I have used kerosene to clean out the shocks.
If you have *smooth* and even resistance up and down, with no
slack at the direction change, no leaking, and no play, then the
shocks are OK.
After cleaning it out with kerosene, I use either Auto Transmission Fluid
or Motorcycle fork oil as the replacement damper fluid. I have also used
Penrite's Lever arm damper fluid but it is, for all intensive purposes,
identical to the 2 above. ATF is pretty much the same as the standard
damping weight (20wt). Motorcycle Fork oil has the advantage of being
available in weights from 5 to 50wt. For normal use, don't go above 30 wt.
Not only is it firm enough for normal setups/use, it becomes much harder on
the shock when you raise the fluid wt.
With M/C fork oil, you can in theory "mix and match" the weights if the
available wts aren't exactly to your taste. Personally I haven't felt the
need
as yet.
Make sure you flush all the kerosene out with at least one extra change of
ATF or fork oil.
Before anyone asks, I spoke to a local rebuilder about the various options
for replacement oil. He has told me that ATF, Lever arm Damper Fluid,
and M/C fork oil all have the same additives. The most important of these
is an anti-foaming agent. There is also some to keep the weight relatively
constant with temperature.
Peter from World-Wide Imports (Top quality US rebuilders of Lever arm
shocks), pointed out the internal damage that can result from using oil
with too high a weight. He advised that if you want a more "competition"
type shock whilst still using lever arms, then you should adjust the valving
rather than going too far overboard on the oil weight. Peter can supply
rebuilt units with the uprated valves.
I have successfully used 30wt oil without any obvious side effects. I have
also
bought a set of Peter's competition-valved rebuilt units and am very happy
with them.
Hope that helps.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Allen <gaallen@tscnet.com>
To: mgs@autox.team.net <mgs@autox.team.net>
Date: Tuesday, December 01, 1998 8:57 PM
Subject: Flushing Shocks
>Let me start by introducing myself, I'm Gary from Silverdale, WA and my
wife
>and I bought a 73 MGB in late Sept. I have been watching this list and
>enjoying it, learned a lot and want to thank everyone for passing along
>those bits of info on the MG.
>
>My question is: I have removed the front suspension to rebush it and check
>it out so far no problems. I have removed the shock to clean them on the
>outside they seem to operate OK they have a good amount of resistance both
>up and down. I was wandering if it is a good idea to flush out the inside
of
>the schock and if so what should I use? Is it OK to remove the large
fitting
>on the bottom of the shock to do this? I have a bottle of Moss Shock fluid
>for the final filling. Anybody have any thoughts on this.
>
>Thanks Gary
>
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