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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - How much offset to alter camber?

I'm going to refit my mk1 Frontline front shock conversion kit.

But it gives '2' degree neg camber. I didn't like it. I want less.

I'd like to reduce it to 1 degree.

I want to do it by moving the arm out, by lengthening the mounting plate holes.

How much in mm or inches, do I need to move the plate to reduce the neg camber from 2 degrees to 1 degree?

How much movement per degree?

anamnesis

an. I had fabricated top arms on my racer midget with slotted mountings that bolted on the old shocker mounting plates. The slots allowed 6.5mm(1/4") travel and that gave a 0-2deg neg adjustment so going from that i'd suggest 1/8" per degree.
Also found 2deg to be too much and ended up just under 1deg as in 50'-55'neg. to be the ideal setting after lots of testing. For anyone to need 2deg. neg. would be a sure sign that their car is sprung too soft for what they're using it for.

willy
William Revit

Thanks very much Willy. Brilliant. Exactly the answer I needed.

I'll slot 'em and refit this weekend.

Yep the mk1 kit by Front Line is 2 deg. But they made the mk2 kit 1 deg. Don't know why they went for 2 deg to begin with, esp' as it was advertised for road use too.

But FL don't have a good/great reputation with some folks. Esp' Nigel who hates them with a passion. Lol.

Nigel? You still reading?

Cheers.


anamnesis

It is not as simply as reading Frontline's claim for negative camber because their claim is for a whatever standard car they measured the camber on. As the Sprite/Midget is lowered the camber changes whether one with otherwise standard components or modified parts. You need to put the car on a flat surface and measure the camber on each side of the car with a camber gauge. Once you have an accurate figure you can then decide how much less (or more) you want.
Daniel

left and right camber were different on my car, more than 1 degree!

see photo for the solution.


Flip Brhl

Anam

Missing Nigel’s comments here!

For info, have you seen Mamba Motorsport’s plates for introducing camber adjustment using the standard lever arm damper set-up: https://www.mambamotorsport.co.uk/p/midget-adjustable-camber-front-suspension-kit/ (as well as their MGB damper conversion for Spridgets: https://www.mambamotorsport.co.uk/p/midget-to-mgb-damper-conversion-kit/)?

Cheers
Mike
M Wood

I put the mk1 fl kit on mine many yonks ago. It was advertised a 2 deg neg. I could feel it compared to the standard Spridget setup. I didn't like it, but more or less got used to it - put up with it.

Then the oilite bushes started showing wear, and it rattled a bit.

I had a very good pair of lever arms, so put those back on. Immediately preferred the steering, -- irrespective of any mismatch left to right, or of the exact degree of neg camber.

Now my lever arms are knackered.

Hence my question, which Willy has answered, and allows me to alter my mk1 fl kit to lessen the degree of neg camber, rebush them and refit the kit.

I won't measure the degree as such. I don't need to be that exact. I'll slot, and alter. A suck it and see approach.

It doesn't need to be THAT precise ( esp' if it's true that all Spridgets or re-shells left the factory with different degrees of camber left to right). Just needs to please me and not scrub my tyres. 😁😁..

I've got 2 sets of standard bushes already. I don't need to spend circa 50 quid on offsets. 🙂.





anamnesis

Anam
You know you could calculate offset using trig. Measure vertical distance from ground to where suspension offset adjustment is and that becomes the adjacent side of a right angled triangle. Call it a. If you then want c degrees of camber, then offset = a X tan c, where tan is tangent value.

Of course, this assumes 0 degrees of camber initially so you'd have to measure initial actual camber and work from there.

Just a bit of fun 😉
Bill B

" -- so you'd have to measure initial actual camber and work from there."

Yep the trig is easy, I just haven't got a means to accurately measure my actual camber.


Plumb line and tape measure?
anamnesis

Mike

I am just fitting that kit, it is more work than expected, powerfile has been busy, then I had to cut the flexi bracket off to relocate it and need to make up new front brake pipes - so far !

Mal
Malc Gilliver

Hi Mike, yep I know about that kit. But my levers are shot. So I'm refitting the FL kit I already have.

anamnesis

Malc

Early cars had the bracket for the flexi hose, whereas later cars had the flexi going through the inner wing.

Maybe they designed it using a later car 🤷🏻‍♂️
Dave O'Neill 2

I have the mgb conversionkit Mike mentiones.
Had some reenginering issues to actualy fit the mgb dampers as they are bigger then the spridget ones.
My car is a lhd one with a Rover K series in it so I have some non original parts on non original positions like the sepparate oilfilterhousing(is now a upsidedown one) and different alternatorbracket ad belt.

For the first time the camber is the same on both sides, it wasnt with the FL kit.

Because of the poor quality dampers available I got some from a Welsh company who are very well recommended for theire quality.
I ordered them with the adjustable valves...
Also swapped the frontsprings for lowered 400lb ones.

An absolute nightmare, the car bounces more then a 70ties American car!!!
when I pusn on the frontwing and let go it bounces 2 to 3 times before it stops moving...on higher speed its terryfying!
the springs were not what was described on the package so I have put back my old 400lbs springs.
Better but it didnt solve it, it turns out when you adjust the mgb dampers to stiff they still are weaker then original dampers...
Its terrible!!!
Now ordered new adjusters from Moss who claim more 25% more stifnes.
Will be continued.

For the time being I take it that the mgb dampers are refurbished well but the problem is with the adjusters.
A de Best

Prompted by Mikes post, I've been reading archive mgb damper conversion threads.

All looks like it should be a superb conversion.

However, the big problem, and the main reason for the conversion is, naff recon/used mgb dampers.

If you can't get decent mgb dampers and more than you can get decent original Spridget ones, then what's the point?

I see there are preponderance of mgb tele conversion kits. Must be a reason for that. No decent levers around for either Spridgets or Bs?



anamnesis

Use a spirit level to measure camber.
Hold it plumb and adjacent to the wheel, measure the difference between offsets to top and bottom of the rim, and the distance between the two datum points, a bit of simple maths and there you have it.
Or if you prefer to avoid the worst of the maths, for 13" wheels it is a tad under 6mm per degree.
Paul Walbran

Thanks Paul.

anamnesis

Arie, to increase the damping effect of your mgb dampers, have you considered using a higher viscosity oil? At one time with mine I was using 50:50 mix of engine oil and stp, which has the viscosity of liquid honey. It really stiffened up the front suspension, reducing braking dive and cornering body roll.
GuyW

an., Paul's onto it - as he would be.
Used to set mine up on a wheel aligner but to check nothing had moved or if i had it apart at home, to reset it i used to use a big T square, pumped the tyres up rock hard so there was no bulge at the bottom and measured from the T square to the sidewall of the tyre, top and bottom, the fat parts of the tyre were about 18" apart from memory and had a piece of 3/8" plate for a gauge. Saved going off for an alignment all the time.
Now, don't laugh, well not too much, i ran over my T square one day and turned it into a banana and desperate for something large and square asked arty wife if she had anything, she pulled out a picture frame and suggested that it would/should be dead square, it worked great so basically any bigish square thing will do the trick.
Also, with neg. camber (on the road)you will need a tiny bit of toe in like 1/16" total overall otherwise you'll find it darty and track around the road following contours if it has 0 or toe out like a racer.

willy
William Revit

Thanks Guy, I mcould try that once ive tryed out the Moss adjusters.
What engine oil do you put in 20W50?
Mineral?
Where does STP stand for?
A de Best

Thanks Willy. Gotta watch where you drive. Not only watch your p's and q's, but watch tour t's too. Lol.

Arie, Scientifically Treated Petroleum. Or Special training program. 😉



anamnesis

Nah. STP is an American oil aditives company, The STP engine oil aditive usually as thick as honey.
Good stuff for engine assembly but Personally I wouldn't run it in lever arms .A good 30wt shocker oil is best--from motorcycle shops(fork oil)--DON"T use normal hydraulic oil as it froths up when it's worked hard
The std. MGB shocker valves are internally .adjustable, usually for sporty/competition work we'd screw the adjuster nut almost right down like 5 turns which nearly bottoms it out, that realy stiffens up the rebound which is what you're after without making the wheel/tyre skip .
William Revit

I copied this from Anamnessis other trhead on his Armstrong shocker

A de Best

This Midget, currently for sale on ebay, has Frontline suspension.

It looks a bit severe.

Dave O'Neill 2

This thread was discussed between 06/03/2026 and 24/03/2026

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