Shock lever arm brass tags

I am trying to establish what shock links were used on saloons 39-47.
These links are fitted to front and rear P7 Luvax shock absorbers and appear to have a small brass disk attached with a metal pin to the face of the link. Others may have the code stamped directly into the link.
The code I refer I have noted below taken from the front of my 47 3 1/2 Mk IV and the rear of my 40SS.
If I can find some consistency I can conclude what is correct
47 Mk IV 3 1/2. Front 92 29 Y and 92 29 X
47 Mk IV 3 1/2. Rear will confirm today
40 SS 2 1/2. Front ?
40 SS 2 1/2. Rear will confirm today
If anyone gets the opportunity to be under their cars could you please note and post these numbers.
Thanks and regards, Graham

I’m not sure if this is any help. My SS 2.5 litre saloon has Luvax opposed piston dampers and many years ago I made the following drawing that shows the link arm lengths. I assume the 6.5" lever arms are on the fronts and the 7 3/8" are on the rear.

Peter

Hi Peter.
That is handy. I will measure mine today also.
My 40SS has
Off Side rear 92 26 Y
Near Side rear 92 26 X
I made a mistake above in that these tags and stamping are on the shock lever arm and not the link.
Regards, Graham.

Hi Graham,

I’m currently away from home but I have no memory of ever coming across the tags that you have found. Having said that, it’s more than 20 years since I had my shock absorbers reconditioned.

Regards,

Peter

My Luvax vane Type have/had breads tags on the arms which mostly won’t mean much as only the 37 saloon has its originals,
Oh the good old days , in 1974 I went to a wreckers south London and they had NOS 4 bolt Ss100 type Luvax for gbp 4:50 ea. I bought the lot
I was a bit pissed off later when I gave Brysons a set for their SS100, and they lost them,
The numbers stamped on the shocker bodies are more relate to … CW and ACW for direction of rotation for rebound.

What a coincidence. Just on Friday I removed my '38 Luvax vane type rears and yesterday I sandblasted them. Looked like they’ve been on there 80 years. Were painted black all over. Funny the mad painter of pale green didn’t get to them as he did the rear brake rods.
They have the brass discs as well as a lot of other stamped numbers.
The brass discs have 92-14X and 92-14Y.
I made notes on these numbers so I would know which side the shocks came from.

I also stamped alignment punch marks so I could put the lever arms back as they were. But one I could not get off. Tried penetrating oil and a lot of hammering on the arm, even a little bit of propane torch but I did not want to burn the rubber under it. May have to buy a special 2 jaw gear puller to get it off. There are flats on the underside of the arms for doing that.

Thanks Rob. That is one mean spline.
92 seems to be the assigned number for SS and Jaguar.
Other numbers I don’t know what they represent.
Anyone else able to check their cars?
Regards, Graham.

Now that I see the location of the tags I probably do have them but ignored them. The shock absorber restorer painted mine in primer and I just never took note of them. I only have one photo showing them with me and the tag’s not readable but I’ll take look when I’m back home in a weeks time.

Peter

Rob,

Can you advise exact caliper size and nominal spanner size of the plug hex, and indeed the other hexagon bolts and nuts.

Still trying to identify reason for the C178 and C305 box spanners, so never miss an opportunity.

Roger

They should be polished for concours entrants… I think.

Nope, mine had black on them, didn’t know the numbers were there until revealed by the sand blasting.
The other numbers are most likely date codes or inspectors marks or Luvax assemblers employee numbers. BTW Luvax was part of Lucas. I think the design originated as a Rotax Motor Accessories product but I was not able to confirm that.

10 splines like a clutch or driveshaft, since they are very stiff to move and have to take a lot of torque. They can be assembled 10 ways to fit different makes and models of cars, but the orientation of the filler plug and mounting bolts means SS needed lefts and rights, an avoidable complication.

Filler Plug hex is 45/64" for 3/8W-7/16BSF spanner.

Splined shaft slotted nut is 29/32" hex for a 1/2W-9/16BS spanner.

Link shaft nuts plain and slotted and attachment bolts and nuts 13/16" hex for a 7/16W-1/2BSF spanner.

But a curious thing concerning the heads of the bolts, they all have one flat ground off irregularly as if held to a grinding wheel and judging by hand and eye, making them roughly 3/4" across one pair of flats. I guess the idea was to get them on past the shock body, but it didn’t work, they won’t go through. The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a’gley.

So the workman on the SS Cars assembly line put them in the other way.

If you’re curious to know what’s inside, here’s from someone in Brisbane restoring a Studebaker.

Got it off with a 2 jaw gear puller, more penetrating oil and a bit more propane heat. Harbor Freight made in China puller slipped off the flats at first so I ground the jaw tips into sharp edges and then it worked.