Now to the rear suspension

[casper171072]

I have successfully lowered and re bushed the front suspension with polys and all is fine. Ive gone round the car and been topping up fluids including the dampers. Got to the rear passenger side damper to find the nut to fill it is in the wrong place. On the side and when you try to undo it 1/ you loose the damper oil 2/ you can’t take the nut off because it fowls against the damper mounting bracket. It’s a lot cleaner than the other damper so clearly a replacement at some point but I wonder what it’s off?

Also I notice the springs are in a terrible state they are so rusty the nuts look like they’ve been on the Titanic for a 100 years, defiantly need cutting off! At least two of the straps holding the leaves together are broken so it looks like more expense with new springs damper and the lowering kit keeps me busy I suppose, I guess I will have to get poly bushes for the rear as I have them on the front or is it better with a softer rear end ooh err 😂

[canuck]

Jun 13, 2018 15:11:56 GMT casper171072 said:

Also I notice the springs are in a terrible state they are so rusty the nuts look like they’ve been on the Titanic for a 100 years, defiantly need cutting off! At least two of the straps holding the leaves together are broken so it looks like more expense with new springs damper and the lowering kit keeps me busy I suppose, I guess I will have to get poly bushes for the rear as I have them on the front or is it better with a softer rear end ooh err 😂

Soft rear end you say?  I think poly in the rear hangers is a good option. Locating the axle on this 'rolly polly' little car is a bonus. 

Have a look, I think the Titanic had two sets of springs, yours and mine.

in fact these were so badly rusted that the leafs were 'fused' together.  The rubber inter leaf pads were perished and the clips were bent/broken as you describe. Very sad indeed.

 

Even the associated hardware was badly broken and rusted so some clean up and new parts was required.

So yes you can buy new or you can rebuild. I chose to rebuild mine.  I removed the assembly completely from the car, and carefully separated the leafs. If you choose to rebuild use a C clamp to hold the leafs together when you undo the center bolt. This bolt serves to locate the spring assembly so treat this with respect. I unfortunately broke one and had to weld up a bolt and in the lathe turned the head to the finished dimension. Worked out quite well.

To be continued ...................

B

[canuck]

Jun 13, 2018 15:11:56 GMT casper171072 said:

Also I notice the springs are in a terrible state they are so rusty the nuts look like they’ve been on the Titanic for a 100 years,

Once separated I simply used a rotary wire brush in a drill motor to clean each leaf and painted them individually with chassis paint.  Wear a dust mask to protect the lungs this is a nasty bit of effort.

 

You will need (at least I did) a 'special tool' to hold the front spring hanger pin when undoing its nut. The head of this pin has two hole and the tool simply holds it from rotating.  I made this out of a bit of steel flat bar and a couple of small cap screws.

Clean up all the bits prior to re assemble again simply wire brush and chassis paint.

Not such a daunting task if one is methodical.

Bruce

 

[casper171072]

Thanks for the advice and the photos, very helpful. Got side tracked now with brake problems so working on that and left the suspension for the time being. After all is all level, does squeak of bank, so leave well alone until other things are sorted. I have ordered the new damper though, but will get round to it.

[tjt77]

Not entirely sure, but I believe the 1.5 has the same springs as the morris traveller ( woody in USA) which has an extra leaf over the morris saloon, making 7 leaves in all.. I do recall an improvement in overall ride quality years ago.when i replaced the rear springs on my then 1.5 with a a pair of new BMC originals for a standard Morris Minor saloon,(6 leaf) and replaced the lever shocks with a pair of tubular 'koni' brand as sold at the time in a kit with all the brackets by 'speedwell' along with some anti tramp bars from are firm... the ride quality was much more comfortable and the car handled noticeably better..( up front I had a 3/4" anti roll bar and same brand tube shocks) I think part of the reason for better ride quality was softer springs combined with different specification of the shocks.. which had little resistance on compression and strong resistance on the downward stroke ...