Hi Peter.
Many thanks for your message.
I think you misread my last post. I said that after topping it up, I went for a ten mile drive. This morning, I checked it and it was dry and the level is still at the threads from when I topped it up. I didn’t say it was empty again. Saying it was dry meant that it was dry on the outside, not the inside.
I said was when I purchased the car, the steering box, shock absorbers and the idler were all empty, there was no grease in the ball joints and very little in the king pins. When the car was stripped for a rebuild, nothing was topped up again. I don’t think that car had seen a grease gun in decades.
This is the first Austin I have had since my A60 in 1981. From memory, that was fairly heavy but I cannot remember if it was as heavy, or more heavy, than my Somerset. I know that it is heavier than my friend’s A55 mark one but it is lighter than another friend’s A50. They seem to vary immensely. I do know that it is a thousand times heavier than a 1937 Packard 120! The A55 mark one is now on it’s third set of king pins, the first replacement set being fitted when the car was four years old, so to still have the original set on your car, I consider you to be very fortunate.
As for the Austin Healey, I know nothing about them, other than they are very expensive!
I did, at one point, consider having electric power steering fitted to the Somerset but because of the column gearchange, it is not an easy option. As I mentioned previously, I don’t know if the steering is supposed to self-centre after manoeuvres
Thanks again for your help and advice
Warmest regards and best wishes.
Robin
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