MGA front suspension swap?

Just wondering if anyone has ever done a front suspension swap on an MGA? I have a bare frame coming in on Saturday and was getting things all ready to try a front end conversion, as I REALLY can't afford to buy all of the necessary genuine MGA front suspension parts new.

I was wondering about possibly a full MGB conversion, cross-member and all?

A narrowed Mustang II?

Or even a VW front torsion beam set-up?

I have/can get all three of the above, cutting/measuring/welding is no problem. Mounts, gussets, plates and such, Easy Peasy. Just looking for a bit of empirical knowledge from someone who's either done it or possibly a link to someone who already has. Looking for a bit of reference and encouragement I suppose.

Thanks,

TC

Why would you swap to a Beetle front suspension!?!

The MGB front suspension will be no cheaper in terms of parts. IMHO MG parts aren't that expensive and I think by the time you swap to another suspension and do work on that you won't save a penny. Also your MGA will probably be basically worthless afterwards but I would say it depends on what the MGA started looking like and what your plans are.

Nothing wrong with converting to B parts. http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/suspensn/fs205a.htm

The easiest and probably cheapest is to use MGB pieces. The A doesn't have a removable cross member like the B, but there's no reason to cut and swap pieces. All the B pieces will unbolt from the B cross member and bolt to the A. The only snag is that shock bodies are reversed. The mounting holes are offset, so that means you will need to elongate the B shock holes if you use them. The A shocks have different arms and would need spacers if used with the B uprights (kingpins). The control arms and springs interchange. If you use the A steering rack, you'll need to shorten each side a little so the B tie rod ends fit. The B pieces will also get you cheaper brake parts.

I did this conversion on my MGA about a decade ago and it's been great. Also there is no alteration of the MGA.

I built my own crossmember/suspension for an mgb - no reason you couldn't for an A

The quickest/easiest is the MGB parts swap, it's well documented and uses the same 4 x 114.3 (4 x 4 1/2") bolt circle.

Now, if this is going to be a race car type thing, I'd stay away from the Mustang II because the bolt circle is 4x108. If you wanna get crazy, use Miata uprights and brakes in the front (the kingpin inclination is almost exactly the same making it much easier), you now get a 4x100 bolt circle and a massive number of bolt on brake upgrades. Not to mention you fix a lot of Ackerman and bump steer issues if it's done right.

"The MGB front suspension will be no cheaper in terms of parts."

Wanna bet ? ! ? ! ? MGB front end suspension and brake parts are WAY CHEAPER, plus I have a complete MGB front end to rebuild. No brainer here . . .

Anyone know, if I do substitute the MGB front components, is there a coil over or tube shock conversion available? The lever shocks are pretty expensive and I'd enjoy the ease of an adjustable coil over set-up.

This car is being dragged back from the brink and far from stock, money is a considerable issue in that the car, as it is and as it will be, doesn't warrant an expenditure for stock parts when cheap parts from other makes and models are available.

Just really wondering if it's been done successfully before and how.

TeamEvil wrote: "The MGB front suspension will be no cheaper in terms of parts." Wanna bet ? ! ? ! ? MGB front end suspension and brake parts are WAY CHEAPER, plus I have a complete MGB front end to rebuild. No brainer here . . . Anyone know, if I do substitute the MGB front components, is there a coil over or tube shock conversion available? The lever shocks are pretty expensive and I'd enjoy the ease of an adjustable coil over set-up. This car is being dragged back from the brink and far from stock, money is a considerable issue in that the car, as it is and as it will be, doesn't warrant an expenditure for stock parts when cheap parts from other makes and models are available. Just really wondering if it's been done successfully before and how.

There are plenty of tube shock conversions for MGBs and there are a couple of coilover options that might be adaptable.

What's your price range in explicit dollar amounts?

Thanks for the tip on the MGB shock conversions. I was aware of the simple ones out there for the rear, didn't know that they were also available for the front as well. That will help a lot, give me something to copy, hopefully.

I have a complete MGA front end to work with, I honestly wouldn't mind simply measuring everything up and welding the entire MGB front clip or sub frame to the MGA chassis if possible. I really won't know anything until the frame is here tomorrow and sitting flat on the trailer. I can place the MGB assembly in front of it and see what it's going to entail. Replacing parts or replacing the whole.

If I can mix and match components and maybe salvage a few bits from one of the other cars, fabricate what's needed and all, I'd like to get out of this for $300/$400. And even that's kinda high for just the front end.

We have a lot of extra parts hanging around though. Another set of adjustable coil over shocks, Bilstein shocks, Konis, GR2 gas adjust, sway bars and install kits, various rated spring sets, panhard rod set-ups, traction bars, disk brake assemblies, various steering racks, and such. Hopefully somethings can be combined into a set-up that will work.

Most likely based on the MGB or Mustang II assemblies and moving on from there.

I know that I'm not the first to try this, hoping for a link to a build or maybe some pics of the process under way. Something like that would help a lot. We have a load of parts to toss into the mix, but need a little direction ahead of time as to what will or won't work out.

Thanks.

If you look at the Moss UK coil-over conversion, it's simple enough that you can copy it fairly easily.

It re-uses the the lower control arm, replaces the spring pan, and deletes the lever damper.

It doesn't correct the the geometry or give you camber/castor adjustment like the higher end options do, but it does open up your spring rates and damping options.

I have adapted Miata uprights and brakes to both a Spitfire and a Jensen Healey. While not exactly a bolt on, it's not overly difficult either. IIRC Keith on this board used Miata stuff on the front of his LS1 MGB GT (actually, that's his wifes car. ). He should be able to give you some pointers.

If it were me, I'd make the upper C/A threaded so the camber could be adjusted that way. That's not as difficult/expensive as it sounds. Fab up an upper C/A mount like the one MGBryan posted a pic of, not difficult. Then you can make a set of mounts like the tube shock conversions use.

You could save some $ out of the box by keeping the stock spring pan setup, it's not real difficult to change springs with that design.

The Miata outer tie rods have a 12mm fine thread. It's almost exactly 1/2-20, yiu can run a 1/2-20 tap into the threads and guess what? MG inner tie rods have a 1/2-20 thread.

On my J-H, I used a RX2 rear axle with 1st gen RX7 limited slip and rear disc brakes. I had a machine shop redrill the rear axle flanges for 4x100 mm and now I can use all different kinds of easily available wheels on it. You could have the MGA rear axled redrilled and accomplish the same thing.

Thanks gang, looks like problem solved up front ! !

I figure that I can re-fit the stock spring plate/shock mount on the rear axle upside down for the bottom tube shock mount and fashion a bracket using the lever shock mounting hole for the upper tube shock mount. Should be fairly easy.

I have an MGB and an MGC rear end for the MGA, but just picked up a Mustang Traction Lok rear end that may be narrowed and used instead. A Buddy can probably provide an RX7 rear as well. Any of these will have better gearing than the MGA unit, I THINK. The RX7 might be the wild card . . . but that's the least likely to be used as well.

Thanks for all of the good info, any more problems/questions, I'll be sure to post ! !

TC

Cool. Accoring to this chart the MGA was either 4:10 or 4:30-1. http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/rearaxle/ra201.htm The MGB was 3.909. The RX7 is probably 3:89 (possibly 4:10 if it's a GSL-SE axle). According to this page http://www.mgexperience.net/archive/MGC_rear_axle_ratios/2007935 there were a few different MGC ratios.

Curmudgeon wrote: The Miata outer tie rods have a 12mm fine thread. It's almost exactly 1/2-20, yiu can run a 1/2-20 tap into the threads and guess what? MG inner tie rods have a 1/2-20 thread.

This is good to know. I wish I'd consulted you prior to doing mine. I used miata uprights in my MG Midget- it's been 9 years now, but I really could have used that information!!