Lagonda Rapiers

3 minute(s) of a 484 minute read

While waiting for the Rapier's brake shoes to be relined I thought that I should look at the rubber bushes at each end of the front shock absorbers (dampers). I certainly have not replaced these in the time that I have owned the car and looking at them it is possible that they have never been replaced in the past 80+ years.

Who was it that said that you cannot teach old dogs new tricks?
Well! I can tell you that they were 100% wrong. I am currently anong other things replacing the rubber bushes in the front Hartford (Friction) shock absorbers.
Now another trite saying is about assuming that I am sure you all know but it is worth repeating. To assume is to make an ASS out of you (U) and ME!
Putting all that aside I now know that for the particular model damper fitted to the Rapier does not use the "Silent Rubber" type bush with both a inner and outer steel tube. In fact they require a plain rubber bush with a separate steel inner tube pressed into the round ends of each arm. This is where the trap for young players is craftily concealed. What appears as being the outer steel tube in fact is a structural part of the arm and must not be removed. If this is done that end of the arm is considerably weakened.
Looking at them it appears to the uneducated eye that these are the "silent-rubber" type bush with the rubber insert bonded to both the inner and outer steel tube.
However as I have just learnt the outer steel tube is in fact a structural part of the arm and cannot be removed. Graham Brown of Vintage and Classic Shock Absorbers in England
(www.vintageandclassicshockabsorbers.co.uk) alerted me to the fact that any attempt to remove what appears to be the outer tube would be fatal. Considerably weakening the arm.

11-14-2018

Unfortunately I am not a patient person by nature and sitting twiddling my thumbs is not something that I do very well. Meanwhile I have the car up on jack-stands with all four wheels and brakes off so it is firmly stuck in the middle of my little garage. Add to this the two front shock absorbers and my 'spare' gearbox in what looks like a million pieces on the bench. The more I think about it, the more I feel that I would be better served rebuilding the 'close ratio' gearbox which is still in the car. This will involve some extra work as I will need to replace the needle roller bearings in the planet gears for first and second gears. But the alternative is to wait  until we return later in the comming year to change over the gearbox (again) which does not sound very logical to me. Having said that I would sooner not start taking the "box" out of the car and pulling it apart until I have sorted out the current list of jobs to be done. I do have a set of  new, old material, bands I can use to rebuild the "spare" box and so clear that off the bench.