THE INTERNATIONAL JAGUAR 'S'-TYPE REGISTER FORUM

I am late to this party...but here is Miss Kitty in original condition, untouched. I cannot measure, because she is in a thousand parts. I think she is ppppperrrrrffffeeecccttttt

They maybe not as good as they used to be but this is not acceptable, I've just replaced mine this time with genuine parts from D. Manners that came in Jaguar bags. The photo is a mount only two years old, sorry for the bad quality pic.

I have mentioned it before Nigel but I was told recently that there is not as much actual rubber in the mounting blocks as there used to be due some EU law that says they have to have a certain amount of biodegradability. Hence they do not last as long these days. Poly bushes are the way to go if they make them for the sandwich plates.

With reference to the sandwich front mountings on page 1, I checked mine whilst I was under the doing an oil change and found mine are coming apart. They are only 2 years old, I think I fitted the cheaper pattern parts offered by the usual suspects. Going to order the more expensive genuine parts tomorrow and see how long they last.

I have received the new set of springs for the rear suspension and all dimensions according to the workshop manual are correct, these came from SNG Barratt and they are being fitted at the beginning of June, and at the same time the front's are being removed to check.


Regards John

1B1257BW
1972 Rover P6

I think you will need to know a bit more to get the right springs as you need to know the gauge of the wire and the spring poundage not to mention the amount of coils. The free length is not very relevant as different makes come up with various mesurments. I can only sugest you give Watjag who supplied my springs a call to get the stats then compare that to yours.

Sorry to witter on about the suspension , But 1B1257BW is going back to the garage at the beginning of June initially to have a set of rear road springs and also to try and sort out the front ride height. the workshop manual gives the over length of the rear springs but the front only gives an approximate amount of coils but not the length. does anybody have info on the correct length of the front springs.

Regards John

1B1257BW
1972 Rover P6

A great suggestion, I will get him to try this weekend

Regards John

John I think the variation of compression would vary from car to car depending on the strength of spring and damper. My Lotus seven hardly moved even if you stood on the chassis and jumped up and down but my S Type is easily bounced by pushing down on a wing but when released it stops immediately. This shows the springs are work as well as the dampers. Should the car bottom out the springs have gone soft and if it keeps bouncing when you stop putting weight on the wing then your dampers have gone south. Being the driver I have never seen the car fully laden from the outside but I know that there are some really bumpy roads in Torquay which I can drive on by myself with no problems but if I have four in the car on a wedding day I can hit the bump stops on the same bump unless I slow down.
You can buy stiffer springs and dampers. These should not alter the ride height of the car but if you buy lowered springs and stiffer dampers than obviously this would lower the car. The clue is in the title I suppose. I appreciate in your condition you can't do this so get your son to open the boot and climb in. Then get him to jump up and down whilst you hold the tape measure and check the ride height. If he is hitting the bump stops when he jumps up and down then you have got to be on the limit with your springs.

I looked on line to try and find out how much compression there is between a laden and unladen car but in all honesty not much found , but what I did find suggest that the front hardly goes down at all but the rear drops by about 35mm . See www.thecartech.com/subjects/auto_eng2/i ... ension.htm. Under do these figures vary withr load.



Regards John

1B1257BW
1972 Rover P6