MG Sports Cars

Ok guys I'm starting to mess with the fender flares... To do that I took the car off the rotisserie. With it sitting on the tires & set up at ride height*, Out back I have 3 1/4" from the upper control arm to the frame rail. My bump stops are 1 1/2" so that means the rear suspension will have 1 3/4" travel. Is that enough? If not i can cut own the bump stops, raise the car a little, or both. Let me know what you think.

Rob

*Note: "ride height" = CB averages from the MG Experience survey -- 14 1/8" front and 14 1/2" rear -- measured from the bottom of the chrome strip to the middle of the stub axle/hub.

Rob,

How much do you lack having this car fully assembled. Until you have all the weight in it those measurements won't mean much.

On my car, I sawed the front bump stops in half. Out back, I just removed them. I thought about cutting them down & replacing, but never did.

I also noticed that their are some trick progressive stops available for Miatas. May have to investigate compatibility.

It really depends on your spring rate. If you use the standard rate you'll want as much travel as you can get. The limiting factor is how much you intend to fly (as in going airborne when cresting hills) as this will bottom the stock suspension quite noticeably even with stiffer shocks. With coil-overs you can easily adjust that with either a higher ride or a stiffer rate.

I like Carl's suggestions, but consider this. Your tubular shocks should have built in limit stops (bump stops) so you should be able to remove the stock ones. Then your shocks determine the upper limits. If they do not perhaps you should discuss it with Todd. I'm very interested in how you resolve this issue for obvious reasons.

Jim

Carl -- the shocks are adjustable coil overs front & rear so can't I set them up to get the ride height I want even though the car is empty (essentially a bare shell with front & rear suspensions on it), then when the weight is in, just add pre-load to the springs to return it to that height? I'm actually planning to put the motor & trans in anyway because I need to modify the trans cross member from Ted's kit -- it comes set up for the standard mustang type T5, but I got mine from a 94/95 5.0L mustang which has a little longer input shaft & bell housing but I was hoping to get the flares on before I did that.

Jim -- will definitely fill you in -- probably w/updates here. Todd's going to modify my uprights for me; he thinks he can get an inch out of each side with something he did for another customer which will save me from having to modify the flares. I probably should have asked him about the travel amount; will do that.

Rob