MG Midget Forum

Hi Team,

I note a few threads regarding this issue over the years, and I understand the concern some have with the Peter May offset trunnions for road cars noting they have solid brass or bronze bushes which a lot of people indicate are quite harsh on the ride.

However what I have not seen anyone consider or suggest is simply changing the bush in the Peter May Trunnion. Perhaps this cant be done?

Essentially, I only want the trunnions to help me build a small amount of negative camber, so why couldn’t you just use the Peter May Trunnion but change the bushes to rubber or poly? You get the same offset (longer body than the standard Trunnion) to introduce the negative camber but then have a softer ride?

Thank you for any advice in advance.

Regards Tony

You could also just put some shims/spacers between the shocks & the chassis. That's the easiest & cheapest way to get some negative camber. I'm not sure of the correlation between shim thickness & camber angle though.

In answer to your question, it is my understanding the Peter May doesn't allow use of them (it is solid, using no bushes at all).

By the way, regarding using spacers under the front shocks, unfortunately, I tried it and then measured the alignment and found almost no benefit at all, because of the angle of the mounting surface. Neat sounding idea but only a small angle change after adding very tall spacers, so I put it back.

In the end I bought a pair of these from a machinist in Australia (see attached for details), which allow use of bushings to maintain ride quality.

I've put Urethane offset bushes into both my MKII (since sold) and my BE, I marked the bushes with a stripe to allow me to see where the offset is and adjust them until they line up.

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'58 Bugeye
'05 Mini Cooper S

Mark, have you checked them to see if they have rotated? I don't understand what keeps them from moving. Are they just a tight fit when you tighten the upper bolt and the friction keeps them from moving?

Thank you for the responses.

Kevin: I tried that, but as indicated by others the shift is very small and I like the idea of around 1 "ish" degrees of neg camber.

Norm: I have included a picture below of the Peter May trunnion to show that the bush is separate to the trunnion and is solid brass. While you mention Peter May does not allow the change, if the brass ones come out and "if" the poly or rubber ones fit then I dont see why someone could not do it. Regardless, your piece about the Australian Bugeye person is GOLD, especially noting I'm in Australia. So I will follow up with them to get a set and use the poly bushes in those. Thank you!!

Norm, Jack: I used the offset bushes in my big Healey and they do indeed hold position by simply the process of tightening the nut which compresses the bushes and they dont move (or didnt for the years I had them in there). Only issue was the shift was again very minor and only allowed the Healey to go from standard (1 degree positive) to neutral. So the solution in that car was to use lever arm shocks with slightly shorter arms which achieved 1 degree negative camber and then the offset trunnions allowed me to adjust to get exactly the same camber in both wheels.


Regards Tony

I have offset bushings on my vintage race Bugeye. They were installed about 1990 and haven't moved yet. Fingers crossed.

Regarding the Peter May, take a close look at the size of the sintered bronze bushings it uses, and compare that with the diameter of the hole required for the rubber (or poly) bushes, visible in the Bugeye Barn option. The hole in the Peter May is simply not large enough to accept them.

The difference between the Peter May negative camber top trunion and the Bugeye Barn negative camber top trunion is the amount of machining necessary to provide the room for those large sized bushings. Since Peter May is for racing they saved time (and weight) by making it a simple shape, and too small to accept the stock bushings.


Norm

Yes and Yes. The bushings are enough oversize that the compression keeps them in place even under hard usage.

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'58 Bugeye
'05 Mini Cooper S