Mike, great description!
<<Without dampers, your MG will corner like a bathtub on a water bed.>>
Stu, not only will it corner badly, but without good dampers it can be
downright dangerous.
Picture doing your favorite smooth downhill sweeper, fresh pavement with
a decreasing radius turn at the bottom. With smooth pavement, it will feel
squishy, but all you will likely hear is the normal squeal of the tires (you
do drive it hard once in a while, right?) and you'll have a big smile on
your face. Then one day after not driving the stretch for a while, you find
at the critical point, the road was dug up and repaired leaving a good
bump - your wheels bounce up and down (oscillate) at whatever frequency they
choose, losing traction with each upward bounce, putting you in the ditch or
opposing lane! Shock absorbers? A major improvement in driving technology!
With good shocks the oscillations will not occur, they are damped out, and
you will feel the bump, but in control, and only bugged that the highway
department ruined your favorite curve.
Sorry, but the work is worth it. You may want to take them both off and
have them sent to a rebuilding service if the leaks are bad enough. Mine
took a lot of fluid when I first filled them two years ago, but the leaking
is very slow, no further problems that need rebuilding. I used 30W
motorcycle fork oil.
Incidentally, though the cars are ~50 years old, and we should treat
them with "respect" they are not fragile. I got a Safety Fast video on eBay
that has several old films of MG TDs racing, and man, they beat the snot out
of them! It made me feel better about pushing mine a bit. With proper
mechanical and structural inspection first, of course. Those of you who race
them today are saying "Obviously"! To John Gunnell, wait a bit before
pushing your new TF, OK? ;>)
Best regards,
Pete Thiel
53 TD
> >My basic question is: other than for comfort, is there any other purpose
> >for
> >the dampers (i.e. can I just leave it dry?). Having a Mk II, I also have
> >Andrex dampers installed, but they have never been rebuilt, only there
for
> >completeness.
> >
> >Stu Keen
> >
> >51 MG TD MkII
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/mg-t
|