Good quality Shockers that look good!

[Coalmossian]

In the pursuance of my Traveller restoration ( sorry....in the light of Fingolfin's Stiltzkin mine's just a wee clean-up!) I am seeking information on shock absorbers!
I now have a nice, clean and very empty engine bay, and I am in the process of degreasing, fettling, de-rusting and painting all things suspension and brakes so that I can turn it into a rolling chassis. Saddo that I am, I have put many tens of hours into the production of nice clean, shiny black hubs, backplates, drums, trunnions, kingpins,steering rack, etc etc etc. I have some reconditioned shockers ( front 2 pairs) and rear (1 pair), and looking at them today, I was not impressed. I've had them for years, and they would probably have come from The Morris Minor Centre or Ware's, but I'm not really too sure!
Anyway, the first stage of "reconditioning" seems in all cases to have been a pretty severe grit blast with all screws and plugs and top plates in place, leaving dreadfully pitted surfaces all over. One pair of fronts obviously received a pretty heavy coat of pretty poor quality black paint as a final process covering everything including the lever arm nut and splitpin, while the other ( front and rear) got smothered in silver grey Hammerite. The surfaces are dreadfully pitted, and corrosion on some prior to blasting has made them worse! I really don't want to use them, yet when I look at the underbonnet photos of specimen cars in "Original Morris Minor" the shockers look immaculate! Have the owners/restorers spent many hours with filler and sandpaper, or is there actually somewhere where I can get good quality, well finished, replacement shockers?
What are the ones from ESM and Bull Motif like? Prices seem reasonable for an exchange set from both these suppliers, but has anyone had experience of them?
Or does anyone have some good quality NOS ones out there at a reasonable price?
Thanks in anticipation of the help and suggestions that I know will follow.[frame][/frame]

[bmcecosse]

Dampers! Not 'shockers'..... A good thick coat or two of chassis black and I doubt you will see much wrong with them... Main thing is to drain them and refill with SAE 40 oil - so they WORK !! If you find better ones later - easily changed over.

[chesney]

I believe reconditioned dampers are a mixed bag, some are done properly, some are, as you say, simply blasted and sprayed..

[brucek]

That's a very posh workbench you have there Mr Coalmossian bit better than my 'pallet and wickes 3x2 special' - however, mine is a very limited edition

[Coalmossian]

Hi Brucek,
My good lady wife is currently being a very patient and tolerant lady! Underneath that bubble wrap is a rather nice Victorian wind-out dining table ( upon which my father, believe it or not, actually did some woodwork in the years before he died!)
Currently sitting on it are 4 x hubs, 4 x backplates, 4 x brake drums, 2 x top trunnions, 2 x bottom trunnions,2 x kingpins, 2 x steering arms. 2 x eyebolts, 2 x torsion bars with both cast pieces still attached, 1 x steering column, all newly painted! Balanced across the backs of two Regency mahogany dining chairs is the newly painted rear axle casing!
And she HATES cars! But she knows I've waited for over 20 years to get this restoration underway, so I guess she must love me, eh?!

[brucek]

You are a very fortunate man sir! Make sure she knows you appreciate her tolerance People have divorced for less

Very nice job you are doing too.

[PaulTubby]

hi, you do have to normaly, refurb - restore a pair of recon shockers if you want them to look good under the bonnet. Arms should be painted black and the body should be alloy, you can use a cup wire brush and get them looking good, but they will discolur again, i have sprayed them silver in the past and they do last well, but not a shiney silver or hammetite. also look good if you fit a new split pin through the castle but after you done any paintwork to pick them out....

here is a typical damper- shocker i picked up in recon form, not pretty but is in good order ...



here is one after some work which looked like the above...



so with some tlc they can be made looking nicer, or if your not afte perfection then a good coat of QUALITY paint would work wonders too....

[Coalmossian]

Thanks for all the advice, and apologies to bmcecosse re not calling them dampers! Although, as an afterthought I looked in Club Spares, and they call them "shock absorbers" there too! And they seemingly have new ones. I might try and see what the cost is for a pair of rear ones, as mine really are "the pits" (pun intended!).
And thanks, Paul Tubby, for your advice. Great minds must think alike......or maybe that's 'cos we both hail from the same area ( I was bought up in Rawtenstall in Lancs), as I had been thinking what best to do with the front ones! I cleaned them with hand and rotary wire brushes and Scotchbrite pads, and then thoroughly degreased them. I masked off the top plate with filler plug and also the castle nut ( having first removed the old split pin) and then sprayed the main bidy with grey priner followed by some silver paint that I had ( Simoniz Silver Wheels?) Once dry I sprayed the arm with primer and then Halfords Gloss Black. Again, when dry, I removed all masking tape and sprayed the lot with clear lacquer, and finished each off with a nice new stainless steel splitpin. The lacquer is as a precaution against the nut/threaded shaft rusting and the alloy top plate oxidising.
I hope you'll agree that they look ok ( shame I didn't take any "before" pics!)[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[PaulTubby]

Yes they look really good..... good attention to detail! Got to be done! and worth the effort as once you finished the car you can stand back and admire your engine bay

[bmcecosse]

You have FAR too much time on your hands.... And be assured - the correct term is 'damper' - that's what they do - they damp the oscillations of the suspension movements. The 'shocks' are absorbed by the springs - torsion bar at front and leaf at rear in the case of the Minor....

[Coalmossian]

You have FAR too much time on your hands.... And be assured - the correct term is 'damper' - that's what they do - they damp the oscillations of the suspension movements. The 'shocks' are absorbed by the springs - torsion bar at front and leaf at rear in the case of the Minor....

.
I bow to your superior knowledge, sir, and I shall endeavour to refer to them hereonin as "dampers". I am only a beginner at this caper really, and this is the first time that I have ever had anything to do with suspension and the first time that I have ever stripped down kingpins, trunnions or steering arms or any of those bits! But we all have to start somewhere. Just a shame that it's so late on in life!
Now I've just got to try and put it all back together, and if you have any suggestions as to the best sequence of doing so, I'd be extremely grateful. I can reassemble trunnions/kingpins/backplate & hub on the luxury workbench that brucek comments on ( providing I don't get grease on it!), but then comes the fitting of all the other bits onto the bare shell!
As for having too much time on my hands? You could be correct as I am retired. But you, sir, were an engineer, and once an engineer, always an engineer. You love the workings; the precision; the concept of mechanical parts all doing their job in perfect synchronicity and to maximum efficiency! You are more allied to the mathematician, whereas I, although a scientist, my leanings were toward biology, and while biologists also appreciate the developmental perfection brought about by the evolutionaty process, we also tend to have a more artistic leaning and we revere the aesthetic. ( My God....philosophical or what!)
You would probably go for the car with a few blemishes but which performs all its functions to perfection, whereas I would prefer the car that looks superb with few flaws and which runs adequately.
Does that make sense? Is it correct?
Plus I've admired the engine bays of many cars at shows and I've waited over 20 years to do this, so I just want to try to do this as well as I can, albeit without spending all my pension and bankrupting the household!!
Are there others out there like me?

[rayofleamington]

You have FAR too much time on your hands...

The correct term is "pot and kettle" Roy!

As for shock absorbers - that is the official term in the automotive spares industry.
To an engineer, they are of course also a damper, as that's their function.

Car terminology - a condenser for the points ( a term you used today)... To an engineer it's an electrolytic capacitor. No?
anyway, back to work...