Lowering and Tube Shocks

The PO of my 76B put a rear tube shock conversion on the car. I don’t know which kit he used, it has blue shocks and two bolt mounting brackets and I can’t see any markings on the shocks.

I am making plans to lower the rear of the car between 1 and 2 inches with lowering blocks and some strapping lad shortened rebound straps, but I started to wonder if reducing the ride height will reduce the shock travel and damage the shocks?

I know the obvious answer is to ditch the tubes and install Peter’s rebuilt levers, and the day may come when I do that but for now I am very happy with the tubes. I just don't want to tear them up by lowering the car too much.

I lowered my tube shock converted '74.5 an inch or so (Moss kit) with no adverse reaction.

X2. Your blue shocks may be Monroe's of some sort.

Matt. The first thing to check is whether the tube shocks have the correct damping. Moss sold Monroe shocks that were blue, but at some point Monroe changed the specification making the shock way too stiff for the MGB. This was pretty late on and caused Moss to re-specify the shock to the current black Sensatrac.

At highway speeds, ripples in the pavement should be damped effectively and there should be no feeling that the back of the car is hopping. The car should feel controlled, but not overly stiff. Pushing down on the rear fender should be relatively easy, with good damping on the rebound.

If the shocks have the correct damping and you are happy with them, there should be no problem lowering the car. The dampers mount below the leaf spring, not to the axle, so the relocated axle does not affect the operational length.

There are many posts referring to how bad tube shock conversions are, but you are the judge of how your car rides. If the tube shock is specified correctly the car will ride and handle correctly.

kelvin

jack the car up
measure the distance between the bump stop and the bump stop plate/pedestal on the axle
Unbolt the bottom of the shocker and compress it as far as you can.
Measure the distance from the mount point to the shocker.
The latter distance needs to be less than the former distance.
If this is not the case then you might try flipping and swapping the mount point plates, if this has not already been done.