DON - on my +8 I have decambered the front to 0 degrees. This was done on the
recommendation of a Morgan racing specialist in the UK (MacDonald if I recall -
I bought the lower plates and other bits from them) who recommended 0 degrees
for early +8s. Don't know what the consensus is for 4/4s, sounds like a good
question to toss out to the masses, pretty quiet out there anyway! I have no
complaints about my car turning in, the steering seems no different from my
original stock/street setup, and I've had no abnormal tire wear. One thing you
MUST do is change your tie-rod as the old one will be too short. In my mind at
least, there will not be enough "meat" of the tie-rod ends in the old tie-rod.
The old tie-rod is, I believe, about 38 1/4" long. You need one about an inch
(maybe 7/8ths) longer. A man of your experience will probably make his own but
you can buy a "long +8" tie-rod. Naturally this is too long and you will have
to shorten it in a lathe! Measure twice, cut once!
I'm sure too you will want to install what they call "brake reaction torque
bars". Your old SS may have even had them. Much like the tube/bar running
from the bottom of the stub axle/spindle back to the chassis, the BRTB is a
piece of tubing, one end of which is secured under the kingpin oiling bolt,
then running at an angle back down to the chassis in front of the wheel stop
blocks. Again, you can buy these all powder-coated and pretty, or make you own.
Getting back to decambering, I seem to remember someone (maybe it was
Freshman's "Baby Doll") actually had an adjustable system. I often wondered
if a Morgan really responds to such high-tech tuneability. I've always thought
of the Morgan as a poster boy for "Close enough for government work". This is
no complaint, just part of its charm!
Cheers for now, Craig
-----Original Message-----
From: DGreimel@aol.com [SMTP:DGreimel@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, December 06, 1999 5:18 AM
To: gregmogdoc@surfnetusa.com; morgans@autox.team.net
I, and several of my morgan racing friends had our spidles heat treated
during the early 60`s. We all had +4s, mine was an SS. The results were (a)
no more spindle flex pushing the pads back and creating a loss of brakes. (b)
no more broken spindles.
Spindle breakage was a very common problem in those days. After the heat
treatment there was never another broken spindle even when a friend flipped
his car at Lime Rock and landed it on the LF wheel. As you surely know, the
folks at Morgan knew little of metallurgy in those days. The spindles and
the rear axles (using posi tract) were a constant problem until properly
treated. They would not even register on a brinell tester. I have the
spindles off my car in the process of decambering and was wondering whether
to have them treated or convert to the +8 units. It sounds as though the
hubs would also require upgrading and it would surely be less expensive to
heat treat. In 1962 New York it cost $6.00 each. No doubt that has changed
but I imagine that $50 would do it. It may not even be necesary with the 4/4.
While we are here - have you decambered your car? I bought Hoosier Vintage
GT tyres, on your recommendation, and think that they should stand pretty
strait up. I see a lot of cars with serious decamber, on the order of 2
degrees, and think that would be rather much. I was planning on one degree
and would appreciate our input.
Cheers!
Don Greimel
`66 4/4
Havre de Grace, MD
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