Right hand drive C5

[Chuffer]

We’ve had a few springs go on our Fords over the last couple of years. Yes, they certainly seem to be thinner these days. Got a set of mid year springs that I’ve had for 30+ years. They are heavy mothers.

Also the ends of the coils are cut off square rather than tapered just to save a few pence in the manufacturing process . That means the coil sits on a tiny point of contact in the strut mount causing a stress point in the last loop of the coil .

 

[antijam]

Also the ends of the coils are cut off square rather than tapered just to save a few pence in the manufacturing process . That means the coil sits on a tiny point of contact in the strut mount causing a stress point in the last loop of the coil .

Here's a typical modern spring failure; it's off a Mercedes.....


Classic end coil failure due to over-stressing. the one on the left was about to go due to corrosion.
This is a spring from my '63 Daimler......

End coil properly closed and ground and the spring scragged during manufacture to obviate over-stressing.
It had been on my car for 50 years and after cleaning up and painting it went back on the car. It's still there.

( Apologies to the OP - this thread has wandered off subject )

 

[Nassau65]

Most threads do go off track a bit over time.

 

[Nassau65]

On the subject of the RHD conversions to US vehicles Australia seemed to be the masters. Once they perfected the making of the RHD dashboards they were visually perfect.

 

[Nassau65]

Had a chance to buy a RHD mid year convertible ( a 64 from memory) back in the early 90’s. It was a nice car, but no power steering or brakes so I passed. Wasn’t too bothered about the brakes, but wanted the power steering.
I believe it’s still about.
Still got some pictures of it somewhere.