Thread: 51 MG restoration.

Make a spring clamp or two.

Not in the mood to look up an example at the moment.............

Originally Posted by MikeB52

My first challenge is going to be releasing the springs energy safely from the front end.
Normally these are easy when still on the car with the weight of the engine. Loose on the garage floor, not sure yet how to approach that challenge.

Pics Mike--Pics--

Do you have leaf springs on the front of that?

Haven’t even gotten it out of the VW yet. Waiting on my boy to wake up.
See attached for what I’m into.
She’s coil springs up front.

Rain still going up here so gonna start with some garage reorganizing.

Safely stored and soaking in pb blaster for a day or two.



The gent I bought this from said he’d pay me $50 if I brought back the parts I don’t need off this subframe too.
Waste nothing, so British, hehe..

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Safely stored and soaking in pb blaster for a day or two.

The gent I bought this from said he’d pay me $50 if I brought back the parts I don’t need off this subframe too.
Waste nothing, so British, hehe..

Well I for one was envisioning hydraulic shocks in the middle of the coil springs--so I'm of no help.

About the $50 to return any unused parts---tell him "OK, $50's plus the cost of gas for me to bring them back home to return them to you AND drive back home--OR you come and get them and pay me $50's"--- Scot to the end

Yeah, she’s a different design.
Harps I believe Richard so aptly referred to them earlier.
Sort of what they look like.
The hyd damper mounted up top and driven by the king pin, with the entire turning mechanism rotating on it.
Looking forward to getting this all stripped down. Never worked on this design before. I too am used to the strut tucked inside the spring..should be fun.

We used to just take the torch to the old springs when replacing them. The shock kept them from doing anything stupid when they popped. But i guess that wont work for ya being you want to keep them. So a couple spring clamps tightened down should do the trick. I will be watching.

Sort of easy, turned out to be.
Undid the shocks from the crossmember while everything was still loaded, and they just slid forward 4” and things expanded.
No bangs or scary pops..


And after making note of bolt and nut orientation, pulled what I actually need off for deeper tear down.

Annoyed that I had to pay 300 in taxes on importing despite there being no ‘duty’ on vintage car parts..
Gov always figures out how to get their cake.
But excited to start with good brakes. Really all goods things start from the ability to stop, hehe.

I agree! Most people talk about how to go fast but do not mention stopping.