Shock Absorber Snapped

[agent_zed]

If you don't want to weld it.... The original 2b wishbones i had used a U bracket bolted on in 2 places (perpendicular to the car). So you would just need to buy some U channel (or box and cut a side off) drill 2 holes for the mounting and 1 across for the shock bolt.

 

You'd then need to cut of the bits sticking up off the plate you have and bolt the U through that.

 

 

Not my picture (or car) but you can just see the bracket i am talking about

 

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/tegwin/IMG_2278-600.jpg

Edited June 30, 2016 by agent_zed

[AndyW]

If there are no capable member local to you, any engineering place would do it for you.

Usually the smaller the business the better and more human like.

The ones I have used for various work have been very fair with the costs.

 

Yes, I'll have to go touring the backstreets and see what I can find :-) Got a feeling I know where there are some small engineering firms.

 

 

If you don't want to weld it.... The original 2b wishbones i had used a U bracket bolted on in 2 places (perpendicular to the car). So you would just need to buy some U channel (or box and cut a side off) drill 2 holes for the mounting and 1 across for the shock bolt.

You'd then need to cut of the bits sticking up off the plate you have and bolt the U through that.

Not my picture (or car) but you can just see the bracket i am talking about

 

Yes, I understand what you mean. That'll be my fallback if I can't find a welding shop.

 

I've managed to get the shocker back on, more as a temporary measure than anything as I need to move the car off my drive and into the back garden.

I removed one packing washer from the top mount to give the top bush more play for getting the right angle to the bottom mount. Even so, this is a photo of what the top mount looks like from the inside of the chassis. Not perpendicular to the bolt axis at all. Methinks the mounts are way out of line :-(

 

And it looks like the spring cap might foul the rear of the U channel. Have to go and have another look at that.

 

Edited June 30, 2016 by AndyW

[Grim]

Are they 1.9" shocks or the 2.25"? The smaller ones fit much better

[stevedohc2b]

Dave R

is the north Hants area sec i am sure he could help.

 

Stephen

[AndyW]

Grim - they are the smaller 1.75" shocks with 1.9 springs. And they do touch the side of the mount so I'm going to have to put the spacer washer back in to centralise the bush.

[cb750]

Is your mounting bolt the correct size for the top bush? In the photo it looks like the bush is sitting at an angle.

 

Rob

[AndyW]

Rob, yes I believe the mounting bolt is the correct size for the bush, but that's something I'll check. It was the one on the car with the previous Gaz shocks. The angle is due to the misalignment of the top & bottom bushes and it is compressing the rubber. They are not perpendicular (see the previous posts).

 

Edit - actually Rob you might be right. The bushes on the shock are the same diameter top and bottom, but I now think that the top bolt IS thinner in diameter than the bottom one on the wishbone. But if it was a larger diameter then the shocker would definitely not align with the bottom mounting point. Whether the bolt is smaller by design / necessity I'm not sure!

Edited June 30, 2016 by AndyW

[AndyW]

And just to rub salt into the wound, I've discovered that the cam belt has also snapped So that's one heck of a chain of events: broken shock absorber rod > flying spring and cap > snapped ancillary drive belt > snapped cam belt.

 

Why?? What have I done to deserve this!!

[Bob Tucker]

Lets hope the Rover engine is a non interference design.....IE valves cannot hit pistons.

[Guest 2b cruising]

The mount you show in the photo seems like either incorrect build, or terrible engineering design.

With a bolt of that length, no way would the diameter of any material be strong enough to take the continual pounding a shock absorber receives. The bolt would also tend to bend like a banana.

The sides of the mounts should give a much closer fit to the shock absorber than that.

It is also fact that on wishbone suspention the shocker must be mounted with the swing action at 90' to the line of the action, or swing travel of the wishbone. Far to much force would be put on the eye of the shocks, and could also limit the operation of the whole suspension unit.

 

Re the belt. Take your plugs out and carefully turn the engine over to TDC number one.

If you meet any resistance at all, turn your cam to take the valves into a different possition.

If you can manage to time your engine up, fit a new belt and tension it.

Turn your engine over by hand twice, and see if it meets any resistance.

If one resistance is felt, carry out a dry compression test. If the compressions are good, you have been fortunate and saved even taking the head off.

If low compression on any cylinder, you will at least know what cylinder you need to correct the faults with.

Good luck and I hope no more problems.

Edited June 30, 2016 by 2b cruising

[Bob Tucker]

Ive been looking at the picture showing the wide U channel.

Its difficult to tell but,that part looks like an add on.

Shouldnt the shocker be fitted to the inner section of channel

where you can see the smooth shank of the bolt?

Can anyone else with a superspec comment?

 

it doesnt look like post no. 9 here

http://www.rhocar.org/index.php?showtopic=44195&hl=superspec&do=findComment&comment=358708

Edited July 1, 2016 by Bob Tucker

[AndyW]

Bob & 2b,

 

1. I've also been trying to discover if the rover t-series is a non interference design, but nothing from google so far.

 

2. I believe that is the design of the Super Spec top shock mounting, although the picture is deceptive. If you look at my outside photo in post #1 you can just see that the long bolt through the top shock bush actually goes through 3 flanges. 2 are the sides of the U channel, but there is a third flange on the other side of the rearmost top wishbone mounting. The shocker pivot point is about 1" behind the wishbones. If all that makes sense!

 

3. 2b thanks for the info on the cam belt. It's all new territory for me.

 

I'd like to see photos of any other Super Specs to see how the front suspension and particularly the shocks are mounted. I think the original Zimmers had steel tubes to fill the gaps either side of the narrow bush in the U channel, but I'd like to see what others have done with Gaz shocks.

[alanrichey]

3000 miles away from the car at the moment, back next weekend and I will check.

[agent_zed]

i am assuming that if your gaz shock are like mine they probably use a 10mm bolt. The zimmers came with an imperial sized bolt which was smaller. Well mine certainly were as i had to drill out the shock mount holes for the 10mm bolt.

 

The original builder may or may not have reused the old bolts so definitely worth checking but as you say/show perhaps the bolt is correct and the twist is taken by the bush.

 

I think (it was a while ago) that the gaz shocks use bushes that aren't fixed so you should be fine pinching up the inner sleeve at any point of droop. With shocks using fixed metalastic bushes you should really get the car to normal ride height and nip them up tight at that point, as they have a set amount they can twist one way or the other. The rear sierra shocks are like this.

 

hth

[Guest jelleyhead]

Hi Andy if you have a look at super spec shock absorber top mounting point in mechanics there are some pictures on there of mine and alanrichey super specs that maybe some help to you. Myself I would remove the washers and get some tube and make some good spacers to fit.