Bill -
I remain unconvinced that heavy duty shock valve springs are the best
option for any road healey. On a track they can work well, but on the
potholed and speed bumped streets that we drive on, stiff shocks can
contribute to wheel hop (especially the rear end), making the car
dangerous to drive if you drive it hard. In addition it adds stress
to the shock mounting plates which is a weak design on the healey.
My feeling is the best piece of advice is to go with standard, softer
shocks and then uprate the front anti-roll bar to a heavy duty
rose-jointed bar (www.cape-international.com sells them). Trust me,
with this on a six-cyl car, it will handle like a modern sports car.
However, if you have a BN1 or BN2, a heavy anti-roll bar is not really
needed, as the car is significantly lighter up front during hard
driving. Maybe some poly bushes are fine (esp. on the chassis mounts
for the anti-roll bar) , if you go with poly bushes on the links, be
sure to buy uprated links too because original anti-roll bar links
can't handle stiff polybushes.
Best Regards,
Alan
'53 BN1 '64 BJ8
On 7/4/06, WILLIAM B LAWRENCE <ynotink@msn.com> wrote:
> To the racers among us, or anyone else who might want to chip in:
>
> I have a couple of Armstrong lever arm dampers (easier to type than "shock
> absorbers") that I need to send out for a rebuild. I was told they had heavy
> duty damping, so I pulled the valves out and one spring set seems to be a
> lot heavier than the other. The small spring (rebound I think) has seven
> coils of spring in a heavier wire than the other which has nine coils. The
> larger springs have the same number of coils, but the heavy set is a much
> larger wire. From this examination I think I have one normal damper and one
> heavy.
>
> My question(s):
>
> From experience, what does the heavy valving mean for performance, and ride
> comfort?
>
> Has anyone who has used them had any problems with the added suspension
> loads damaging the chassis mounting points?
>
> Does anyone recommend them for road use and if so does anyone have one spare
> valve laying around in the way, and if not does anyone need one?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Bill Lawrence
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