[Tigers] Tiger shocks

[Joe Brown]

I googled "leaf spring re-arching" and found an old-school place in San
Antonio (Ace Spring Service, about 1.5 hours from me).  They mostly deal
with heavy trucks but they can handle any leaf spring.  I told them I
needed to lift the back of the car about 1.5" and they basically separated
the leaves and put them in a big press.  My old springs are liable to start
sagging again in a few years because of the old metal.  I asked the guy at
Ace about re-tempering the springs and they don't do that anymore.  He said
that back in the days before they had the more modern giant presses they
used to have a forge and they would heat up the metal and then beat it into
shape with sledge hammers.

The only source I've found for new leaf springs are some of the suppliers
in the UK.   Tom Hall doesn't supply them anymore.  I would like to know if
anybody knows of a US supplier.

Thanks,
Joe Brown

On Tue, May 30, 2023 at 10:39 AM Jay Laifman <jay.laifman at gmail.com> wrote:

> Where and how did you get the rear springs de-arched?  I'd like to lower
> my rear springs on the Alpine a little.
>
> On Mon, May 29, 2023 at 1:03 PM Joe Brown <jbbrown1980 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I think I started this thread a few weeks ago.  My car started to bottom
>> out and I finally figured out that I had two blown shocks and my
>> leaf springs were sagging.  I got the springs re-arched and started looking
>> for shocks.  I have a car show coming up this weekend, so time was a
>> factor.  I looked at Koni and Spax but the lead times were way too long. So
>> I decided to go with KYB.  Looking through the different forums I saw
>> different part numbers and I finally settled on part number  KG5562 for the
>> rears and KG4616 for the fronts. The rear shocks were a perfect fit.  On
>> the front shocks I needed to press out the steel bushing spacer on the old
>> shocks and insert them into the KYBs.  Super easy and they also fit really
>> well.  The whole car now sits a little higher and the handling is a million
>> times better.
>>
>> Thanks for everybody's input.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Joe Brown
>>
>> On Thu, May 25, 2023 at 9:11 PM Lionel Bohrer <lcbohrer at comcast.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> The Spax catalog in the classic section shows a listing for the Sunbeam
>>> Tiger 64-68, in the $150 range per shock front and rear.  They appear to be
>>> single adjustable so rebound and compression change together.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I got Spax shocks for my car back in the 60’s.  Replaced a set of Koni
>>> shocks.  Didn’t like the damping characteristics quite as well, but the
>>> ability to adjust on the car was revolutionary.  Soften up, drive to an
>>> autocross or cross country, get to the event, turn them up and compete,
>>> post event set down for the street and drive home.  Many competition cars
>>> weren’t trailered in those years.  A great ability to accommodate street
>>> comfort and autocross performance.  Or to adjust to your individual
>>> preferences.  My set are still on the car, which exited regular competition
>>> in the late 90’s, but my two SCCA autocross national championships in 1974
>>> and 1975 were with the Spax shocks.  Would be worth exploring if you need
>>> shocks.  They also might custom make a set of double adjustable shocks if
>>> you were interested.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Bud Bohrer
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
>>> Windows
>>>
>>>
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