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Re: Stax front and rear shock conversion

To: "MG List" <mgs@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Stax front and rear shock conversion
From: Max Heim <mvheim@studiolimage.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1999 14:41:13 -0800
I can't really see why you'd regret a tube shock conversion, unless it is 
that the SPAX shocks are too stiff for your liking and adversely affect 
the ride quality. The benefits of tube shocks over lever shocks are 
(IMO): better rebound control; low maintenance (none); longer lasting; 
much cheaper to replace. That said, I am using generic small car shocks, 
not those fat heavy-duty performance-oriented SPAX shocks, and I find the 
ride and handling perfectly acceptable. Then again, I've never driven a B 
with SPAX, or one with decent (non-leaking) lever shocks, for that 
matter, so maybe I don't know what I'm missing. But I think a stock B has 
a reasonably supple and well-balanced suspension, and doesn't need 
go-kart-like spring rates or massive antiroll bars to achieve good street 
handling. From that I deduce that it doesn't need racing-tuned shock 
absorbers, either. Rambling on further, I would suspect that the 
combination of stiff shocks with relatively soft springing and antiroll 
bars, and the high roll center of the RBB, might conceivably be an 
unsatisfactory combination. I don't recall if the SPAX are adjustable; if 
so, perhaps you might try them at their softest setting.

If you get the impression that I don't drive one of those lowered, 
flared, airdammed, 2-liter, dual-DCOE street racer B's, well, you'd be 
correct. But YMMV, FWIW, etc....

Enrique Claure had this to say:

>Hi list, when I started my project 77B I thought performance was first on
>my list. I changed the standard shocks in rear and front for the tube shock
>conversion. I am not so sure I did a good thing for my car. Can anybody
>with the same configuration comment on the pros and cons? thanks, Enrique
>
>


--

Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.


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