Rear shock absorbers

[Forkie]

Fitted new rear shocks back in 2010 ish whilst off the road.. CW standards. Zero miles until last year when back on road, circa 300 miles since. Went under at weekend to check diff oil level. Noticed how bad the lower bushes are - cracked, split, a chunk waiting to come out from one of them. My alternatives - purchase same set/ purchase his KYB set/ purchase his poly bush set, retaining same shocks. Shocks themselves seem ok, just the bushes that have failed. The KYB set does not state they are polybushed. Which option to go for? Also, same apllies to handbrake rubber boots, behind backplate - both renewed whilst off road - both now completely shot and perished. I know rubber goes bad after time, so i assume both are age related, as certainly not through useage!

[johnnydog]

I have found over the years that genuine (old stock) rubber parts far outlast remanufactured / replacement rubbers. Just as an example, a good number of years ago, I replaced some Triumph strut gaitors purely as I had stripped down each strut, although there was nothing wrong with the genuine original ones. I bought some remanufactured gaitors from a well known Triumph Stag supplier - they lasted barely 3 years before they totally fell apart and disintegrated. Luckily, I found some genuine / original strut gaitors, which are still on the car today. This also applies to more modern vehicles - I replaced the original exhaust hanger rubbers on my Vauxhall with new aftermarket replacements when I replaced the exhaust - two years later they had split and torn, and I was 'beckoned' by the MOT man to point out they were in dire need of replacement! Fortunately, I'd kept the original GM rubbers, as there was nothing wrong with them, and they were refitted and are still going strong today - some 20+ years after they were made!
I'm not saying all replacement rubber parts are of a poor standard - I would always try to get original items or even old stock that were supplied with original shock absorbers at the time, rather than more modern replacements.
In short, I always try to fit original rubber parts as I know they will last as intended.
As an example, you only have to look at some of the poor quality replacement Triumph door rubbers that are available.....
Just my experience of aftermarket rubbers, that's all Nige!

[Forkie]

I think it is across the board these days with parts in general. I have heard of wheel bearings failing 2 weeks after replacement, ' Bosch' spark plugs failing within an hour of being fitted !!! ( neither of these on Triumphs i must add) . What is going on. Well i agree with rubber parts for sure. I think i will have to go the Polybush route, as i am not lucky enough to have any NOS and as mine seem fairly bad i don't really want to sit and wait for any to pop up for sale. Most of the car is Polybushed now anyway, and i don't really see the point of any new sets of shocks/ bushes that are in rubber, as things will just repeat themselves again!!!

[johnfrancis898]

I have fitted all new rubber bushes to my front suspension & steering and I used the standard poly bushes from CW. I will be doing the rear trailing arm ones next. I must say that it was only one bush that was badly worn, the rest were in reasonable condition considering they were 47 years old!

[Forkie]

I would of replaced everything with rubber, if i had genuine n.o.s. ,as early doors when i first realised everything on mine was shot, i picked up vibes that the new replacements were not the best.... ive gone right through from nose to tail and replaced literally everything with the suspension and drive train with Poly for that reason. The only rubber i have now are top mounts on the front struts, as i was lucky enough to find a pair of n.o.s., a CW Gearbox mount - not a lot of options for that by what i could see - the engine mountings which amazingly are original but appear fine, and the now shot handbrake boots and rear shock mounts - which obviously came with the new shocks at the time !! My brother in law has a Sprint, and he had a new spacer fitted for where the carbs mount to the manifold....it lasted all of 3 MILES before the car started misbehaving, cutting out....openning the bonnet saw the carbs leaning over....the rubber section was simply peeling away from it's backplate.
Its just shocking quality today. I do hope you have better luck with your rubber fittings .

[johnnydog]

If you ever go to autojumbles, it's worth remembering that original Stanpart items were also sold by other companies packaging genuine Stanpart in their own boxes. Quinton Hazell and Moprod are just two that come to mind. A few years ago, whilst at an Autojumble I saw a Moprod box with a label stating Triumph 2000 gearbox mounting. I ignored it initially, thinking it was an aftermatket product, but then curiosity got the better of me and I went back and found it was actually a Metalastik mounting as supplied by Triumph. At £15 it was a steal; even better when he said he had two more and I could have all 3 for £40! I've bought Stanpart engine mountings in QH boxes, Avon / Metalastik subframe bushes in 3rd party suppliers boxes to name a few.
So it's worth bearing this in mind when rummaging..!!

[Forkie]

Hi John,
Oh yes i do always look when i do go, but as always, being down here ' at the end of the country' spares are somewhat in limited supply - a lot different here than say in the Midlands - surrounded by many other counties !!!!
May i hijack my own post - as you seem to know your stuff with this marque - and have plenty yourself - i believe my car is a fairly rare, shall we say unmolested example - previous demonstrator when new, brought at 18 months old from the chap i brought it from in 2006 - he had it for 29 years - so not sure if that makes me the second, or third owner- but in any case its not had multiple owners, all attempting different levels of repair. Never been fully restored, i am in firm belief that all its panels are original, but has had some small localised repairs. My question is - the underside of the bonnet is matt black - so a very neat job, from the inner face of the strengthening framework, in a complete 'square'. Is this factory, or not?? I dont recall seeing this on any car advertised, even if the ad says ' original' car. I am just curious. Every car i look at with the bonnet open, the underside of the bonnet is either body colour, or rust colour

[Forkie]

Even now, reminding myself there are quite a few on Ebay at the minute - quite a rare thing in itself ( no Estates though!) - from a resto project, to an 11k from new ( if believed) to a PI thats had panels, allegedly, thats carrying mostly original paint, apparently, to a fully restored Saffron, all of which, show body colour on the underside of the bonnet.... i cannot believe i had not noticed this before

[johnnydog]

All that glitters isn't gold Nige - especially where that Saffron PI is concerned - or so I've been told
The red PI is owned by a father / son who used to regularly frequent on here, who have done an in depth restoration of a Valencia Mk2 PI to a high standard that was fully detailed on this forum several years ago, and is now owned by a fellow Register member from Suffolk; they also have completed a thorough restoration of a white Mk1 PI which appears to be an exceptional job (one car I certainly wouldn't mind owning!!).
I know they had a few PI's and interests in other classics but I'm sure they would assist any prospective purchaser with all the relevant info about the true state of the red one - interested Nige?
As far as I know, the Triumphs all came with body colour bonnet undersides - dealers often applied their own underseal purchased as an extra I believe by any new owner which sometimes included the underside of the bonnet. They were often, as an alternative, Ziebarted which included every known bit of body colour in the engine bay!
Then of course PI's had the black fibre type 'insulation' (for want of a better word..!) under the bonnet held in place by metal rods that clipped into the under bonnet bracings, which in a photo both of these may appear 'black' in colour?

[Forkie]

Mmmm, interesting. Oh i do realise not all that glitters is not gold i did notice on the Honesuckle car one or two bits that seemed a little suspect, shall i say...
Back to the matt black under bonnet - your view i find interesting. The reason i ask is much the same as the initial post - i always assumed mine was as factory - but the penny has only recently dropped with NOT noticing it on any other car, although i may well of not paid attention until now !!! Do any of your original cars have it? It is a really neat job done of it as i mentioned. If i can work it out i will post a pic!!! I do wonder if it was something that the Norwich dealership did at the time, being a demonstrator, to ' bling it up'? The only other areas under the bonnet with the same protection is up to and including the tops of the main chassis rails - after that mine is all body colour.
As to ' fancy the red one ' - yes, i do, but i struggle to find the time for one of these !!!! I would at some point like to at least try a manual model, i will admit.