Dan Buettner wrote:
>
> second, what kind of front shock should I get? I plan to drive the
> car a lot, and sometimes drive it hard, but not race it, nor make a
> museum piece out of it. "Stock" shocks are only about $30 apiece,
> while Koni and Spax run to $100 and $130 each.
>
> third, in the same vein, should I get the "standard" front spring, or
> the "heavy duty"? The car appears to have had heavy duty springs on
> it, but I never drove it.
Dan :
I'll voice what is probably the minority opinion, and say that IMO the
standard front springs and shocks are perfectly adequate for hard street
driving. If you are just looking for better handling and don't care
about concours, put on some sway bars, wider wheels and tires. The
super-stiff springs were thought necessary back in the 50s and 60s, but
modern thinking is towards more compliant suspensions, with sway bars to
control roll rate instead of stiff springs.
BTW, I recently learned that the front shocks used on TR4-6 are much
softer than the stock TR2-3 shocks.
>
> fourth -- would you recommend that I actually do replace the front &
> rear springs? Problem is, I have no idea how many miles are on the
> ones I've got.
Unless you know of some reason to suspect them, the front springs are
probably fine. The rear springs should be disassembled, cleaned, and
inspected for cracks especially in the main leaf near the center bolt.
Any signs of cracking, or excessive rust, wear (look for a knife edge on
the tips of the leaves), etc. means new springs (always replace them in
pairs). Uprated bushings (Nylatron or Poly) in the rear springs should
improve axle location a bit, otherwise I'd leave them alone.
>
> finally, TRF is currently selling rebuilt rear lever shocks for
> $57.50 each. Good deal? Mine aren't in good enough shape to simply
> put them back on; on the other hand, if I can have them rebuilt
> elsewhere for significantly less, I'll consider it.
I haven't investigated, but the $57.50 sounds good to me. What's wrong
with your old shocks ? My rear shocks must have over 200K miles on
them, seem to still work OK (although I'm currently in need of new
links).
Randall
59 TR3A daily driver
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