[Tigers] Tiger shocks

Tue May 30 14:29:26 MDT 2023

I live in western Massachusetts.  A couple of years ago I had Ferrara Spring, Co. in Springfield, MA re-arch the springs for my Mk1A to raise the rear end approximately two (2) inches.  They charged me a whopping $72.00 for what is now a Tiger looking like it's ready to pounce! 

Tym McDowell

> On 05/30/2023 12:36 PM EDT Joe Brown <jbbrown1980 at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>  
> 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 mailto: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 mailto: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 mailto: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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