen the damper pin points towards the centre of the axle so in your photo the lower Spax pick-up is 90 degrees out from the lower spring plate orientation. Would that make a difference to the fit.

Any chance of a photo of the body bracket?.
David Billington

Hi guys here is a pic of the top bracket.

AC
Not sure on the max min length, will have to check

DB
Wha??

I'm afraid I'm not as technical as I should be as of yet, I'm still learning!


James Ballard

James,

I would suspect your kit is not for a spridget judging from the upper pick-up. The one I am familiar with looks like this. You can see the upper mounting bracket is totally different. You could always ask Spax for confirmation by sending the images to them.




David Billington

Bo****ks!

I still think I can make it work. The bottom bracket can be welded on to the pre existing damper pick up bracket whilst still giving clearance to the bolts and I can always drill an extra hole for the upper mounting bracket.

Should I consider ways of aligning the top bracket toward the strap mounting? is that not worth it?
James Ballard

James, There are 2 different sizes of rear shocks made by Armstrong. The bolt holes for the small shocks as used on Spridgets, early Triumphs, early Healeys is 3-3/8". MGB, MGA, later Triumphs and Healeys are 4" Center to center. I suspect the kit you have is/was for a B. The spring plate looks like it to me from here.

You could redrill the plate(s), but then the Spax shock length is probably too long as it would be for a MGB as well. Call Spax for their part numbers.

Peter C
Peter Caldwell

Curse you anonymous ebay seller!

James Ballard

James. I have a Spax rear damper kit on a 1275 midget. Your kit is definitely NOT for a Midget (or it has been modified for some other use). My kit looks exactly like the one in David Billington's photo. Mine fitted with no modification or fettling other than (as Anthony points out) swapping and reversing the bottom plate for the spring U-bolts. I think you woz dun!
There is a difference also between the chrome bumber version and the rubber bumper versions so watch out for that as well.
Chris
Chris H (1970 Midget 1275)

James, from the above comments it does indeed look like your kit was not intended for a Midget. I would advise you to check the part number for the shocks as well and compare that with the shocks used by the others. You may have a shock which has a rate that will not give a satisfactory ride in the Midget.
Bill Young

James. Spax kit here in Llantwit that isn't going to get used. Wanna swap bits over? Rob
01446 795489
rob multi-sheds thomas

The lower bracket would appear to be the one for the morris minor. (Spax

http://www.spaxperformance.com/ownershandbooks/CKX-OwnerHandbook-10.pdf
Dean Smith ('73 RWA)

Rob,

You are a scholar and a gent!

Seems my kit will go on your Moggy then! Are you about on Sunday?

J
James Ballard

The brackets both look very similar to the rear Spax kit i had on my MGB.

There are usually numbers stamped on the dampers that can be checked out with Spax - may be on there web site even.

Richard.
richard boobier

I'm here almost constantly for the next 7 weeks. 3 flights this month and only one flight next month. Glad I'm on a set wage!

If you give me enough notice then I can be around and will plough a route through the garage.
rob multi-sheds thomas

Found the bits. All here bar the rubber bushes.
rob multi-sheds thomas

It was an MGB/C kit that JB had received. I had a Midget rear kit hanging about on a shelf that was never going to be used.
More garage space! Hurrah!
rob multi-sheds thomas

Doesn't look like any MGB kit I can find a picture of - including the datasheets from the Spax site. It does look like the Minor kit though ?
Dean Smith ('73 RWA)

Same bracket at the top as I had on the MGC. The bottom bracket PCD on the minor is the same as the Midget so it would've fitted.

It was dark when we had a look, though.
rob multi-sheds thomas

Dean,

I think Spax have updated both the front suspension and rear axle fixing kits - they now look different to what i remember on my 'B'.

The older types are similar to some on e bay currently 170294515453.

Richard
richard boobier

This thread was discussed between 16/01/2009 and 21/01/2009

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.