Morris Minor Owners Club

HI all, the shocks on my van were no good, so I went to a recon service near me and gave them to him, he told me that they were very bad and wouldn't go back to how they were! but he had a pair of MO shocks he asked me if I would like I saw them wider but I rememberd my van has 2 extra holes near the shocks (anyone has these?) so I asked if I could check fit and the fitted nicely except they need longer bolts! but will these make the ride harder since the MO was heavier? Thanks

Interesting! I have never found what these extra holes were for (and asked several times) - and so provided the top trunnion ends up in exactly the same location as before (fore and aft, and inwards-outwards) then these will do very nicely indeed. Don't worry - you really can't have too much damping!

ThanksBMC I just went andbought them the arms are the same length all I need to find now are longer bolts! any ideas ? Thanks

Ahh - but surely the arms would need to be longer to put the top trunnion excatly as it was before ? Longer bolts - well for a trial fit anything would do - maybe the long cylinder head bolts will fit - I can't remember thread size off top of my head. I would only buy them conditional on them fitting - if not money back! Don't understand why he thought the old dampers couldn't be 'reconditioned'. Were they leaking badly ?

well I roughly check the arm length it looks the same but it was an approximate still he said he can take tha arm off a Minor one and put it on the MO ones eh said there was a lot of playin the piston area that's why

I would love to know how he gets the arm off! I have tried and tried in the past and never managed to do it yet!
The problem may be that the centre pivot for the arm would need to end up in exactly the same position as the Minor damper - in both planes - for the Minor arm to be used. But if it works - these bigger dampers are a great find!

What did the Riley use? The front shocks have a bigger engine to control and it was a 'performance' car.

bmc it seems he has some tools that manage to take these shocks apart! on tuesday I'll measure the exact length and try to fit them! The only visible difference is that they're wider but they still fit thanks to those extra two holes

If the MO dampers do fit can you please note any reference marks on the dampers and let us all know please? A picture or two would help too of course.
The Wolseley and Riley cars have a different bulkhead - i've studied them at car shows - and it would not be easy (but of course nothing is impossible) to fit their dampers to a Minor.
I really don't know how he gets the arm off - because there is so very little room to get puller fingers in behind the arm - between the arm and damper body. I ground down puller legs till they would go in - but then they were too weak to take the load! Unless mine were extra specially tight of course!

sure will do I have to sort out some bolts as the Minor bolts are short, this makes me think they are a bit more forward and the arm might hit the inner panel but I'll take accurate measurements

Ah - well that would put the top trunnion forward too - which will have drastic effect on the suspension geometry. It HAS to end up excatly where it was before.

FrankM83 wrote:I rememberd my van has 2 extra holes near the shocks (anyone has these?)

You mean like these...

i have had the extra holes ( i paid for them ) in all my vans

The extra holes were intended for uprated dampers to be used for some export markets. Fairly early on a decision was made not to use uprated dampers as the originals were very good (by 1940's standards)

...as has been said and disregarded before
a

rayofleamington wrote:The extra holes were intended for uprated dampers to be used for some export markets.

That would follow, as mine's an export CKD model.

They (well, the series 5s, anyway, I don't know the earlier ones) all have them, not just the export ones.

My van was not intended ax esport as it's ex PO and it still has them the MO shocks fit exactly in them, today I measure them and seems the although the are longer and need longer bolts to fit! the arm is bent backwards slightly more than the minor's so I'm assuming these should fit nicely! What I need are longer bolts any help where I can find like these please? a quarter of inch longer than the Minor's enough

If the thread is 3/8" unf (I really can't remember - but I 'think' it is) - then use long head studs - the fine end going in the bulkhead and then just cut down and re-thread the other end - weld the nut on if you want. These studs are plentiful and high quality.