12 replies to this topic

[liam_italian]

Ei up peep

Im really interested in learning more about hydroelastic suspension, ive done a search but didn't really find much out about it! want to know things like when was it phased out, are parts still available new? how do you put it up etc? Any info will be greatly appreciated

Many thanks

Liam

[Teapot]

There's a huge list of sites about hydrolastic in general on Google, so is there something special you need to know from the forum?

[Gr4h4m]

Ei up peep

Im really interested in learning more about hydroelastic suspension, ive done a search but didn't really find much out about it! want to know things like when was it phased out, are parts still available new? how do you put it up etc? Any info will be greatly appreciated

Many thanks

Liam

Liam, My car is running Hydro. Some parts are available new... I think SC parts and Somerfords can still supply them. you can get hydro pumps from Ebay but they are about £2-300 there are some crazy DIY pump designs that people have made on the Web.

The parts are very expensive which is why they fetch good money second-hand on Ebay...

[Mini Mad Rich]

It was absolute poo in my mates metro until he crashed it lol, every time we went round a corner the back end would rub on the tyres lol.
He was such a bad driver then and even worse now!

So yeah its too soft for my liking, if you want comfort over bumps, pot holes etc then yes go for it but if it's handling then no way.

Hope that helps

Rich

[taffy1967]

If your after comfort with a slight effect on the handling/body roll then i'm told the Moulton Smootharide System is probably the best thing you could fit to a newer rubber mounted Mini.

The kit is sold by Mini Sport (it's on their website) and comprises special Smootharide Rubber Springs, adjusta-ride adjustable suspension and standard dampers (I believe?).

The last Minis to get fitted with Hydrolastic were the Mini Clubman Saloon, Mini 1275GT and MKIII Mini Cooper S. After the Cooper S was axed in July 1971 all Minis got fitted with (dry suspension) rubber springs instead. The fact that Hydrolastic wasn't used on the MKIII Mini 850 and Mini 1000, which were launched in late 1969 and they got dry suspension probably meant Hydrolastic was on the way out.

Mini Mail also sells reconditioned Hydrolastic Displacer units but their very expensive and the Metro always used Hydragas, which is similar to Hydrolastic.

[liam_italian]

Cheers for the replies so far! Can anyone point me in the direction of some diagrams etc about it?

cheers

[Dan]

It was absolute poo in my mates metro

Metro uses Hydragas suspension (invented for the Allegro originally I think), Mini uses Hydrolastic. The two are similar in general but very different in detail. As the names suggest the Metro system uses a big gas spring as the main road spring while the Mini uses a rubber cone spring inside the displacer that is similar to the normal rubber spring. This makes the Mini system much more rigid and less supple than the Metro system, gas springs are just too squishy. As for handling, Hydrolastic was thought to be the best handling of all Minis by many people and hated by others. Handling is a very vague and personal thing.

The diagram in Mini Mag last month was a Hydragas displacer and not a Hydrolastic one. Typical Mini Mag error.

[THE ANORAK]

hope this photo of the layout is of some use, you can just see the pipes that connect the units.



hydro was introduced in September 1964 on mini saloons.
estates, vans, pick-ups and mokes never had hydro.

discontinued on round nose saloons in august 1969, but mini coopers and clubman saloons had hydro till 1971

[minivanman]

so where do the front subby tower bolts go if the hydrolastic pipes come up there? or are they routed differntly on the car?

[taffy1967]

As for handling, Hydrolastic was thought to be the best handling of all Minis by many people and hated by others.

But there was much room for improvement with the handling on Hydrolastic Minis and a good mod was to fit competition bump stops and standard dampers to the front only.

so where do the front subby tower bolts go if the hydrolastic pipes come up there? or are they routed differntly on the car?

The Hydrolastic front subframe, much like the dry pre 1976 non rubber mounted variety had 2 smaller subframe tower bolts that were secured each side of the hose. As opposed to the 1 larger tower bolt that got introduced from 1976.

For dry examples, the advantage was that if you fitted Hi-Lo's you could then adjust the Hi-Lo units without having to remove the wheels, because you just put a long hexagonal bar down the hole and adjusted away until you got the ride height just right. The same could be done on the rears too, but holes had to be drilled through each side of the rear valance.

Edited by taffy1967, 21 March 2007 - 01:50 AM.

[taffy1967]

Cheers for the replies so far! Can anyone point me in the direction of some diagrams etc about it?

cheers

What for Hydrolastic Suspension or the Moulton Smotharide System?

Well this is what I found on Hydrolastic myself: -

Edited by taffy1967, 21 March 2007 - 01:59 AM.

[liam_italian]

Cheers guys, as ever you've all come up with the goods!

[taffy1967]

But to be honest until they start re-manufacturing the Hydrolastic Displacer Units (if ever?), I'd never consider kitting out a Mini with Hydrolastic Suspension unless it was a 1964-1971 model and I wanted to restore it to it's original spec.

Even then you can generally only get reconditioned units, so that would mean the car is just a show car and probably not reliable enough to use heavily. For a start a member of the Mini Cooper Register is converting his late 1960's Mini Cooper to dry suspension, because he's had too many displacers fail whilst taking part in "The Italian Job" charity run in Italy.

So if greater comfort was required, then I'd fit this instead: -




Moulton Smootha Ride Suspension Kit Link