Improving Ride Quality

[dive!dive!]

Hi All
Been away from this hobby for a while. Had my '71 T1 for close to 40 years now but its not seen much attention the last few years. Now retired and have time for it. Fully rebuilt some time back, its immaculate and garaged, I wont bore you with all the details but the engine is a stout 1776 built on an Autolinea Al case, fuel injected through 38mm ITBs and does about 130hp on the dyno. I'm not really happy (and never have been) with the ride quality. At A road speeds (50-60mph) its pretty well behaved but slower speeds on less than good surfaces it feels 'bouncy' to me, especially on the front. Suspension set up is as follows - Front has a 2" narrowed beam with adjusters, dropped spindles, heavy duty anti roll bar. Rear (swing axle) has 24mm torsion bars, adjustable spring plates. The car is lowered, but far far from extreme. Tyres are 155 15 on the front and 195/65 15 on the rear. I've been running it with standard shocks and just changed to the GAZ adjustable ones. I have these set on the softest setting front and seven clicks harder on the rear. Seems better but its not as good as I would like.
Thoughts on improving this would be much appreciated.
Steve

[karl h]

the best ride i ever had was my old 67 with narrowed beam, dropped spindles and red konis all around. my 63 now rides good too with bilsteins in the rear, but a little stiffer.
i have short bidlsteins valved for a lowered front and will try them soon. its kind of a trade off between ride quality and how fast you want to go through corners IMHO

[Felix/DFL]

Hey Steve,
I would  definetly change the HD roll bar to an original one so that one wheel can move easier.
Those HD one's are way to stiff...
Check that the axle moves free and is not too stiff itself.

Red konis are superb front shocks, those work brillant,

Another big point is too much tire preasure front & back.
At my notch I am running max. 1.6 & 1.9bar, with a bug you could even go lower.
Best Greetings, Felix

[andrewlandon67]

I'll be another vote for the red Koni Special-Ds, nothing has made a bigger difference than when I went with those. Another good change is some meatier front tires, when I went up to 175/65r15 my car almost completely changed, it's not bouncy or jarring, it's just smooth over everything.

[dive!dive!]

Thanks all for some quick input. Tyre pressures are pretty low (!) 1.3 front and 1.6 rear, so I dont think I can go lower there. I do have space for wider tyres on the front as I currently have a 6mm spacer so they fill the arches just right, so thats worth looking at. I do suspect the anti roll bar - it is indeed a big chunk of steel! I will see If I can find a std one for narrow beams. I do have a set of Koni Red somewhere....I recall trying them 30 years ago or so but that was without the current beam and rear torsion so could re visit those. May take me a while to do all that but will report back. Any other ideas are welcome!
I know it is a 50+ year old car and wont ride like a modern one, but I think I can do better :-) Its really about comfort so we use it more rather than speed into corners - I'm nervous of that anyway and I have other cars that will do that much better!
Thanks
Steve

[andrewlandon67]

Between the Konis and the bigger tires, my car became better at going over railroad crossings than my Saab, and while handling is also greatly improved, the ride improvement is possibly my favorite thing I've done to my car.

[Eddie DVK]

I agree on the Koni / Billstein, rides much better.
But switching to IRS rear made it also a lot less bumpy than the swing ale.
Enjoy it a lot more than before.

[Felix/DFL]

Ah ok, that's on the lower level with the tire pressure. I would maybe test a bit higher preassure at the back...

Not enough weight is also an effect that it rides bouncier, espacially with bigger torsion bar's at the back.
Put a spare tire at front if you don't have at this moment, and throw in some people or stuff and check how it behaves.

Track measurement front & BACK is spot on?
How old are the tires?

[dive!dive!]

@felix/DFL : Tyres are old...no cracks etc but they have to be 20 years? Tracking is good. I put the 24mm rear bars in because the originals were sagging and the engine is heavier than stock. I cant see a standard size front anti roll bar for narrowed beams listed anywhere. I may have to narrow the original.
@andrewlandon67 : Do you have a reference for the Koni shocks ? Part number ?

Thankyou
Steve

[andrewlandon67]

@felix/DFL : Tyres are old...no cracks etc but they have to be 20 years? Tracking is good. I put the 24mm rear bars in because the originals were sagging and the engine is heavier than stock. I cant see a standard size front anti roll bar for narrowed beams listed anywhere. I may have to narrow the original.
@andrewlandon67 : Do you have a reference for the Koni shocks ? Part number ?

Thankyou
Steve

Steve, the fronts are 80-1787 and the rears are 80-1350, at least for a balljoint car.