Crystal Johnson's Journal

The rear suspension leaf springs were taken apart, media blasted and epoxy painted. I ran into several problems doing this restoration. Some of the tabs on the clips that hold the leaves together broke off. I found that you need to gently heat the tabs without melting/burning the rubber liners. I was able to take some leaf spring clips off of my 71 MGB donor car, but they were cracking as well. I found that I could repair the tabs that cracked by MIG welding them. One important thing to note: each leaf spring had a total of 6 clips, made of up 3 different sizes. I wasn't successful Searching the internet for replacements.

Another issue I ran into was the liners between the leaves. They were damaged too much to reuse. None of the typical British parts distributers had any replacement liners. But, I managed to find leaf spring liners at www.speedwaymotors.com. They carried a Leaf Spring Liner with Lip, 1-3/4 Inch, Black (PN 91033036-BLK) that I could substitute. This was no problem; I just cut the lips off so the liner was just a flat liner like the original.

While assembling the leaf springs, I sprayed the liners with a graphic lubricant spray and tightened everything by using welding clamps. I used two welding clamps to squeeze the clips tight and then hammered the tabs over on the clips.