David, I bought my car from Weston, but judging by the paper work it spent most of it's life in South Wales .I imagine that explains the generous amount of rust on the suspension. Fortunately the body is in pretty good shape, other than a horrendous number of stone chips on the front bumper. (Which I am hoping to take care of this summer)
Maybe we can make a deal to get those out of your shed, but I'm not sure if we should get Mark to put them in his luggage.
The X-Ray machine at the airport may get him into hot water!
I will PM you to talk about price.
I think the top stud of the shock is shaped that way because they have always been that way.
I agree, a hex would be a very smart evolution.
I have a special wrench that works very well on the shock studs, (Much better than a standard 7mm wrench) although of course if someone has used mole grips on them previously you are in trouble. Unfortunately my daughter has my good camera at school today, and daughter #2 let the battery run out on the backup camera so it will be a couple of hours till I can get a pic of the wrench for this thread.
OK, camera chartged...Here's what I have found is the best wrench for the top of the shock. It is a Snap-On B1351A 3/16-1/4" brake wrench. The jaws are very thick and get a good grip on the shock stud. The wrench is also much longer than a standard 7mm, at over 20cm, giving very good leverage. Along with a ratcheting box end wrench it makes short work of removing the upper end of the shock.