Many B's, many springs. My '67 V-8 roadster has evolved to the following
setup. CB GT front coils with HD lever arms, 3/4 front sway bar, V-8
bushings and more or less stock '67 ride height. In the rear I am using 6
leaf CB rdstr springs with tube shocks (colt) and more or less stock ride
height. The car weighs less than 2100 pounds and handles reasonably well.
Tires are 185-70 Michelins on 14x6 Panasports. Under violent acceleration
in low gear it will "basketball" the rear tires. Under hard braking no
wheel bounce occurs.
The prior setup in the rear was AHC31 7 leaf GT springs with Monroe tube
shocks (G10). It rode hard but hooked up real well. Drop the clutch and 2
black stripes. But....under hard braking it would bounce the rear wheels
and under hard cornering the rear would float laterally and allow tire
rubbing. It also had a touch of roll steer. And it rode hard.
I believe the reason for the 7 leaf springs faults lie in the fact that
they are rubber bumper springs. Moss only sells one set of GT springs, and
they are marked AHC31. I am not sure where Bob Ford gets his. They supply
these for CB cars but the springs have 1 1/2 inches too much arch for a CB
car. You will wait many moons for those suckers to sag to CB height. I
fabricated a 1 inch lowering block, but the arch causes all sorts of
geometry issues. For maximum lateral strength the spring should be FLAT.
The hot setup IMHFO is the MGC roadster 6 1/2 leaf spring. Yep, the 1/2
leaf is on the leading end of the spring to control wrap up and wheel hop.
The same spring was used in factory 8's. I have a used pair that I will
clean and redo with poly sheet between each leaf, spring project for Spring
time.
Poly bushings in northern New England will break every weld in the
suspension. Our roads suck. Hence the springing for ride and handling,
the car is much faster with all wheels on the ground. Also, heim joints in
a street car are money wasted up here. The "traction master" type bars
would eliminate my wheel hop but they transmit road noise and break mounts.
Jack Emery
Glenburn Maine
'67 MGB V-8
many others
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