NYE 751L - 1972 1850 auto

[xvivalve]

i guess ive got too used to moderns.

Is that why you keep on crashing them Kev?

[JPB]

.....Even a Sprint is okay on 140lb springs as long as the shocks and bushes arent too tired......

I'd have to agree with that. Don't forget that the Dolomite is, especially by modern standards, a very light car. So if you fit springs so hard that the rear doesn't droop when you've a full complement of passengers, the ride will be atrocious when you're one-up.
I've 190Lb springs up front, 140ish ones at the blunt end and that, for me, is a great compromise since it all but prevents dive under hard braking, all but eliminates the body roll that can threaten to roll those 155s off their rims yet is still comfortable for the odd rear seat passenger.

Exhaustive testing (on a privately-owned old airfield and not on the public highway of course...) has shown that those stiff ones up front don't make the car any less predictable, on the contrary, they actually serve to reduce the severity with which oversteer arrives at the limit. It's still possible to get all four wheels slithering sideways simultaneously, and other alliterative bull, but the last time I drove one with hard (175Lb ISTR) back springs, it was most unpleasant as the whole car pitched violently on anything but the smoothest road surfaces. I believe that a slightly softer rear end serves to reduce this pitching, since the front and rear tend to bounce at varying frequencies rather than in harmony which would be carsick territory.

So the rear droops when you've rear passengers? That's fine as long as it doesn't ride along on the bump stops. With a car full of Human Beings, you wouldn't expect it to handle at its best in any case.

Fit standard rate rear springs, go as mad as you like up front. Works for me!

[Toledo Man]

John, you've reinforced my decision to go with standard springs & shockers on the rear. I'll probably order them from Rimmer's or Fitchett's. There was a pair of rear shockers on the 'bay but the the bidding was approaching Rimmer's price so I let them go. I was also outbid on a pair of bottom ball joints. So far I'm still in the running for a standard exhaust in stainless steel and a pair of track rod ends.

[Jod Clark]

Shame I didn't see this before - I have an early style 'AUTOMATIC' badge but if you've already ordered one.....

Send your suspension bits to me for blasting, easily the best way to go. I might start doing these on an exchange basis...

[Toledo Man]

With Blue being out of action I can't do that at the moment as Brown is the only car I've got left that is usable. Well worth keeing in mind especially if I get hold of some more trailing arms or suchlike. Rear suspension is my priority (I'm sure it is getting worse) and I'm seriously considering going down to Rimmer's or Fitchett's and buying rear springs & shockers. If the plastic will stand it I might buy the fronts too.

[Jod Clark]

Take the trailing arms off 'out-of-action' Blue, put them in your car, drive to Fitchetts, dropping them off on the way past my house, then go to Telford, collecting your rust-free parts on your return journey. Simples.

[Toledo Man]

The only drawback is that Blue is an Acclaim. I've already been to Fitchett's and bought new rear springs & shockers. I've only managed to do the driver's side which must've been the worst because the spring was broken and the shocker was leaking. I had to stop because it was getting dark and I'm working tonight and I haven't had much sleep. I'll resume tomorrow and get the passenger side done. The rear feels better already. I don't cringe anymore now I'm not scraping the exhaust. Well worth the money. The rear bushes (what I've seen so far) look fine so they'll be down on the list of priorities. When I've fitted the other rear spring & shocker I'll put up the photos I've taken.

I'm off to sleep now...

[JPB]

Just out of curiosity, was the break in the broken one right at the point where one end of the coil begins to overlap itself? I.E. almost inside the lip of the retaining plate thing?

One of mine was like that, yet it didn't make noise, only sagged very slightly compared to the opposite one and really only showed itself up when I had a passenger in the left at the back.

How long did that one take you and which end of the lower arm did you disconnect to get the clearance? This I'm asking because one of mine was done with the pivot out, the other with the axle to arm bush disconnected and I can't remember which was the harder to do, but as I'm going to pop them out again for some wedge-shaped plates to go in there, anything that keeps the job time reasonable for a bloke whose stamina is limited.....

[Toledo Man]

John, the right one took a couple of hours but fitting the left one took nearly twice as long. What I did was to unbolt the shocker at the top (4 7/16" nuts) and the bottom. I disconnected the trailing arm at the axle end. Even with the rear ARB connected I was able to pivot the trailing arm down enough to get it all out. The worst bit was undoing the bolts but with the help of some Plus Gas I got them off. The right hand side spring had broken at the bottom. This is what I saw when I took the wheel off:


Here is the old spring once I'd got it off:


Because Brown has a later shell the top plate is of the angled type. Autonet7's thread about the rear suspension was quite timely for me and was a help in getting it back together correctly. Replacing the springs and shock absorbers has improved the car so now I don't cringe whenever I go over speed bumps or potholes. Even my passengers have notcied the difference.

[JPB]

That would certainly explain why the car didn't like potholes!

Fortunately, I know that the bolts in mine are all ok to come out since they've only been back together for a short while. I will bear in mind that you did yours with the ARB still attached since I undid it when I did the side that I took apart at the axle end. Bizarrely, I think it was the one that I took out of its pivot that took me the shorter time to do, but I like your method better since it affords you more bits of car to heave on when replacing the bolt through the bush.

Oh well, I've some wedge-shaped plates on the way so I'll be getting intimate with the underside of mine again soon......

Thank Goodness I've no hair, anti-rust products can drip on my baldy head all they like and they wipe off leaving a nice shine.

[Jon Tilson]

Best way to d the rear shocks is to undo the body end and pull it down.
I've only rarely found the radius arm bolts to seize and its alwasy the axle end that does it. Lots of copaslip stops it happening again.
Good time to check the tie bar bushes while you are under there.

Jonners

[Toledo Man]

I did have a look at the bushes and they're not too bad. No desparate rush to renew them. Would hard rubber ones be the way to go? The bolts did fight me but a combination of Plus Gas, a breaker bar and a lump hammer on my 5/8" spanner on the bolt heads did the trick. The 11/16" nuts on the axle end of the trailing arms are a pig to undo as the brake lines are in the way. I got my breaker bar in on the driver's side and on the passenger side I used a 10" adjustable spanner.

[Toledo Man]

More progress!

The track rod ends came in the post and they've been fitted. I had them done inside of 45 minutes. The rubber covers on the old ones had split. While I had the wheels off I noticed that the tyres were worse than I thought so a trip to a tyre fitter is next up. I'll get the tracking done as well. After fitting the track rod ends I cleaned the carbs. Another job to add to the list is the steering column bulkhead bush. Fortunately, I have a decent spare in my parts emporeum so a no-cost fix and won't be too difficult to do as Brown's got an adjustable steering column. I won the eBay exhaust at £9.99. It is a standard exhaust in stainless steel so I just need to arrange a time to pick it up.

[Jon Tilson]

I would polybush the drag struts and dont forget to check the inner wishbine bushes too while its all up in the air.
With the drasg struts disconected from the wishbone its much easier to check for play.
Unless you are quite strong it helps to have the arb off the subframe when refitting.

Jonners

[JPB]

Was This the eBay one you won?

Surely that will come out of the driver's side of the car rather than the passenger side, the correct one for the early look is one with the expansion chamber just behind the gearbox crossmember, then straight back along the passenger side, turn upwards in front of the back axle, second section crosses the axle and straight out through the silencer, which sits under the boot floor.
That eBay one will be quieter, but I'd imagine also a lot more restrictive than those fitted by the factory to earlier cars.
At that price I don't think I'd care though, that's very cheap!