MGB "ride height"

[Matt Bacon]

Hi, guys... I picked up the Airfix box of the Aoshima 1/24 MGB kit in my local model shop for a very reasonable price. It loks like a really nice kit, and includes parts for both the early chrome-grille version and the later "rubber bumper" version. Now, I can't stand the rubber ones, and I want to build it as the '67 model. I've read somewhere that the "ride height" needs adjusting for the early version, because the original kit set-up is for the later model. Can anyone tell me _how much_ lower the early suspension was, and ideally, exactly how I go about lowering it? The front axle has wishbones, the rear is just held on two leaf springs

bestest,

M.

[sjordan2]

Hi, guys... I picked up the Airfix box of the Aoshima 1/24 MGB kit in my local model shop for a very reasonable price. It loks like a really nice kit, and includes parts for both the early chrome-grille version and the later "rubber bumper" version. Now, I can't stand the rubber ones, and I want to build it as the '67 model. I've read somewhere that the "ride height" needs adjusting for the early version, because the original kit set-up is for the later model. Can anyone tell me _how much_ lower the early suspension was, and ideally, exactly how I go about lowering it? The front axle has wishbones, the rear is just held on two leaf springs

bestest,

M.

Unless someone here has the exact answer, I think you just need to eyeball it. It needs to look right based on your opinion. As you probably know, to meet U.S. DOT standards issued at the time, the rubber bumper version was developed for this market and resulted in a body that had to sit at a very unappealing height on the chassis. (Part of the same wave of safety correctness that resulted in the elimination of plexi headlight covers from many European cars such as the XKE and Alfa Duetto, plus the end of eared knock-off spinners for wire wheels.) My next-door neighbor just sold his rubber-bumper MGB a couple of weeks ago, the suspension of which had been converted from the U.S. requirement to something more according to the original versions.

A good way to determine what you want would be to search Google images; one thing I have done for other kits is to print out a straight-on side shot of a 1:1 car at the same length as a picture of the kit, then compare them to determine what needed to be done. This process has shown me, for example, that the 1:12 Mercedes Gullwing has an excellent overall shape but the doors on the kit aren't nearly wide enough, and the wheel well shape and the roof height on the 1:12 Ferrari 275 GTB are totally wrong (among many other problems with this kit).

[62rebel]

i had heard (probably incorrectly) that the Aoshima kit had height adjusters to set the height correctly... but IIRC the difference in the two is about two inches. careful file and razor saw work on the front coils and rear leaves might do ya just fine. the B is one of my favorite 1:1 cars, i had a rubber bumpered one i changed over to chrome a while back. never did the height adjustment.

[SSNJim]

Hi, guys... I picked up the Airfix box of the Aoshima 1/24 MGB kit <snip> Can anyone tell me _how much_ lower the early suspension was, and ideally, exactly how I go about lowering it? <snip>

bestest,

M.

Congrats. That's one of my favorites - I was able to test drive a red '73 in 1978. Great car. According to http://www.mgexperience.net/article/evolution.html (and my own memory), it was raised 1.5" when the rubber baby buggy bumpers were introduced in 1974. That website has a lot of good information on the MGB. I'm going to have to dig out my own MGB kit....

[Junkman]

The ride height oob is only correct for the rubber bumper version. Here is mine:

The suspension would need to be considerably lowered and in addition, the track narrowed for a chrome bumper car, which imo is not an easy task considering how it is designed in this kit.

The real car was raised two inches in order for the bumper height to meet federal standards. Whether lowering the model two scale inches is enough has to be seen. One often has to exaggerate a bit on models to achieve an authentic look.

Edited April 26, 2010 by Junkman

[Dave Ambrose]

Hi, guys... I picked up the Airfix box of the Aoshima 1/24 MGB kit in my local model shop for a very reasonable price. It loks like a really nice kit, and includes parts for both the early chrome-grille version and the later "rubber bumper" version. Now, I can't stand the rubber ones, and I want to build it as the '67 model. I've read somewhere that the "ride height" needs adjusting for the early version, because the original kit set-up is for the later model. Can anyone tell me _how much_ lower the early suspension was, and ideally, exactly how I go about lowering it? The front axle has wishbones, the rear is just held on two leaf springs

bestest,

M.

The rubber bumper MGBs were raised 1.5 inches compared with the chrome bumper cars. I never had much incentive to build an MGB since I have the 1:1 sitting in the garage.

Cheers,

Dave Ambrose

[Peter Lombardo]

I built a replica of my MGB by converting that kit into a 1977 (rubber bumper car) that was converted into an earlier chrome bumper car. Very confusing. And yes, the ride height is 1.5 inches lower on a pre 1974 1/2 car. All because of the US rules about 5 mph bumper requirements put into place back then.

First posting:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21921&st=0&p=197460&fromsearch=1&#entry197460

Second posting:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24041&st=0&p=220385&fromsearch=1&#entry220385

Third posting model completed:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24307&st=0&p=223273&fromsearch=1&#entry223273

[Junkman]

I built a replica of my MGB by converting that kit into a 1977 (rubber bumper car) that was converted into an earlier chrome bumper car. Very confusing. And yes, the ride height is 1.5 inches lower on a pre 1974 1/2 car. All because of the US rules about 5 mph bumper requirements put into place back then.

First posting:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21921&st=0&p=197460&fromsearch=1&#entry197460

Second posting:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24041&st=0&p=220385&fromsearch=1&#entry220385

Third posting model completed:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24307&st=0&p=223273&fromsearch=1&#entry223273

Do you have any photos from when you converted the dashboard fascia?