My 1982 280E track car is in desperate need of some new springs. I think I'm going to have to have some custom made ones. It currently has some Spax springs fitted, which are stiffer than standard, but still no way near stiff enough.
Has anyone here ever had springs made for a W123 track car, if so, what spring rate/diamensions were your springs?
If not, does anyone know of somebody who races 1 that might be able to help me with this?
Here's how my car looks at the minute under cornering:
i know nothing about the suspension setup on these, but would it not be worth your while modifying some coilovers to fit? that way you could adjust the ride height and get just about any spring stiffness you wanted.
I've heared that the Lang W123s had a bigger rear ARB. But might be very hard to get hold of one... I can also imagine that the ambulance etc. special bodys had bigger ARBs. I'll see if there's anything in the parts cataloque.
I've already got a new rear ARB ready to fit, from a "long" version, it was £100 new from Merc (they only have 3 left worldwide). It's 15mm instead of 13mm, which according to my Mathis genius mate, makes it 77% stiffer than standard.
I've also spoken to the guys at Tollbar racing(local Ginetta race team), about making me some nylon suspension bushes, these will be getting made in the next few weeks.
The only thing left on the list is new springs, the Spax ones just aren't anywhere near stiff enough.
I'm going to look into the W126 560SEC heavy duty springs, but I've got a feeling they may be different.
If you can let me know the cars weight and its distribution, and the distance along the wishbone the springs centre sits (as well as the wishbones full length). I could give you a rough idea of what spring rate you'll be looking for for typical set-ups, but it'll depend on just how stiff you want to go, and without a lot more info the front to rear balance may take a bit of tweaking. I don't suppose you happen to know the current spring rates do you?
I'm going to be weighing it in the next couple of weeks at my mate's haulage yard, and I'll he it measured up as well, I'll PM you once I've got all the info. I don't know what rate the current springs are, I want it as stiff as possible, it's not a road car, it's for the track only.
560's had self levelling rear suspension so different springs. You can get heavy duty rear springs, I got some from Euro Car Parts a while ago, no idea what the spring rate is though
1992 190E 2.0 - first car, currently being driven by the wife.
1989 500SEC
1968 W115 4.2 V8
2000 CL500
Can't remember what 123 suspension looks like but if its anything like the later ones, ie independent it would be easy enough to knock up a couple of seats to be able to use generic 2.5" coilovers springs allowing you to choose and play with spring rates easy enough.
I'm thinking of fitting coil overs on the rear, as 1 option, the rear is swing arms with recessed spring seats, so I can make mounts that will fit into the spring cups. The only problem is, the coil overs will be very short, to get the ride height right.
The front is a little trickier, but still no more difficult than a kit car build, the top has a recess that the spring sits in,mso I can make a mount that fits tight in that, and the spring pad on the bottom arm is bolted on, so I can make a mount that lots on, providing that I can get the old bolts out!!
