Front ride height with bonnet off

[JOHN HAY]

Good day all,
I have a 1969 FHC and was wondering if anyone could tell me what the ride height should be with the bonnet off.

Thanks
John.

[mgcjag]

Hi John....if this is becaus you dont have the bonnet fitted then you could add a few bags of builders sand/ballast to the front. ....bonnet weighs apporx 60kg.......personally iv never measured ride height without bonnet...i doubt many have.......Steve...ps...if its to set the ride height then you do this with setting links so dosnt matter if bonnet is on or off

[JOHN HAY]

Hi Steve, thanks for your reply, i have just installed the engine and front suspension and set the torsion bars and dropped the car on its wheels, so have not fitted the bonnet. I then measured the distance from the ground to the lower cont. arm and mine is about 2.5 inches higher than the recommended height in the jag manual, so was thinking of resetting the T B before i put the bonnet on. I dont know how much the bonnet weight will affect the ride height, thats why i asked the question.

Regards

John.

[mgcjag]

Hi John...definatly not 2.5 inches as far as im aware...that sounds way too much......when you set your ride heigh you need your wishbone bushes slightly loose....then set the car on the ground and ideally drive it a bit or bounce it a few times to settle the suspension...then with it fully weighted tighten the wishbones......Steve

[abowie]

I'd wait until the car is fully assembled with the bonnet on.

Could save you doing it twice.

[dlgis]

Having an adjustable torsion bar reaction plate helps with final settings !?

[BobArmstrong]

Hi John
I am doing a nut and bolt rebuild on my 62 roadster. I followed the factory instructions for installing the torsion bars and setting up ride height to the letter but when jacking the lower wishbone to remove the setting link and refit the damper I found I was lifting the car very quickly making the fully extended damper very difficult to fit and once reconnected, the top wishbone to have an extremely steep angle down to the upper ball joint. The engine and gearbox are not filled with oil, the radiator is empty and the bonnet is off. The windscreen is not fitted and there is no interior in the car. Whilst confident I had not made any dumb mistakes the result wasn’t what I was expecting so I pressed on and refitted the second side which came out exactly the same. I have an adjustable reaction plate so I might be able to make some correction later if necessary. I’m relieved to hear I’m not the only one with this apparent high ride height, watch this space and I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Bob

[mgcjag]

Hi Bob...i see this is your first post....welcom to the forum....something dosnt sound right here.....with the engine in and bonnet off the car shouldnt be sitting too far off its normal ride height.....you should definatly be able to jack under the lower wishbone balljoint when your suspension was on full drop with the setting link just removed jacking would raise the lower wishbone so you can fit the shock and keep raising so you could fit the top wishbone balljoint without lifting the car.....Steve PS typical stance with no bonnet etc

[gtjoey]

Just my two pence
I have now banged out the torsion bars in 3 Etypes 50 times in the last 4 months.
Terrible job but……
The method of a tool
Bar from top shock not to lower at 17 plus inches helps WITHOUT the bonnet
But
Just loosen ball joints and front upper steering rods
Pop off the retaining rings and dial both even opposite direction
You want the front upper control arms basically flat when on the ground
The bonnet will drop you up to 2 inches.
Imho
Bonnet on and bang away
If any of this makes sense
I asked Norman Dewis this MANY years ago
Quote
Joey set them close , drop the car on the ground
Annnnnnd
Pray

[BobArmstrong]

Hi
Thanks for taking an interest and the replies. I’m going to press on with the rest of the build for now, I got bogged down with the front end for far too long. After spending several hours assembling the left side suspension being extremely careful not to damage the new paint I discovered I had a right side wishbone on the left side of the car. I had kept left side and right side components together and hadn’t noticed the notch on the left side was on the wrong side of the wishbone till it was all together. It was obviously something I had inherited but apart from the potential interference with the picture frame it also prevents the wishbone rotating down far enough to fit the setting gauge so it all came out again and I ordered a new wishbone. With it all back together I started fitting the torsion bar and managed to drop it on my head while engaging the splines…… giving way to frustration, anger and a lump on my forehead I spent some time on brake pipes and heater box. The front suspension is now fitted both sides and when I add up the actual working hours plus the time reading and re-reading the instructions looking for a mistake and then adding the sore head injury time I feel like it’s taken weeks do do a days work. I plan on keeping an open mind till all of the remaining weight is added then I’ll measure the ride height. I’ll leave the exhaust off just in case I need to access the reaction plate. Fingers crossed…..