Rear suspension 3rd try

Although I made some progress I am not really satisfied with the results of this weekend. Concerned about the lack of clearance between the bolt heads of the Rutherford shock mount brackets and the leaf springs I decided to remove on washer I used as spacer. Quite a bit of time was wasted for another test to directly bolt the bracket to the chassis in the lower holes and just use some washers for the upper bolts. Logically this solves the clearance problem completely. However, if I do this the AVO damper sits in an awkward angle.

So instead of 3 washers (4.5mm) I opted for a piece of 3mm thick alloy bar as lower spacer. I also removed the washer beneath the bolt head. This adds 3mm for a total of ~11mm between the bolt head and the leaf springs. The newly installed Panhard rod should limit lateral movement of the springs anyway. Comparing this setup to some pictures of 2 seater Morgans with a tubular style mounts frustrates me a bit – not really sure why though.

After the rear suspension was bolted down I greased the axle, installed the linkage for the hand brake and brake lines. At that point I noticed that while I almost ordered all new parts and spares that I forgot a flex hose for the rear brakes. Not a major problem, but annoying no of the less. My plan for the weekend was to basically get to a rolling chassis. But my motivation was low after lifting the axle out and in 2 more times in the somewhat cold garage.

Tonight I only bolted down the fuel tank to the floor boards and started cleaning the prop-shaft (again something could and should have done much earlier). My work schedule this week should allow a few hours for the Morgan – maybe I can catch up the time I wasted with the Rutherford rear conversion.

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