Malcolm, In the owners manuals that come with Morgans, there are =
instructions to regularly "paint the leaf springs with motor oil" to =
keep them lubricated. That sounded a little messy to me, so we ussually =
pry the leaves apart by driving a screw driver between them as a wedge, =
and then squirt in some 90 EP gear oil. Doing a good job of lubing the =
springs absolutly and dramatically improves the ride on a street car. =
It also increases the load on the shocks ( or as they are more accuratly =
called dampers). Since the friction between the leaves has a damping =
effect on the motion or the springs, when you remove thois friction you =
have lost somne damping action. The shock's damping action is very =
velocity sensitive. This means that the greater the bump or movement =
the more resistence the shock should offer. This will occure if the =
shocks are set up and are opperating properly. On a Morgan, when we =
lubricate the spring, we also stiffen the shock. This actually results =
in a smoolther ride over small road irregularities and better resistance =
to "bottoming" the suspension on big bumps.=20
Regards, =
Greg Solow ( blue Morgan # 45)
-----Original Message-----
From: Malcolm Cox [SMTP:malcox@napanet.net]
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 1998 7:55 PM
To: vintage-race@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Leaf springs
Looking for advice on what to do about old leaf springs on my MGA
project. =20
They seem to be dry, with rust between leafs. Is this bad?, should
there be inter-leaf lubrication, if so what lubricant. Does inter leaf
friction have any bearing on the effectiveness of the shocks?
Malcolm Cox, Napa
|