Filling Holes

Post by **thwaak** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 11:55 am

Hello all,
What is the best way to fill the round holes in the wings left by removal of the mirrors and the badges from the bonnet.

What telescopic shock absorber is used to upgrade the front suspension. I will be fabricating my own mounting brackets.

TIA
Neil

Post by **rayofleamington** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 1:00 pm

the common way to fill wing mirror holes is to hit it with a hammer to make a small well. Fill the well with car body filler and sand flat.
Then paint it and realise you needed to sand it better..

for the bonet badge holes - bonnet badges fill the holes nicely ;-)
or use filler as above.

The best way is to cap the hole wth a small plate then have it lead loaded (by someone who is good at it). Not sure if Lead loading is officially allowed but people still do it.
Ray.

Post by **Kevin** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 3:28 pm

What telescopic shock absorber is used to upgrade the front suspension. I will be fabricating my own mounting brackets.

Any of the specialists who supply the kits should be able to let you know, I assume you are doing the rears 1st as that is the correct order to do them in unless you have an LCV with them already fitted of course.

Post by **Matt** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 3:56 pm

i didn't know that.........

Post by **custommartin** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 5:46 pm

The first telescopic kit I bought years ago from a Moggie specialist used Mini dampers (the car NOT the size

).
When these wore out I replaced them with a set from a Ginetta G4, which were cheap from work

Post by **_h_____** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 8:30 pm

Spax do adjustable dampers that fit the morris, which is good, as you can alter the ride characteristics easily. Try www.spax.co.uk

Post by **Cam** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 10:10 pm

Neil, if you are OK with a welder then you could butt-weld a small circular piece of steel into the hole, grind it down, and just use a slight skim of plastic body filler to match the profile. Good and strong.

Talking of dampers, I have the SPAX dampers on mine and I am really pleased with the performance (once adjusted properly):

But for the rear I mounted them with turrets through the rear floor (kit from JLH).

Post by **Scott** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 2:44 am

The problem with most plastic fillers is they absorb moisture. If you fill a hole with filler then paint the outside, then it will look fine for a few months, even a year or so, but eventually it will start to lift/crack away from the metal as the moisture enters from behind. The best way to fill a hole is by welding/soldering then using filler to prepare the surface for painting only.
There are now fibreglass fillers with stainless steel fibres in it & are supposed to be good for filling holes but I wouldn't recommend using them on a 'good' car. I have used them on an older car to fill holes just as a trial to see how long they last (8 months so far).