1968 Mk 2 Cooper S

[herring_s]

I am in the process of putting back the hydrolastic suspension on my Mk 2 Cooper S for which I have all of the parts. I have been told that the hydrolastic displacers cannot be checked before being fitted - does anyone know if this is true or if there is in fact a way of testing them ?

[guru_1071]

easy.

screw a valve into the end. pump it up to about 100 odd psi.

check the big end for splits etc.

check the end with the pipe for de-laminiations.

check the pipe for splits, cuts and abrasions.

leave it pressured overnight, then compare the psi to make sure it hasnt dropped (it may drop a little due to trapped air.

pump it up to 200 psi.

repeat above, but dont leave overnight (about 10 min should do it)

if posh, make a small test rig with a sping in it so you can 'pre-load' the displacer.

then you can leave it at 200 - 250 psi overnight.

any bad ones will look nasty at the 'big end' once presurised, i once had one blow the entire pipe clean out by its root. which was a surprise!

hydro

[love machine]

Bung it on and pump it up, I blew mine up from a nitrogen cylinder and one burst. I went dry as quite frankly, unless you are obsessed with originality or non-tarmac rallying, they are poor relative to dry suspension.

[vuv716g]

'obsessed with originality' - that's me. Thanks to both of you. SDH