Well then. So we had a bit of an unexpected time crunch fall upon us with regards to the Austin. I was phoning about yesterday, just trying to find information on different stuff and generally update my to-do list and timeline, when I happened to call Worldwide Auto Parts. The plan was always that Pete Caldwell would rebuild my old shocks, as he has a great reputation and has come highly recommended by pretty much everyone I've spoken to in the Austin Healey world. Since we are in the middle of a cold snap, I thought I'd make arrangements to have some of this stuff done during the winter, so it will be ready to install back onto the body when it is done. My discussion with Peter was brief (it was New Years Eve, after all!), but the general takeaway was that the new year would see new pricing. Fair enough, he hadn't raised prices in a dog's age, and deserves to make a living. However, he also told me that if I could get the shocks sent away in the next day or so, that he would honour his old pricing. PANIC! Now I've got to get the shocks off the car, boxed, and sent! One of the front shocks is already off (it was pulled while my brother and I were trying to figure out why the drivers' side front suspension was staying compressed even after the weight of the engine was removed.) Turns out the front shock itself was frozen solid. OK, so one shock is off, but that still leaves three others on the one car, plus the two shocks on the new front end. My original thought was to send all six shocks, and if the frozen one was too far gone, no harm done. My review of shipping rates later changed that, and I wound up sending the two original rear shocks along with the two working shocks from the new front end. The biggest issue with all of this is that in the normal progression of front end disassembly, the shock absorber is most definitely NOT the first part you want to remove. This led to some... interesting... solutions to problems. So there I was, outside in my unheated garage on New Years Day, swearing happily away at the Heirloom Austin suspension. I don't have many photos of this, but I do have the process on video. The vids are broken down into two parts... Front and Rear. I'll do a step by step description in the Technical (tips and tricks) section of the website shortly. Until then... VIDEO HERE: Getting Our Shocks Off, Part 1 - REAR https://youtu.be/Y7oLBS-RiZg Getting Our Shocks Off, Part 2 - FRONT https://youtu.be/l7CYNYRbwkc
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AuthorMy name is Ash. Archives
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