original hydro???

[cheesebadger]

Hi,

I have recently been stripping down my 65 SDL
There are lot of mk2 items fitted; so I am trying to find out how original this car is...

First question, hydro...
It is fitted with front shock absorbers, so I am wondering whether the top arms are hydro units? Is there anything I can check?




Also, where to upper mounting attaches to the body work. The lower fixings are simply holes drilled in the inner wing. Whereas the upper fixings are actually into threaded and inbuilt into the inner wing. Were all shells like this, or does this mean it isn't a "wet" shell?




Any help or advice appreciated,
Thanks, Rich

[Spider]

The Arm looks to be a Dry one. Best way to check is to measure from the Ball Joint (taper) Hole to the Centre of the Knuckle Joint drilling. The Wet Ones (from the edge of the taperered hole to the centre of the knuckle joint (measure on the back) is 5.100" and Dry ones are 5.250".





In regards to the shocker mounts, I don't know what they did in the UK, but all shells made out this way (Aust) had the threaded plates fitted top and bottom.

[cheesebadger]

Wow, what a reply, thank you very much!!!

I will get measuring tomorrow.

Interesting about the threaded plates on all your shells, only my top threaded plates are welded to the chassis; the bottoms are loose/floating.
Maybe I should weld the bottom threaded plate onto the inner wing, like the top one???

[Spider]

I have a recollection that there's been a discussion on this forum re: shocker mounts. Do a search.

But if you're not looking to do a period restoration, then weld a plate in, drill (using the mount as a guide) and tap 1/4" UNF. It will make life so much easier on assembly, or more so if later disassembly is needed.

[cheesebadger]

Thanks for all the replies, I managed to find some extra part numbers whilst cleaning the arms up this morning...

21A 1480 and 21A 1483. These are only one number away from those listed on a number of mini parts suppliers as hydro top arms; and I have read before that the casting numbers were normally 1 digit higher than the part numbers (not sure where I read that!)
So that definitely points towards these being hydro top arms...

As suggested by Spider, I got my verniers out this morning as well. At first I wasn't sure how to measure that accurately to the middle of the knuckle joint drilling from the back? Then, as I was cleaning them up, I noticed a small indent. Winner!
These came in at 130.0xmm. This measurement was much closer to the 5.100" (129.5mm) WET measurements than the 5.250" (133.4mm) DRY measurements.
So I am happy that these are hydro top arms.

Thanks for all the help!
Back to the garage!!!

[Spider]

Good news on the Arms.

Just be wary when working from Casting Nos. Very few are Part Numbers, some are one or a few number off and others have no resemblance.