John Vardanian wrote:Tom, when you say adjust the shocks, do you refer to the lever shocks. How do you adjust them. I know there is a twist screw there, but how do you know how it works in relationship to resistance? Thanks.
johnare you talking ab
Hi John,
I'm talking about the konis. When you take the shock out, you can fully compress them and engage the adjustment mechanism. There are only a few turns of adjustment, but it allows to go from soft to stiffer settings.
I seem to recall the only way to change the damping of lever shocks is to change the weight of the oil.
Tom: The Houdaille lever shocks have an adjusting pin on the end of the shaft. If it is not frozen, this contols a taper and a piece that looks like a pencil eraser that will vary the flow of the oil through the valves. Also, for those that care, the original fluid in the Houdailles was glycerin. You can still get it at drug stores. We adapted our shock dyno to be able to run the Houdailles and and when they are cleaned and have new glycerin in them, we can adjust them quite well.
Hi Dyke. Thanks. What does glycerine look like? I was checking the fluid in mine the other day and the stuff that came out looked opaque gray and rather thick like gear oil. Does this sound like glycerine or at least the viscosity of glycerine?
Also, about the pin, how does the pin tell you where you are in the range of adjustment. Thanks.
Will not correct Dyke , he is here almost the "state of art" next to Kare.
but the glycerine he adviced here is not quite correct.
I use in my houdaille`s wonderoil.
Wonder oil is an old medicine used in the past.
For people who has problems with defecation or to stimulate blow( pegnant women).
The origin of he name wonderoil leads to the product Castor oil a TRIgyceride.(has nothing to do with castroloilproducts)
see Wiki for castor oil.
so thats the reason you still can buy it at drugstores.
BTW I use it in my steeringboxes too. (that naughty Dutchman)
C.
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John: It sounds like your shocks may still have some of the original glycerin in them. New glycerin is a quite thick, clear liquid. When it gets old in the shocks, it turns a dirty gray color and loses its clarity. As for the adjusting pin, there should be a "stop pin" that limits the travel of the adjuster to one 360 degree circle of adjustmet. When we rebuild the shocks, we have to remove the "stop pin" and then disassemble the adjuster. When we reset the chocks, we get them in the right range and reinstall the pin.
Dyke wrote: "When it gets old in the shocks, it turns a dirty gray color and loses its clarity"
This is caused by the properties that glycerin is strongly hygroscopic......... like DOT 4
JohnV a oilchange here cannot harm.
A CHEMICAL produced alcohol. Used in all soaps.
I have openend Houdailles whow were strongly oxidized ( rust )
"Mine" wonderoil has better properties.
Its press out of Castor beans !
btw lives in sunny Carlifornia.
Castor oil is one of the world's most versatile NATURAL products. Its has good water resistant qualities .
Thanks Cornelis.
Thnks Dyke. Sorry, I still don't understand how to tell where the shock is in the adjusment range. I guess when I see you at Laguna next August we'll talk about this.
John: Here is a photo of a Houdaille on our Maserati A6G/54. You can see the adjusting screw and arm and the stop screw that allows only one revolution of the adjusting screw.[attachment=0]1-Houdaille.JPG
Hi Dyke, thank you very much for the photo. This is what I have too. So, from the stop pin, you can go one full revolution clockwise or one full revolution counterclockwise.
Okay, just one more question... would you know which way does what? Thanks again.
OK Maserati A6G/54, I want that. About the only car I really want is a Maserati A6G...is that balls of fun to drive or not really. (Not really would be good since I can then not want a million dollar car, but I have heard otherwise.)
Ex - 1964 330GT #6097
1963 Abarth Monomille
1970 Porsche 911S
1974 BMW 2002turbo
John: "IN" is stiffer. It is a taper like a carb needle and seat, so screwing the taper into the seat closes off the passageway and restricts the fluid movement.
Yale: A6G/54's have great engines, very smooth, but still only a two liter. handling is "vintage" with a pretty rough ride by today's standards. Maserati claimed synchromesh, but by now usually very little present, but still a very useable gearbox. Best for highway touring.
three types of fluid has been used by Houdaille
Smell is the best way to detect diff. stuff
If the fluid has an alcohol order is glycerine base, if oily odor its petroleum base.
If vegetable oil odor its my wonder oil ( castor)
the last two must be washed out by kerosine !
the first -Dyke's - has to been clean with water .
thats why glycerin base created rust (hygroscopic) not mine favorite.
The only problem with the right material filled reservoirs is LEAKING only replacement of the seals is enough in mine exp.
the level to fill up is ,till the bottom is the refill cap in horizontal -on car- position so about 10-15% is empty
wenn empty refilling permanent movement of the lever is a must ,to get the air out of the chambers.
