At 02:07 PM 8/26/02 -0400, Chris Thompson wrote:
>Max Heim (mvheim@studiolimage.com) wrote:
> >.... There was an article in a British mag about an IRS conversion, but ....
>
>There used to be a British company called "Trevor Taylor Conversions" that
>sold both an independant rear and a completely new front suspension
>system, ....
>
>.... The rear was a completely new, from scratch, setup designed to bolt
>up directly into an MGB, ....
>....
>Converting pounds sterling to USD .... it would have been well over $2000,
>....
>
>I had visited the trevortaylor.co.uk site a few months ago, and noticed
>that the site had been replaced with a paragraph announcing Taylor's
>death. When I go there now, the site is entirely gone.
Try this:
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/trevortaylor/indisusp.htm
and follow a few click links. The web site isn't what it used to
be. There is one picture of the entirely new fabricated front suspension,
but unfortumately not the IRS. I saw that magazine article a while back,
and it was so impressive it had me drooling so bad I had a terrible urge to
buy an MGB just so I could try the conversion. The IRS setup did indeed
bolt right on to the original leaf spring mounting points with a new light
subframe. Had me wondering what it would take to adapt it to my MGA. And
yes it was about $2000-USD just for the IRS.
Several years ago we had a bloke come speak at one of our club meetings
about some custom MGB suspension parts made here in the USA, and he brought
a demo car along. The front suspension was very similar to the Trevor
Taylor conversion with coil over shocks and light weight arms. The rear
suspension was a coil spring and tube shock conversion using the original
live axle with trailing arms to replace the leaf springs, also a complete
bolt-on set up. It all fit ahead of the axle, and looked a little strange
at first glance with nothing aft of the axle housing. I had a chance to
drive the car a little. It had a nice crisp feel, and noticeably reduced
rear axle tramp running over railroad tracks. I suspect it would do a
little better than stock suspension at autocross, but I didn't have a
chance to give it a real good workout on the city streets (and you know I
would if I had the chance). For the $1200 worth of parts I don't suppose
they would sell too many for common street use. He did not have parts
specifically designed for the MGA, but said if I was a serious buyer he
would consider looking into it. I passed.
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude (stock suspension, heavy front anti-sway bar, and
a room full of autocross trophies)
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
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