Rear Springs

[Liam]

Hiya, have a few questions about rear suspension:

I've noticed that the rear end of my maestro is now sitting rather low. If I have any rear passengers it looks silly its sagging so much. So I think I will change the rear springs. Is this going to be a fun job or one of those you wish you never started? Are there different types of springs available for our cars? I'd rather have stiffer springs as I often load the car heavily and tow regually. Are the springs from the back of a montego estate stiffer springs and are they compatible with the maestro? I'm not keen on getting springs from the scarp yard as I worried they'll be just as bad as the ones I already have, can anyone recommend a good source?
Sorry for all the questions!

Any advice on the topic would be greatly apreciated,

Liam.

[MGTurbo]

First question, what engine is your car?

Spring heights are listed in the Rover workshop manual but they also have different poundage rates. Monty Estate may be over-kill on a maestro 1.3/1.6. I actually have the same problem however on mine where the back is a bit saggy but i'm putting this down to worn out dampers rather than the springs.

Gareth

[threelitre]

Hi!

How could usual dampers have an effect on a sagging rear end? I would think that the car should sit at the same level with an empty damper fitted...

I have a set of self-leveling Montego rear suspension units lying around here, but decided that these will be to hard on the Maestro. But how about using the shock absorbers only, as these have the self-leveling function build in. The damping rate shouldn't be too different from the Maestro.

Regards,

Alexander

[MGTurbo]

Originally posted by threelitre
Hi!

How could usual dampers have an effect on a sagging rear end? I would think that the car should sit at the same level with an empty damper fitted...

I have a set of self-leveling Montego rear suspension units lying around here, but decided that these will be to hard on the Maestro. But how about using the shock absorbers only, as these have the self-leveling function build in. The damping rate shouldn't be too different from the Maestro.

Regards,

Alexander

My Monty has self-leveling rear suspension, or it did, until the dampers expired. Ride height changes everyday, in this case its the dampers causing the rear down appearance, not the springs. All other's not fitted with self-levellers will most likely have worn springs AND dampers.

Gareth

[MaestroMatt]

Originally posted by Liam
Is this going to be a fun job or one of those you wish you never started? Are there different types of springs available for our cars? I'd rather have stiffer springs as I often load the car heavily and tow regually.

My advice is the same as that often bandied about these forums: go to Ledbury! He will furnish you with a pair of rear dampers with springs already attached and can supply the necessary suspension bushes and bolts as well and it will be a lot cheaper than you can reasonably expect! To be honest, you may as well pick up a set for the front as well while you're at it.

The job is easy and takes between one and two hours depending on how much hassle the suspension bushes give you. The fronts are a bit more involved and take longer. Have a look at my webpage (http://pages.zoom.co.uk/mattife/shocksandshafts.htm) to see how it all goes together along with the method devised by me and F153 for getting the bushes in (patent pending!).

[Liam]

Thanks everyone for all the responses, hadn't thought of checking ledbury. The engine by the way was originally a 1.6, I'm now the 9th owner but a previous owner has changed it to a 2.0Diesel but I doubt the springs have ever been changed.

[threelitre]

Originally posted by MGTurbo
My Monty has self-leveling rear suspension, or it did, until the dampers expired. Ride height changes everyday, in this case its the dampers causing the rear down appearance, not the springs. All other's not fitted with self-levellers will most likely have worn springs AND dampers.

Gareth


Yepp, that makes sense... If the springs are worn the dampers will usually be much worse.

For the described reasons I kept the rear dampers from the old Monty, because they did work very well. Even 550kg of tiles in the back was no problem :)

BTW, our 220,000mile MG EFi is still good at the rear end and has only received new dampers to the back once. And it was driver _very_ heavy loaded very often (family of 6 :)).

Regards,
Alexander

PS: Was selflevelling standard equipment in the UK? It was here as was the rear child seat.

[Simon]

Self levelling was standard on VDP and GSi estates, optional on other Montego estates. Child seats were fitted to top model estates too as standard although this filtered down to other models as time progressed and was a popular option. The rear estate head restraints, when child seats were fitted, were rather wide to acommodate the heads of both rear seat passengers and their rear facing kids.

[threelitre]

Originally posted by Simon
Self levelling was standard on VDP and GSi estates, optional on other Montego estates. Child seats were fitted to top model estates too as standard although this filtered down to other models as time progressed and was a popular option. The rear estate head restraints, when child seats were fitted, were rather wide to acommodate the heads of both rear seat passengers and their rear facing kids.

I know... This was exactly how all Montego Estates were sold in Germany. The model lineup was different from the UK though:
We had the 1.6LS and 2.0HLi in the fist year (notice the 'i' after the HL!). About one or 2 years later they stopped selling the saloons over here!
Later the Range comprised of the 2.0LXi and the 2.0GTi - where the GTi featured MG seats and wooden inserts. The last Montegos were sold as Rover GTi and Rover GTD, similar to the UK Countryman with alloys on the GTi, wooden inserts and electric windows... And all the GTi had cat's fitted, the later ones (from 1992 or late 1991) an EFi system with lambda sensor, not the UK MEMS injection.

Has anybody ever thought about using the self levelling dampers on the Maestro?

Regards,

Alexander

[Simon]

I wouldn't go there because self levelling dampers and the springs they need are about £600 from the dealers! Many owners of self-levelling Montego estates convert to standard (or heavy duty) springs and dampers.

Question: Why do certain EFi Montego's have a spacer between stub axle and H frame stub axle mounting plate?
:confused: :confused:

[threelitre]

Originally posted by Simon
I wouldn't go there because self levelling dampers and the springs they need are about £600 from the dealers! Many owners of self-levelling Montego estates convert to standard (or heavy duty) springs and dampers.


I know that these are expensive - that's why I kept a pair ;). And all scrap Monty's over here will have them, since you were not allowed to replace the self levelling items with std items. But that was not the real answer if they would fit a Maestro at all...

Alexander