Morris Minor Owners Club

On the same vien then - dos everyone tell their insirance co if they fit tele dampers - or a 3.7 final drive ? I doubt it. Changing the oil in the dampers is hardly a radical change ! Fiddling about with valves inside brake master cylinders - - well -- seems a lot more radical (and potentially a lot more dangerous) to me!

bmcecosse wrote

On the same vien then - dos everyone tell their insirance co if they fit tele dampers - or a 3.7 final drive ? I doubt it.

Well yes technically they should, as its a deviation from the standard running gear.

Changing the oil in the dampers is hardly a radical change !

Its a modification to the original cars suspension, so yes although not radical (despite the claims of improvement way above the standard original set up ) it is notifiable.

Fiddling about with valves inside brake master cylinders - - well -- seems a lot more radical (and potentially a lot more dangerous) to me

I quite agree, and this mod should not be taken lightly. It is accepted as a 'proven' modification by the insurance companies though.


I'm not havinfg a 'snipe' at you Roy or what you are suggesting re this mod, but simply curious as to whether this mod, should be classed as a modification to a major part of the cars suspension. Having backup from the industry rather than individual experience would go a long way in giving this mod some credance and therefore be approved by ones insurance company, who seem very eager to wriggle out of any claim.

Blimey - insurance co taking samples of damper oil - whatever next!

Jack oil is exactly the same spec as damper oil and should be available from any motor factor so no need to upgrade the oil specification to something the dampers were not designed for.

I'm not so sure 'Jack Oil' is the same spec -quite an assumption there I think! I believe it will be SAE 10 - which could cause a massive deterioration in damper performance - and may lead to a huge Motorway pile-up!

bmcecosse wrote:I'm not so sure 'Jack Oil' is the same spec -quite an assumption there I think! I believe it will be SAE 10 - which could cause a massive deterioration in damper performance - and may lead to a huge Motorway pile-up!

You really should check your facts first before scaremongering and this from someone who reccomends using engine oil which I think can safely be said to be designed for engines and not suspension use.
The original spec was the same as bike fork oil but is now very hard to obtain and if you check on what the specialists sell its either the Penright oil or jack oil.

Motorcycle fork oil is easily available in a variety of weights - standard way of fine tuning damping.
I have however been known to use ep90 in my Minor dampers in the past to good effect.

Pete

I checked on a couple of forums Pete and they said that the 20 weight was difficult to get nowadays, if that's not true that's good news.

Just googled for Fork Oil - loads available:

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-798-silkole ... nsion.aspx

Be careful how you ask for it at the motor factors or you might end up with four coils

20W50 is 20 weight! The '50' rating won't come into play - since it won't get that hot -well - not in the UK anyway! Glad to hear others have used the EP90 - it worked well.
I was of course exaggerating about the effects of possible SAE10 oil - this in reaction to some other earlier comments!
Just because some of the 'specialists' sell 'Jack Oil' for dampers - doesn't make it right! The Workshop Manual specifies Armstrong Super (Thin) Shock Absorber Fluid - or any mineral oil to SAE 20/20W. So - this seems to suggest 20W oil is ok ! In fact - it positively recommends it - but NOT for low-temperature operation!!
I first read of the variable effects of different viscosity oil in dampers 40 odd years ago - in a specialist suspension design manual (name long forgotten) - and it is also well documented as being used by the 750MC in their 'specials'.

it says on the bottle
single and double action delco type shock absorbers gabriel and armstrong type lever arm shockers
jackall central oil
motorcycle fork oil, sae 15 type
what do you make of this?????

It's fine - just use it - it says so on the bottle! But it's NOT what's specified in the Workshop Manual.