4 replies to this topic

[All-agroA+]

over the last few years since my maxi has been recommissioned from a 15+ year sleep previous to my owning, im having more and more issue with its stance and ride hight.

 

 

when the suspension is inflated to its proper hight the rear of the car is so high that when driving its like im constantly going down hill.

 

this leads me to think the trim bars that haul its ass down to the correct height are now rather weak and if i try and drill holes for them lower down to sit in to put more tension on them, they're going to give up completely i feel.

 

So my idea is simple to start with, individualise the Hydragas displacers......

 

i've heard this done with metros but does anyone think it might be a solution for a Maxi?

 

it should work ok for the front, but when it comes to the back then thats where i may get problems.... as im going to have to use a much lower pressure to get the right hight, and not having the right preload on the rear due to weak trim bars..... am i going end up with a very squishy back end?

 

anyone played with this sort of thing? 

[cradley-heathen]

hello to you again! still waiting to see pics of your machines!

 

anyway, i have got a metro with individualised suspension and it has trasformed the way it drives. as regarding your pressures you can remove material from the end of the displacers or rods or whatever the maxi has that goes between the end of teh displacer and the knuckles.

 

by removing material, the car sits lower at the original pressure. by removing more material you can run more pressure and still keep it lower.

 

it takes a bit of fiddling with but after months of tweeking im very happy with mine now. if you have a hydrolastic pump (which i assume you do with the cars you have) you can tweek to your hearts content. if you dont have a pump, i can hire you mine!

[All-agroA+]

Yeah im working on how to upload them.think ill have to sign up for photo bucket or something similar. Did you find that the pressures were different when individualised to when they were interconnected? And I believe you'd have helper springs cut down and droop stops too? Im betting now that the gas part will be low on pressure now on my displacers and with extra fluid pressure they may not last.ive tryed welding valves to some spares but cant get a good enough weld to seal them.

[All-agroA+]

I do have a pump. The connector broke so im converting the cars to use air con shraeder valves as I have several low loss connectors for them. At least ill have something that doesn't spray me with fluid every time I connect it. If the hydragas gives up completely I think the next best thing for the maxi atleast would be air bags or similar.

[cradley-heathen]

the helper springs didnt need shortening on my car.

 

i kept the pressure the same on the two front corners, and the two rear corners the same and adjusted the length of the rods/displacer ends to get the ride height correct.

 

as for droop stops, i didnt fit any taller ones on the back as some people do, sure when you jack it up the arms do drop q long way (only the same distance as standard though obviously) but the rods dont fall out (how they can on the back of a mini when the hi-los are wound right down) as the displacers keep it all together

 

i was worried the displacers might pop when pumped up harder, but they have held up so far!

 

i had originally thought about making some major mods to swap it all to coilovers, but it works great as it is now, and im more than happy with it.