Austin 1970 pickup from Guatemala

[irmscher]

Looks brilliant and enjoyed following the work you have done

[Fingolfin]

For a long time I believed there was no such thing as a non-leaky damper, but I managed to get a hold of a left-front one that does not leak. Be careful with the speedometer stuff, I just destroyed one yesterday. Brakes are fairly easy to sort out, but the clutch can be a headache. I've never gotten my exhaust to stop leaking at the manifold joint, but have decreased it enough that it's not a big deal. Still -- this is what we get for driving Minors...

[alexandermclaren]

It gets better looking each time
we'll done[frame][/frame]

[GBond]

Thanks for the comments and the tips!

Roger, the brake cylinders are original ones sourced from the pick-up and a donor van by picking the best ones.
There's a leak from the banjo fitting for the RH rear bleeder valve which I'll try to correct with new copper washers since it's already very tight. I'm also hoping the brakes will improve with some "bedding in" so that the pads take the shape of the drums better.

Fin, the speedometer has begun to work intermittently. When it does, it functions perfectly without bouncing or anything and when it doesn't it doesn't move at all (nor does the mileage) so I'm guessing the cable needs oiling (sparingly, as I see from your experience) or hopefully I can cure the problem by ignoring it for a while.[frame][/frame]evidence

The clutch also has been working well lately, maybe it's the gearbox that needs a little topping up or it's just that I need to get accustomed to not having synchros on 1st and reverse. The damper is for now the least of my troubles and for the exhaust leak I'm trying to find out what to use. I've read a lot in here about "exhaust paste" but haven't found it available around here, maybe some high temperature sealant would work?

On to the good news now, every year there's a classic car parade on January 1st. All kinds and nationalities of classic cars were present and the Moggy behaved flawlessly.

Pre flight checks.[frame][/frame]
On the way to the meeting point.[frame][/frame]
Some of the other cars.[frame][/frame]
This is bigger than the Moggy.[frame][/frame]
This is faster than the Moggy.[frame][/frame]
This is older than the Moggy.[frame][/frame]
This is sportier than the Moggy.[frame][/frame]
Yes, this one as well.[frame][/frame]
GF was a good sport about it all, she even says she didn't get bored. I don't believe her.[frame][/frame]
Moggy following its successor.[frame][/frame]
Chevy and Ford.[frame][/frame]
Couple of Opels.[frame][/frame]
Even a London taxi![frame][/frame]
Guatemalan creation.[frame][/frame]
Moggy and company.[frame][/frame]
Drawing a crowd.[frame][/frame]
Reactions to the car were great, these little cars aren't common anymore around here and the cute looks had everyone smiling. I had the chance to talk to the owner of both a Traveler and a Tourer so we'll probably make a reunion.

Hope everyone's year started great!

Regards.

[GBond]

I've put about 100 miles on Mr. Toad already and the problems with the gearbox noises and speedometer both magically fixed themselves.

However a more serious problem developed with the shock absorbers (or dampers, whichever you prefer). -Guatemala is a spanish speaking country, yet they're coloquially referred to always as "shocks"-

Left shock absorber is leaking quite a lot.[frame][/frame]Not an enormous problem, and the car can still be used like that although it gets tiring to clean the oil every time.

Right hand damper (I'll use both terms) has a bigger problem.[frame][/frame]The shaft that holds the suspension arm has front to rear play, so when braking it's making contact with the body and has already done quite a dent.

Removing the cover shows the problem.[frame][/frame]There's a metal tube that goes over the shaft, this tube has an indentation made with a cold chisel and that's all that stops the shaft from coming out of the shock absorber. This indentation sheared off, so there's nothing stopping the shaft from coming out.

Close up.[frame][/frame]

These are both remanufactured dampers, bought a long time ago since the restoration was very long, but they still didn't get any use until now so I'm pretty concerned about the quality of the remanufacturing. I was planning on getting the new dampers from ESM but they're out of stock and sending these all the way to England is much more expensive than the surcharge.

I haven't yet decided what to do; one of my options would be to try and fix the ones I've got on the car, however I'm worried that the piece that sheared off might have damaged the pistons.

I could also try and fix another pair I have, although these have just a tiny bit of play.[frame][/frame]
My last option is saving myself the work and buying a couple of remanufactured ones. I'm still paying the final batches of parts plus all the Christmas spending so that would have to wait a few weeks until the credit card can breathe again. I'd like to know which supplier has the best quality new or reconditioned dampers since from what I see the prices vary quite a lot and with the cost of getting them all the way here I'd rather pay a bit more up front than have to pay shipping twice to make a return.

[Trickydicky]

Hi Gabriel,

Have you read this topic? Declan shows that the dampers can be repaired. Page 2 shows the fronts.
Maybe you could try and make a good pair from the ones you have?

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... per+Repair

[rogerowen]

For what it's worth - a few years ago I had the same problem with an MG Midget project. The relatively cheap recon units leaked dreadfully within no time. I complained to the supplier (MGOC-Spares), and they informed me that you can get more expensive versions that are supposed to be better. The difference was £15 t0 £55.

[GBond]

Thanks Richard! I thought there might be something like that here in the forums but my search for "Shock Absorber" didn't bring it up.
I do have access to a press so hopefully this evening or tomorrow I'll crack one open to see if I can source the seals.
Once that's done I'll probably do all four in order to have spares.

Roger; I've seen the dampers from ESM at 17 pounds plus 25 surcharge and the ones from David Manners at 70 pounds. I'd be very dismayed if the more expensive ones weren't higher quality so if anyone has good experiences with any particular supplier please let me know.

I'll still try and fix these first, but as a contingency plan just in case.

Regards