Morris Minor Owners Club

About to fit some spax telescopic dampers to the front of the car, I hadn't realised that it came with instructions, but the set that was slightly different to mine stated you needed to take the valve gear out. Now do i need to do this or is it just with that specific one? If so how do i do that?


Thanks

My advice - leave the valves IN! You need all the damping you can get. Is this a bolt-on kit? As others will know - I strongly urge against NOT using the bolt-on teledamper kit - just drain and refill the standard dampers with SAE 40 oil, and that's plenty of damping. But if you must - don't also use the more viscous oil in the original dampers. I would nevertheless drain off the horrible old oil and refill with nice new 20W50 oil - and PUT THE VALVES BACK IN !

Due to general ignorance I cant comment on Spax VS standard moggie dampers but I did once fit spax adjustables to a kit Cobra Replica I built.
The most frustrating thing was once fitted they were not easily adjustable in fact the only way to get at the adjusters was to take them off, should have called em Spax semi adjustables maybe.

Ok, I'm going to have to disagree with BM and say take out the damper valves. With this left in, the suspension is far too stiff and the dampers fight against each other. I would say drain the old oil out and re-fill with some nice clean SAE 40. In order to remove the damper valves just undo the big nut at the base of the lever arm damper (with a cup held under it to catch the old oil) and pull out the pin and small spring inside.

I can't see how the dampers will fight each other......they work together, sharing the load. I run standard dampers (with valves in place) with SAE 40 oil AND large diameter /long stroke teledampers (I think from the rear of a Viva ) - and the ride is smooth and supple - it absolutely soaks up crests and dips in the road when taken 'at speed' .... !