mystery trunnions

[marcusthemoose]

i bought these a little while ago with a job lot of marina parts. found them in the garage the other day while digging out other bits and pieces

i dont think they are marina, but they are BL (according to the boxes)

it would be helpful if anyone knows what they are, i have 5 of them!

[MarinaCoupe]

Is there a part number on the boxes? They are not Morris Minor.


Chris
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[marcusthemoose]

there may be, unfortunately they are in my parents garage, so i cant look now for a little while. i know they arent minor as i have one of those aswell as my marina!

i'll look for the part number next time i have them out

[JoshWard]

They are Marina ones. These are the revised ones produced by BL in 1971 shortly after launch. The original Marina trunnions had the swivel pin hole halfway up the body the same as Minor ones. BL issued these revised trunnions to bring in more negative camber to improve the handling on early 1.8s. They were then redesigned again in late 1971 when the shock absorbers and front uprights were redesigned.

They were presumably only produced for a very short time but they seem relatively common. I have never compared one with a standard later trunnion but I should imagine they will do the same job if you can get them onto a later leg OK.

[marcusthemoose]

mystery solved then!

i have a pair of marina uprights loitering in the garage so i'll see if they fit- i suppose they'd be alright on my 1.3 deluxe then?

[MarinaCoupe]

They will help to give that "lovely" early suicide suspension feel as you go straight on at the first sharp corner, the reason that they were changed in the first place. The geometry is different from later trunnions, if you compare them side by side.



Chris
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[JoshWard]

No Chris, these are the revised ones which BL said would be fitted to all 1.8s after the press complained about the handling (of course they weren't!). The 'suicide suspension' ones had the swivel pin half way up the body, the same position as the Morris Minor had them in.



And before anybody asks the Minor ones aren't the same as early Marina ones, Marinas had a beefier bore and thread.

I have never compared these revised ones with a later trunnion but I suspect the geometry is the same, although as I said before I am not sure they will fit on later suspension legs. Only one way to try!

[Kilroy]

The underlying problem with trunnions is that they only have 1 grease nipple.

Depending on whether your horizontal pin bushes are more worn than your upright thread or vice versa - the grease will take the easiest path - so one or the other is going to miss out on being lubricated.

Only way to lubricate the trunnion properly is to remove it - fill it with grease - then reassemble it and force grease in every direction.

Don't ask me how I know...