this was my job on the track when I worked at Rover in Longbridge. Cab 1 track 2. Fortnight about two weeks nights, two weeks days shift. And my job was working underneath the track pumping up the hydro gas suspension. At its height we were building 50 cars per hour. Takes me back years. Then I moved into the sick, relief position covering any track workers who phoned in sick. One day I’d be, fitting door locks, the next dashboards, then it would be any job. Fitting the seats, steering racks, sun visors you name it I did every job on the mini and metro track as both models were built on the same track. My claim to fame, I fitted the steering rack to last production Mini which was a metallic blue Cooper if my memory serves me well???. Not long after I took my voluntary redundancy of £6,500 when BMW pulled out. Looking back it was a wise choice on my behalf, because 5 years later Rover went bust. As a Longbridge local it was a massive blow to the local area. Drive through Longbridge now you wouldn’t even know a car factory used to be there. It’s a massive retail park now, called Longbridge retail park. Although as you drive in there’s one street sign that Says “the track was your manager” which was true. You started when the track started and finished when it stopped, unless your shift counterpart would take over 5 mins before your shift ended so you didn’t have to queue at the clock out machine, and you’d repay the favour when you came in for your shift. My Rover employee number was 151890. Still remember my number to this day🙂
Hi TC, it's so refreshing to find a UA-cam channel that's not stuffed with loud music and flashy graphics. Please don't be tempted to go down that route because they're just not necessary.
Being used to Citroen hydropneumatic suspension and it's maintenance, it's nice to learn how differently the British did it. Excellent presentation as always!
Just about to order one of these units from the UK to pump up my 3 litre. Wanted to check this video again before I order. Gives me confidence to do the job myself. Thanks again Ed. Explained very well.
Hi Ed Notwithstanding the fact I’ve never owned a car with Hydragas suspension, I found this strangely fascinating on a stormy Sunday afternoon! Well done……. Mike
I’ve owned both a hydrolastic and a hyrdogas Maxi. I had a local garage that I used to get to pump mine up. I had a hyrdogas unit blow on me - that was fun. In 1988 when it went used units were rare as hens teeth but I got one and changed it in the street. Drove it round on the bump stops for refilling. Typical BL - when they switched suspension types the boot floor pressing remained the same but the valve was about 3/4” further forward so the pump didn’t fit without bending the floor up a bit. Great system.
Another great video . Well explained . Great piece of kit you’ve got . I remember when I was an apprentice in the 90s if we had an BL cars we used to borrow the old pump that looked about 50 years old back then 😂
Appreciate the video, very helpful- Restoring a 41yr old Mk1 Metro that looks pretty cool sat on the floor. Unlikely to get over a speed bump though! Read all the documentation, got all the kit, however it's good to see it in practice. I have the same kit as you and hydrolastic from Morris. Plan to do it today 🙌🏼
Another great video. It’s nice to see younger enthusiasts keeping interesting cars going. I have a ‘95 Cadillac Fleetwood and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. There’s something very satisfying about having a unique car as I’m sure you know. Melvin will be around for many years to come. Take care.
Ian, I decided to put turbo mufflers on the Cadillac. They have a nice mellow tone without the drone. I have had Flowmasters on other cars I have had in the past. I wanted something a little quieter on her.
Another great video, and I am glad that you got an excellent 2 - 1 Degree. I was friendly with the late and great Frank Carson who helped with my aviation promotional work. He said that 'performers' were helped if they had something the audience would remember them by. For example, comedian Jimmy Cricket (yes I am an old fart!) and his wellies. Well yours is your whole [professional and friendly demeaner and your distinctive glasses - you are instantly recognisable. So I hope that you can both pursue your qualifications and break into professional car review/testing/maintenance of classic cars. I know there are others at it on You Tube but your thorough research, friendly 'non cliched' delivery and clever editing set you apart. Well done and Bon Chance! Robert
Excellent presentation and explanation! The father-daughter team that are hydrogas suspension specialists have been featured on other channels. The nice part is that they come to you! So hopefully you will save up, Melvin deserves the best!
My 1989 Austin Metro had to order the same pump and hydro fluid to get my new displacer pumped up and worked a treat, the old displacer burst few months ago but took it out and put the new one in
you could bleed your filler hose in the reservoir before you connect to your system..but, i really love that system . I've never seen one in the US! I'd love to use it, my ebikes are a combination of air, fluid and spring suspensions and it's so configurable!! lovit!!
I bought a Liquid Levers Hydravac Suspension Pump over 30 years ago and has worked well all be it very expensive. I also have an original BMC garage unit in need of some work! The liquid levers are good at evacuating the system as you can end up with air and fluid if you just pump up all be it you can try and release a bit but can still end up with some air. Great video Ed and will give people confidence to do it themselves, well done.
Thanks Sean. You can avoid getting air in the system by bleeding it as I did, just as you would a cooling system or your central heating at home. It just requires care. I only started adding any fluid once I was secure in the knowledge that no air was coming out, only fluid.
This took me back to the 1980s when my Riley Kestrel was leaning heavily to one side before I took it in for a “pump-up”, thus avoiding a potential catastrophe!
Fairly sure a good pressure for close to factory ride height is between 300 and 350 psi. And pumping because it's sunk means you're replacing the gradually lost gas with more fluid - Eventually you'll have near solid suspension, and be risking puncturing the inner rubber diaphragm. At 450psi I'd be popping the units off and sending them for a regas. Not amazingly cheap, but less expensive than trying to source replacements - That'll need a regas anyway.
Fascinating. You made that look much easier than it sounds. May have been advantageous to wear gloves and put something to cover the floor but you did well at keeping the fluid in the system anyway. As you rightly pointed out it's much better to have correctly functional suspension than a low riding car.
@@TwinCam I tend to use the the thin latex type gloves for dexterity but I agree they do rip all too easily. I have a box full so plenty of replacements but if your hands are in any way clammy trying to put replacement gloves on is near impossible.
I remember my Dad's Princess 2200HLS. We loaded it up for a trip to France and it was so low that the rear tyres were rubbing inside the arches. We unloaded and my Dad went off to get it pumped up. It came back looking like a 4x4 but was ok again once full of luggage. Happy days.
Great video. Very useful as I own a hydragas car and didn't realise it was so relatively simple to do this. Might have to invest in a pump rather than pay the local mechanic.
It's really very easy! The pumps, as I said, are about £90 or so. The fluid is about £18 for 5 litres, which should last forever. I must have used less than 250ml while doing this video.
A job well done. I'm wondering if I made a mistake when I put hydraulic fluid in my 1977 Allegro? I had a constant problem with those shock absorbers, and I used a brake pump from Morris, with extra valves on the stand. Where did I go wrong? The car was very, very stiff, and the 'bombs' started leaking after a while, they leaked liquid. I used antifreeze, and added 200ml of 100% alcohol to the system. I had no one to learn from, I had to do it myself, because it was there were masters for English cars here in Macedonia, before the arrival of the new Mini.... There were only two or three Allegros in the whole of Macedonia, and about 10 Austin 1300s from 1972. I don't count the Minis, they didn't have hydrogas/hydrolastic, in fact very few them. Well, tell me where I went wrong, and how did those shock absorbers (10 of them) always shoot from the side? I pumped 35 cm from the central strafe on the joint, never from the ground. Thanks.
The nitrogen acts as the spring the fluid being incompressible connects the suspension to the hydrogas units , nitrogen is used in many applications as a spring or in accumulators , the British main battle tank uses a form of Hydrophumatic the working gas again being nitrogen , we often use nitrogen to charge brake accumulators on Routemaster buses , there is one Routemaster with full active hydraulic suspension using 12 Citroen spheres as well as two additional accumulators all charged with nitrogen. Excellent vid, so have a check out of uses of nitrogen as a spring, we even have a nitrogen spring in some hydraulic road breakers as well also look up Routemaster RM116 I think on my channel there is a little movie of the suspension lifting up on start up
Ed: An excellent description, explanation, and demonstration! You could be a successful teacher/trainer/instructor if you didn't perhaps have other occupational ambitions. And even though you admit to a bit of off-camera profanity (something that doesn't bother this profaner at all) I appreciate your on-camera 'clean' style. It makes a nice change from today's smart-arse, expletive-laden norm and shows what a true gentleman you are - without being a stuffy prick. Happy motoring in your elevated Melvin! PS: You mentioned how water in the system will ruin it. Anecdote: In the early '70s I had a rather battered Citroën DS19, and took it on a long drive (about twice the north-south length of Great Britain) into Australia's interior - about as far as it was possible to get from a Citroën mechanic. A suspension line failed and I consequently lost suspension, brakes, steering, and gear-changing assistance. After a 150-mile tow, I managed to get the broken line patched, if roughly, only to learn there was no way of obtaining more fluid. (Stupid here hadn't considered the need to carry some spare for emergency use, D'oh!) There wasn't even sufficient alternative such as brake fluid, so in desperation we replenished with, um, water! You can image what a fatal mess that made, but at least it got us home (just) before everything seized up. Given the small purchase price of the already-battered machine, I wrote it off - sold it to a Citroën spares dealer. Lesson learned - and my missus declared "No more funny French cars!"
I don't have the £600-odd required to get new, refurbished spheres. The way you can check the condition is to bounce the car. If it bounces easily, it's still healthy. If not, it needs regassing. Melvin's is okay for now.
@@TwinCam We use to get the spheres modified by having a schrader valve welded onto the sphere so the gas could be checked and topped up at any time. You would do well looking into this if you decide at some point that your suspension is too hard. Unless you have leaked fluid out the only reason for a drop in fluid pressure is a loss of gas. Keep up the good work 👍
Back in the 80s my parents were running a 1969 Mk2 mini with hydrolastic suspension which regularly needed pumping up; we drove it to a local enthusiast who had the kit and was happy to do it for a few quid. Unfortunately during one such mission, a pipe on the car burst with a massive bang and the car lurched down onto its bump stops on the driver's side. Sadly the bumpy drive home was its last trip, it was stripped for spares and then smashed up for charity at a village fete.
I have several 1100/1300's, and I also have an authentic BLMC hydrolastic pump, affectionally referred to as 'The Dalek'. If you don't have a compatible pump, then pumping these cars back up again can be a big issue, so I can see why Haynes manuals say to just go to the nearest dealer. Until I obtained 'The Dalek' for my own cars, I had to do just that whenever I needed to pump one of the cars up.
Hi Ed, I follow a channel called Old Classic Car. He has just done a vlog on French Cars. I am with you, I think the most beautiful classic car is the Citroen DS (in that lovely deep royal blue colour). If I could afford one and had the space that would be my classic car of choice. Also like the Citroen H van. Would make a fantastic classic camper.
Puis-je ajouter une traduction - au cas où il n'a pas compris? Ed, in case you couldn't fully understand, Yalo's saying, "Thanks to you I was able to pump up my MGF. Thanks to your valuable instructions, I was able to do it easily and very quickly."
Had 3 metros in the 1980s, fortunately I didn’t have problems with the suspension, have seen it done though, which until I had, I didn’t really understand it. Great post 👍🏻😎
Really interesting as always, Ed. A neat video indeed. I doubt I will ever own a car with Hydrogas suspension, but nice to know about the system anyway.
Hi, I bought a pressure pump for my 1969 Austin 1300. however after I had pumped up the suspension I washed the portable pressure tank with water which froze the pump handle. silly me! is it o k to not flush the tank? or what should one use for cleaning the pressure pump system.
I was only aware of Citroën using such a suspension, this system seems very serviceable! Also, I have come to look at shock absorbers or dampers (a better term IMHO) as a disposable item, other than top dollar Konis or similar which can be torn down and overhauled. The factory units on your Metro must be well engineered to survive like this.
It amuses me that people view pumping up Hydrolastic/Hydragas as a chore, yet don't seem to clock the failure rate of coil springs and shock absorbers!
Brilliant - the way you present these maintenance videos makes even someone as technically incompetent as me believe I could do the work without creating a minor disaster! 🤣🤣🚗🚗
I had an Ambassador which failed MOT on rear suspension mounts. The manual said I should depressurise the suspension to get them out. It then said that after fitting the new ones, I should drive very slowly to a dealer to have it repressurised. I managed to figure out a way to change the mounts without depressurising, using a bottle jack to push the suspension arms away from the chassis. The irony was that the old mounts had nothing wrong with them but just looked rough at the edges. The new ones did serious damage to my wallet.
Another interesting video,my 1981 metro need pumping up,, I also now know why the caps are difficult to undo,so new plastic ones are a good idea.looking forward to the next video.
Thanks Peter :) For an A-Series Metro, the valves are under the bonnet on the front displacers themselves, and the third is just in front of the nearside rear wheel, under the sill. Hope it all goes smoothly!
Does the Hydragas have less life than the normal car's spring? I want to buy the Rover 100 with Hydragas, but I wasn't really sure if there are parts available when the Hydragas go wrong like the Citroën.
Hi, great video, I have an actual hydro mastic pump I bought many’s ago for my Austin maxi and princesses. Before that I own Austin ambassador it was done at the time by Austin rover garage- dealership abs they riches the car on each side when they pumped bye suspension up to stabilise and Check the ride height . Regards mark
Great video, very informative 😎👍🏽 You should be on TV mate presenting your own show as its very professionally done 👍🏽 Love the VW Golf top too...I have spent 25 years driving VW Golfs from the Mk2 to the Mk7..wouldn’t be without one, 😄👍🏽 My Mk4 GT TDi 150BHP was the best out of all of them 🙂👍🏽🎉🎉
Great tutorial, is it necessary to have a pump with a vaccum function to get rid of any air in the Hydrolastic, or is only pumping required? My own car is a 1967 Wolseley Hornet that has been sitting for 30 years so is obviously very low at this point. I thought of attempting to pump it up for now and then deciding after if I need to get it taken to a professional.
You don’t need the vacuum function at all, but to get the air out, treat it like the radiators in your home! Once you’ve got some fluid in it, drain a little bit back out again. Repeat pumping and draining until there’s no more air in it 🙂
Nice informative video.. I could probably do with re gassing mine but they won’t look original anymore and it will do such little miles I will live with it.. plus the 20 year old metric tyres I won’t change
I put shocks on the front of hyro Minis and Metros. It especially stopped that bouncy bounce going around corners in Metros, fast. Bump stops too on Minis, to stop it front to back ducking and jumping.
@@TwinCam No shocks, but can add a pair at the front for motor sport. Had helper springs at rear,, to stop rear wheels dropping too low when the rear wheels were off the ground. Damping was done by a small valve hole inside each hydolastic unit, fluid damping, similar to oil in nomal dampers. Well, if I remember right.
In 2003 my 100 Kensington SE was pumped up at a Rover main dealer (it was about 8 years old at the time). 1 week later one of the Hydragas units blew out a seal and the suspension collapsed on one side (luckily wasn't going fast when it happened). £400 bill to repair, with the same dealer being the only place readily available to take it to. Was never sure whether it was a dodgy unit that couldn't take being pumped up or if they over pumped it to achieve the ride height when actually it needed regassing. Always worried about pumping Metro suspension up again after that. It does seem odd that Rover published no specs on the maximum pressure the system could take which might explain why this happened.
The pressure shouldn't make a displacer break unless it's already on the way out. The folk that race Metros lower the car by cutting the connecting rods, then pump the fluid half up much higher than the factory level to stiffen the damping further.
When I worked at a rover dealer ( doves of croydon) we had a little chart that gave you the height the car should be according to the ambient temperature
Excellent and informative video Ed, it does seem to be a simple process to carry out. So would this have been carried out every time it was serviced at Rover?
Thanks mate :) Had the car been serviced by Rover, they'd just check the ride height. If it was within 10mm either way of the 341mm, they'd have left it. If not, they'd pump it up/lower it!
We've got one those pumps at work, more complicated a setup (ie more commercial/ trade equipment) only used on first series MGF's and the very occasionally 100 series but now that these are getting few and far between its not been used it for years. Ours has two levels, one does the fluid but no idea what the other one does as never used it when doing a hydrogas top up.
Bleed it like you bleed your radiators at home. Simply fill it up, then drain it again and again until all the bubbles stop and the pressure is around 250 psi at vaguely the correct suspension height. Of course, refurbished suspension units will be required for proper performance as the gas will have drained out over the years.
I try to repair mine as my wheel arch gap front and rear it’s only about Half an inch Only to find that both my shrader valves don’t work I can take fluid out but they don’t pump up so new valves are on the way hopefully get my suspension pumped up but at the moment with a suspension lower all round It doesn’t half handle amazingly would love to leave it like this but it will harm the suspension, another great video as always twin cam👍
Thanks Gareth. With the suspension so low, it may have less roll as there is physically less travel, but the damping will be all over the place. Once it’s pumped up, it should handle even better! Just be careful to let it down and pump it up a few times just to make sure there’s no air in the system.
Hello. Maybe I'm a bit stupid but why are you using Hydrolastic fluid to pump up a Hydragas system? I have an ADO16 and this has confused me. Do both system use Hydrolastic fluid despite being different? Would the fluid you are using be ok for ADO16s? Many thanks.
Absolutely fascinating. I've always wanted to know how hydrogas suspension actually works. Can I ask, are those Yokohama A509 tyres? If so, what do you think of them?
Thanks Richard :) They are A539s, which I think replaced the A509s. They're bloody ace. Properly good tyres. Exceptional in the dry and just as good in the wet. I'll have a more rounded view of them in a video coming soon!
@@TwinCam Excellent. I am not quite yet needing tyres for Millie. But when she does need new boots, I want to get something better than the rubbish on now.
@@TwinCam Maxxis. They are reasonably good at everything, except wet handling. That is partly down to the K10 though. They don't have much front end grip on a wet surface.
@@TwinCam Maxxis MA-710. They're reasonably good in nearly all situations, except wet weather handling. The K10 is partly why. They have little front end grip on wet surfaces.
@@TwinCam Yes and I was interested in the site information. I'm on the lookout for a metro k series. Viewed one last week the suspension was low and seemed hard. Perhaps this was due to it being a gta model. At the end of this week/weekend I'm looking at a 1.1.
Okay. The K-Series Metro should have a suspension height of 321mm, measured from the centre of the hub to the bottom of the wheel arch. However, I don't know the measurements for other cars, and the website seems to be lost to history now.
I believe it’s hazardous, so absolutely don’t pour it down a drain. I’d expect your local tip to take it, but with the way they’re stopping taking certain items, just check with them first!
Anybody need a Churchill pump ( Darlex) I've got one but requires a little bit of attention. Has a new connect to pump up valve - cost quite a bit - about £80, 8 or so years ago. Nice little project.
this was my job on the track when I worked at Rover in Longbridge. Cab 1 track 2. Fortnight about two weeks nights, two weeks days shift. And my job was working underneath the track pumping up the hydro gas suspension. At its height we were building 50 cars per hour. Takes me back years. Then I moved into the sick, relief position covering any track workers who phoned in sick. One day I’d be, fitting door locks, the next dashboards, then it would be any job. Fitting the seats, steering racks, sun visors you name it I did every job on the mini and metro track as both models were built on the same track. My claim to fame, I fitted the steering rack to last production Mini which was a metallic blue Cooper if my memory serves me well???. Not long after I took my voluntary redundancy of £6,500 when BMW pulled out. Looking back it was a wise choice on my behalf, because 5 years later Rover went bust. As a Longbridge local it was a massive blow to the local area. Drive through Longbridge now you wouldn’t even know a car factory used to be there. It’s a massive retail park now, called Longbridge retail park. Although as you drive in there’s one street sign that Says “the track was your manager” which was true. You started when the track started and finished when it stopped, unless your shift counterpart would take over 5 mins before your shift ended so you didn’t have to queue at the clock out machine, and you’d repay the favour when you came in for your shift. My Rover employee number was 151890. Still remember my number to this day🙂
Hi TC, it's so refreshing to find a UA-cam channel that's not stuffed with loud music and flashy graphics. Please don't be tempted to go down that route because they're just not necessary.
Thanks mate
My late father built his own pump set up for my brothers early mg metro….worked a treat.
Dad was a very clever engineer/fabricator and welder.
Being used to Citroen hydropneumatic suspension and it's maintenance, it's nice to learn how differently the British did it. Excellent presentation as always!
Thanks mate :)
Yes, very interesting indeed.
I learned to drive and passed my test in a Rover Metro in 1993. Great to see your enthusiasm for a brilliant little car to drive. 👍
Thanks mate :)
Same here. A 1.4 GSI with BSM.
Just about to order one of these units from the UK to pump up my 3 litre. Wanted to check this video again before I order. Gives me confidence to do the job myself. Thanks again Ed. Explained very well.
Thanks very much for this great video. I've pumped up my parents' MGF with the same pump after watching your video. Done in less than 30 minutes.
Hi Ed
Notwithstanding the fact I’ve never owned a car with Hydragas suspension, I found this strangely fascinating on a stormy Sunday afternoon! Well done…….
Mike
Thanks as always Mike ☺️
I’ve owned both a hydrolastic and a hyrdogas Maxi.
I had a local garage that I used to get to pump mine up.
I had a hyrdogas unit blow on me - that was fun. In 1988 when it went used units were rare as hens teeth but I got one and changed it in the street. Drove it round on the bump stops for refilling.
Typical BL - when they switched suspension types the boot floor pressing remained the same but the valve was about 3/4” further forward so the pump didn’t fit without bending the floor up a bit.
Great system.
Another great video . Well explained . Great piece of kit you’ve got . I remember when I was an apprentice in the 90s if we had an BL cars we used to borrow the old pump that looked about 50 years old back then 😂
Thanks Martin
Appreciate the video, very helpful- Restoring a 41yr old Mk1 Metro that looks pretty cool sat on the floor. Unlikely to get over a speed bump though! Read all the documentation, got all the kit, however it's good to see it in practice. I have the same kit as you and hydrolastic from Morris. Plan to do it today 🙌🏼
Really god description of how this all works. Very good stuff, as usual. Thanks Ed.
Thanks as always mate ☺️
I remember having the dealer do this and the improvement in ride was amazing.
Another great video. It’s nice to see younger enthusiasts keeping interesting cars going.
I have a ‘95 Cadillac Fleetwood and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. There’s something very satisfying about having a unique car as I’m sure you know.
Melvin will be around for many years to come.
Take care.
Thanks Ryan ☺️
You are very welcome.
Cool, you got flowmaster 40s on her?
Ian, I decided to put turbo mufflers on the Cadillac.
They have a nice mellow tone without the drone.
I have had Flowmasters on other cars I have had in the past. I wanted something a little quieter on her.
Another great video, and I am glad that you got an excellent 2 - 1 Degree. I was friendly with the late and great Frank Carson who helped with my aviation promotional work. He said that 'performers' were helped if they had something the audience would remember them by. For example, comedian Jimmy Cricket (yes I am an old fart!) and his wellies. Well yours is your whole [professional and friendly demeaner and your distinctive glasses - you are instantly recognisable. So I hope that you can both pursue your qualifications and break into professional car review/testing/maintenance of classic cars. I know there are others at it on You Tube but your thorough research, friendly 'non cliched' delivery and clever editing set you apart. Well done and Bon Chance! Robert
Brilliantly explained, thank you. I have now purchased a similar pump to raise my Rover Metro. Cheers
Excellent presentation and explanation!
The father-daughter team that are hydrogas suspension specialists have been featured on other channels. The nice part is that they come to you!
So hopefully you will save up, Melvin deserves the best!
Thanks as usual mate :)
Not to embarrass at all, but they're husband and wife ;)
@@TwinCam I get confused. I thought someone said Father Daughter. Does not matter, they do excellent work!
I watched this being done over on Everything Retro and Beryl the Maxi. Very cool to watch Ed.
Excellent explanation and how-to video! I wasn't entirely sure how hydragas really worked. Thanks Ed.
Thanks Michael ☺️
My 1989 Austin Metro had to order the same pump and hydro fluid to get my new displacer pumped up and worked a treat, the old displacer burst few months ago but took it out and put the new one in
Thanks for the excellent explanation, I have the same pump, and trying to use it on my MGF soon. Well done!
you could bleed your filler hose in the reservoir before you connect to your system..but, i really love that system . I've never seen one in the US! I'd love to use it, my ebikes are a combination of air, fluid and spring suspensions and it's so configurable!! lovit!!
Great presentation skills. Your videos are exceptionally well made and narrated. Thanks most interesting.
I bought a Liquid Levers Hydravac Suspension Pump over 30 years ago and has worked well all be it very expensive. I also have an original BMC garage unit in need of some work! The liquid levers are good at evacuating the system as you can end up with air and fluid if you just pump up all be it you can try and release a bit but can still end up with some air. Great video Ed and will give people confidence to do it themselves, well done.
Thanks Sean.
You can avoid getting air in the system by bleeding it as I did, just as you would a cooling system or your central heating at home. It just requires care.
I only started adding any fluid once I was secure in the knowledge that no air was coming out, only fluid.
Love this little car mate, absolutely spotless, very informative video
Thanks Graeme :)
Great video and really interesting. I wish this system was still used on newer cars, why not it was totally brilliant.
Thanks Stu
This took me back to the 1980s when my Riley Kestrel was leaning heavily to one side before I took it in for a “pump-up”, thus avoiding a potential catastrophe!
Very helpful video and i understand more off this system now, thank you😀🇧🇻
Magic video thanks Ed. Right on point for me as I have recently purchased an Austin 3 litre. Rare car in Australia as they were not sold here.
Thanks Peter ☺️
ua-cam.com/video/hRUUBot33aw/v-deo.html
Hubnut did a video on the Austin 3 litre
@@plym1969 Thanks Phillip. Furious Driving did one too.
Fairly sure a good pressure for close to factory ride height is between 300 and 350 psi. And pumping because it's sunk means you're replacing the gradually lost gas with more fluid - Eventually you'll have near solid suspension, and be risking puncturing the inner rubber diaphragm.
At 450psi I'd be popping the units off and sending them for a regas. Not amazingly cheap, but less expensive than trying to source replacements - That'll need a regas anyway.
Fascinating.
You made that look much easier than it sounds.
May have been advantageous to wear gloves and put something to cover the floor but you did well at keeping the fluid in the system anyway.
As you rightly pointed out it's much better to have correctly functional suspension than a low riding car.
Thanks Mark ☺️
I hate wearing gloves while working on cars. They just rip or mean I can’t feel what I’m doing 🤣
@@TwinCam I tend to use the the thin latex type gloves for dexterity but I agree they do rip all too easily. I have a box full so plenty of replacements but if your hands are in any way clammy trying to put replacement gloves on is near impossible.
Published by this channel on my birthday :)
I remember my Dad's Princess 2200HLS. We loaded it up for a trip to France and it was so low that the rear tyres were rubbing inside the arches. We unloaded and my Dad went off to get it pumped up. It came back looking like a 4x4 but was ok again once full of luggage. Happy days.
I see in your future a larger garage with a lift to make your videos in. Another great watch. Thanks for your time and work and posting.......
Thanks as always Mike ☺️
Great video. Very useful as I own a hydragas car and didn't realise it was so relatively simple to do this. Might have to invest in a pump rather than pay the local mechanic.
It's really very easy! The pumps, as I said, are about £90 or so. The fluid is about £18 for 5 litres, which should last forever. I must have used less than 250ml while doing this video.
A job well done. I'm wondering if I made a mistake when I put hydraulic fluid in my 1977 Allegro? I had a constant problem with those shock absorbers, and I used a brake pump from Morris, with extra valves on the stand. Where did I go wrong? The car was very, very stiff, and the 'bombs' started leaking after a while, they leaked liquid. I used antifreeze, and added 200ml of 100% alcohol to the system. I had no one to learn from, I had to do it myself, because it was there were masters for English cars here in Macedonia, before the arrival of the new Mini.... There were only two or three Allegros in the whole of Macedonia, and about 10 Austin 1300s from 1972. I don't count the Minis, they didn't have hydrogas/hydrolastic, in fact very few them. Well, tell me where I went wrong, and how did those shock absorbers (10 of them) always shoot from the side? I pumped 35 cm from the central strafe on the joint, never from the ground. Thanks.
The nitrogen acts as the spring the fluid being incompressible connects the suspension to the hydrogas units , nitrogen is used in many applications as a spring or in accumulators , the British main battle tank uses a form of Hydrophumatic the working gas again being nitrogen , we often use nitrogen to charge brake accumulators on Routemaster buses , there is one Routemaster with full active hydraulic suspension using 12 Citroen spheres as well as two additional accumulators all charged with nitrogen.
Excellent vid, so have a check out of uses of nitrogen as a spring, we even have a nitrogen spring in some hydraulic road breakers as well also look up Routemaster RM116 I think on my channel there is a little movie of the suspension lifting up on start up
Ed: An excellent description, explanation, and demonstration! You could be a successful teacher/trainer/instructor if you didn't perhaps have other occupational ambitions.
And even though you admit to a bit of off-camera profanity (something that doesn't bother this profaner at all) I appreciate your on-camera 'clean' style. It makes a nice change from today's smart-arse, expletive-laden norm and shows what a true gentleman you are - without being a stuffy prick.
Happy motoring in your elevated Melvin!
PS: You mentioned how water in the system will ruin it. Anecdote:
In the early '70s I had a rather battered Citroën DS19, and took it on a long drive (about twice the north-south length of Great Britain) into Australia's interior - about as far as it was possible to get from a Citroën mechanic.
A suspension line failed and I consequently lost suspension, brakes, steering, and gear-changing assistance. After a 150-mile tow, I managed to get the broken line patched, if roughly, only to learn there was no way of obtaining more fluid. (Stupid here hadn't considered the need to carry some spare for emergency use, D'oh!) There wasn't even sufficient alternative such as brake fluid, so in desperation we replenished with, um, water! You can image what a fatal mess that made, but at least it got us home (just) before everything seized up.
Given the small purchase price of the already-battered machine, I wrote it off - sold it to a Citroën spares dealer. Lesson learned - and my missus declared "No more funny French cars!"
Thanks as always! ☺️
Another good video. Only thing I would say is get your gas checked and re pressurised before adding the fluid
I don't have the £600-odd required to get new, refurbished spheres.
The way you can check the condition is to bounce the car. If it bounces easily, it's still healthy. If not, it needs regassing. Melvin's is okay for now.
@@TwinCam We use to get the spheres modified by having a schrader valve welded onto the sphere so the gas could be checked and topped up at any time. You would do well looking into this if you decide at some point that your suspension is too hard. Unless you have leaked fluid out the only reason for a drop in fluid pressure is a loss of gas. Keep up the good work 👍
Back in the 80s my parents were running a 1969 Mk2 mini with hydrolastic suspension which regularly needed pumping up; we drove it to a local enthusiast who had the kit and was happy to do it for a few quid. Unfortunately during one such mission, a pipe on the car burst with a massive bang and the car lurched down onto its bump stops on the driver's side. Sadly the bumpy drive home was its last trip, it was stripped for spares and then smashed up for charity at a village fete.
It floats on fluid (more now than before). If you need a regas, just park Melvin outside the Houses of Parliament. Plenty of gas comes out of there!
I have several 1100/1300's, and I also have an authentic BLMC hydrolastic pump, affectionally referred to as 'The Dalek'. If you don't have a compatible pump, then pumping these cars back up again can be a big issue, so I can see why Haynes manuals say to just go to the nearest dealer. Until I obtained 'The Dalek' for my own cars, I had to do just that whenever I needed to pump one of the cars up.
Just about to try and stop my GTA scraping on slightly uneven Road surfaces 😅 Great video, thanks mate!
Thanks Phil, hope you managed it okay! :)
Really well done/informative video Ed, thanks:)
Cheers to you and Melvin from the "Colonies".
Thanks Karl ☺️
I will get one of those pumps for my old mini. Nice one!
Hi Ed, I follow a channel called Old Classic Car. He has just done a vlog on French Cars.
I am with you, I think the most beautiful classic car is the Citroen DS (in that lovely deep royal blue colour). If I could afford one and had the space that would be my classic car of choice.
Also like the Citroen H van. Would make a fantastic classic camper.
MERCI pour votre vidéo excellente pour une première recharge je reviens vers vous après mon essaie ;-)
merci, grace à vous j'ai pu regonfler ma MGF. grace à vos précieuse indications, j'ai pu le faire facilement et très rapidement.
thanks a lot
Puis-je ajouter une traduction - au cas où il n'a pas compris? Ed, in case you couldn't fully understand, Yalo's saying, "Thanks to you I was able to pump up my MGF. Thanks to your valuable instructions, I was able to do it easily and very quickly."
Great video Ed. Ive recently bought the same pump for my Allegro!
I never knew I needed this.
No idea how I managed 22 minutes of rambling about Hydragas, but here we are 🙃
@@TwinCam I'm sure it would have been longer if you hadn't needed to edit out the bits with swearing and gnashing of teeth.
Nice one young un. Very well explained. Have you ever contemplated teaching at the Tech?
Extremely useful to watch mate.
Had 3 metros in the 1980s, fortunately I didn’t have problems with the suspension, have seen it done though, which until I had, I didn’t really understand it. Great post 👍🏻😎
Thanks Damian.
Well done Ed. You learn something new every day. :-)
Thanks Andrew ☺️
Really interesting as always, Ed. A neat video indeed. I doubt I will ever own a car with Hydrogas suspension, but nice to know about the system anyway.
Thanks as always Michael ☺️
Hi, I bought a pressure pump for my 1969 Austin 1300. however after I had pumped up the suspension I washed the portable pressure tank with water which froze the pump handle. silly me! is it o k to not flush the tank? or what should one use for cleaning the pressure pump system.
I was only aware of Citroën using such a suspension, this system seems very serviceable! Also, I have come to look at shock absorbers or dampers (a better term IMHO) as a disposable item, other than top dollar Konis or similar which can be torn down and overhauled. The factory units on your Metro must be well engineered to survive like this.
It amuses me that people view pumping up Hydrolastic/Hydragas as a chore, yet don't seem to clock the failure rate of coil springs and shock absorbers!
Brilliant - the way you present these maintenance videos makes even someone as technically incompetent as me believe I could do the work without creating a minor disaster! 🤣🤣🚗🚗
Thanks John, that’s lovely of you to say ☺️
I had an Ambassador which failed MOT on rear suspension mounts. The manual said I should depressurise the suspension to get them out. It then said that after fitting the new ones, I should drive very slowly to a dealer to have it repressurised. I managed to figure out a way to change the mounts without depressurising, using a bottle jack to push the suspension arms away from the chassis. The irony was that the old mounts had nothing wrong with them but just looked rough at the edges. The new ones did serious damage to my wallet.
Great instructional video Ed, well done
Thanks Dave :)
Another interesting video,my 1981 metro need pumping up,, I also now know why the caps are difficult to undo,so new plastic ones are a good idea.looking forward to the next video.
Thanks Peter :)
For an A-Series Metro, the valves are under the bonnet on the front displacers themselves, and the third is just in front of the nearside rear wheel, under the sill.
Hope it all goes smoothly!
Thanks mate,hopefully it will all go smoothly,by the way my metro is a Tickford ,something a little different.
Wow! That’s rare! Any chance it was the one at the BL Milton Keynes day in September?
I'm afraid she's not on the road at the moment,hopefully next year.mine is in Bronze and is no.13 built.
Does the Hydragas have less life than the normal car's spring? I want to buy the Rover 100 with Hydragas, but I wasn't really sure if there are parts available when the Hydragas go wrong like the Citroën.
Fabulous educational video .
Thanks mate :)
Hi, great video, I have an actual hydro mastic pump I bought many’s ago for my Austin maxi and princesses. Before that I own Austin ambassador it was done at the time by Austin rover garage- dealership abs they riches the car on each side when they pumped bye suspension up to stabilise and Check the ride height . Regards mark
Great video, very informative 😎👍🏽 You should be on TV mate presenting your own show as its very professionally done 👍🏽 Love the VW Golf top too...I have spent 25 years driving VW Golfs from the Mk2 to the Mk7..wouldn’t be without one, 😄👍🏽 My Mk4 GT TDi 150BHP was the best out of all of them 🙂👍🏽🎉🎉
Thanks mate :)
A good informative vlog 👍👍
Great tutorial, is it necessary to have a pump with a vaccum function to get rid of any air in the Hydrolastic, or is only pumping required?
My own car is a 1967 Wolseley Hornet that has been sitting for 30 years so is obviously very low at this point. I thought of attempting to pump it up for now and then deciding after if I need to get it taken to a professional.
You don’t need the vacuum function at all, but to get the air out, treat it like the radiators in your home!
Once you’ve got some fluid in it, drain a little bit back out again. Repeat pumping and draining until there’s no more air in it 🙂
Love it showing this on a BL Metro while wearing a VW Golf top🙂
Hey Ty
Ive got a rover 100 in Italy that so low Is almost undrovable and i ha e to charge It up
Where can i find all the equipment?
Nice informative video.. I could probably do with re gassing mine but they won’t look original anymore and it will do such little miles I will live with it.. plus the 20 year old metric tyres I won’t change
Thank you. Very informative and useful. Just going to do my MGF.
Thanks Oliver 🙂
How did it go?
I put shocks on the front of hyro Minis and Metros. It especially stopped that bouncy bounce going around corners in Metros, fast. Bump stops too on Minis, to stop it front to back ducking and jumping.
I thought all Hydrolastic Minis had shocks, as Hydrolastic only offered springing rather than damping as well, like Hydragas did?
@@TwinCam No shocks, but can add a pair at the front for motor sport. Had helper springs at rear,, to stop rear wheels dropping too low when the rear wheels were off the ground. Damping was done by a small valve hole inside each hydolastic unit, fluid damping, similar to oil in nomal dampers. Well, if I remember right.
In 2003 my 100 Kensington SE was pumped up at a Rover main dealer (it was about 8 years old at the time). 1 week later one of the Hydragas units blew out a seal and the suspension collapsed on one side (luckily wasn't going fast when it happened). £400 bill to repair, with the same dealer being the only place readily available to take it to. Was never sure whether it was a dodgy unit that couldn't take being pumped up or if they over pumped it to achieve the ride height when actually it needed regassing. Always worried about pumping Metro suspension up again after that. It does seem odd that Rover published no specs on the maximum pressure the system could take which might explain why this happened.
The pressure shouldn't make a displacer break unless it's already on the way out.
The folk that race Metros lower the car by cutting the connecting rods, then pump the fluid half up much higher than the factory level to stiffen the damping further.
Cracking little car.
When I worked at a rover dealer ( doves of croydon) we had a little chart that gave you the height the car should be according to the ambient temperature
where did you buy pump and all stuff for pump it?
Excellent and informative video Ed, it does seem to be a simple process to carry out.
So would this have been carried out every time it was serviced at Rover?
Thanks mate :)
Had the car been serviced by Rover, they'd just check the ride height. If it was within 10mm either way of the 341mm, they'd have left it. If not, they'd pump it up/lower it!
04:29, hehehehe the font rear wheel, I’ll have two of those thanks Ed.
At least I got it right in the subtitles 😉
Very interesting, we had A a couple of Minis in the family, but with rubber cones, so I never came in contact with the Hydragas system.
Do you link where to buy that same schrader valve
We've got one those pumps at work, more complicated a setup (ie more commercial/ trade equipment) only used on first series MGF's and the very occasionally 100 series but now that these are getting few and far between its not been used it for years. Ours has two levels, one does the fluid but no idea what the other one does as never used it when doing a hydrogas top up.
It will probably be to provide a vacuum to purge the system.
Is there a port for an airline on there?
Are you using a different camera? Everything looks super crisp on my tv (I prefer to watch UA-cam on a big screen!)
Interesting content as ever sir.
Just the same one I've been using since I came back in August!
@@TwinCam well, it all looks great. The Metro is looking tidy as well.
My metro suspension has been flat for 10 years and been sat in a garage.
Do I need to bleed it first before I pump new fluid in?
Bleed it like you bleed your radiators at home. Simply fill it up, then drain it again and again until all the bubbles stop and the pressure is around 250 psi at vaguely the correct suspension height.
Of course, refurbished suspension units will be required for proper performance as the gas will have drained out over the years.
Добрый день подскажите какую жидкость нужно заливать в систему гидропневмоподвески для автомобиля Ровер Метро?
Зарание спасибо
I try to repair mine as my wheel arch gap front and rear it’s only about Half an inch Only to find that both my shrader valves don’t work I can take fluid out but they don’t pump up so new valves are on the way hopefully get my suspension pumped up but at the moment with a suspension lower all round It doesn’t half handle amazingly would love to leave it like this but it will harm the suspension, another great video as always twin cam👍
Thanks Gareth.
With the suspension so low, it may have less roll as there is physically less travel, but the damping will be all over the place. Once it’s pumped up, it should handle even better!
Just be careful to let it down and pump it up a few times just to make sure there’s no air in the system.
A well explained interesting video.
Thanks Michael :)
Thanks for that I can now do this on my MGF
does the system use Spheres like Citroëns?
Find an avenger to do a review on please ...👌🏻 Great video
Thanks mate.
If I’m ever offered one, I’d of course love to.
great vid ed
Thanks Chris ☺️
You made a blooper you said the front left is conected to the front rear.??? Good video like all your others,keep them coming.
At least I got it right in the subtitles 😉
What is the name of the adapter the is on the hose, the one with valve on ??
It's a schrader valve. If you buy the pump that's converted professionally for doing this job, one is already fitted.
Hello. Maybe I'm a bit stupid but why are you using Hydrolastic fluid to pump up a Hydragas system? I have an ADO16 and this has confused me. Do both system use Hydrolastic fluid despite being different? Would the fluid you are using be ok for ADO16s? Many thanks.
They’re the same fluids across the two systems. This stuff is correct for your ADO 16.
@@TwinCam Many thanks for the reply. All the best.
Good job 😍😍
nice modifications ,how about a nice sound system install?
Who needs a sound system when you have a Maniflow? 😉
Thanks!
Absolutely fascinating. I've always wanted to know how hydrogas suspension actually works. Can I ask, are those Yokohama A509 tyres? If so, what do you think of them?
Thanks Richard :)
They are A539s, which I think replaced the A509s. They're bloody ace. Properly good tyres. Exceptional in the dry and just as good in the wet. I'll have a more rounded view of them in a video coming soon!
@@TwinCam Excellent. I am not quite yet needing tyres for Millie. But when she does need new boots, I want to get something better than the rubbish on now.
What tyres does she have at the moment?
@@TwinCam Maxxis. They are reasonably good at everything, except wet handling. That is partly down to the K10 though. They don't have much front end grip on a wet surface.
@@TwinCam Maxxis MA-710. They're reasonably good in nearly all situations, except wet weather handling. The K10 is partly why. They have little front end grip on wet surfaces.
Do you have an alternative website to the hydragas one provided. It doesn't work. Cheers
Are you looking for the correct ride height for your car?
@@TwinCam Yes and I was interested in the site information. I'm on the lookout for a metro k series. Viewed one last week the suspension was low and seemed hard. Perhaps this was due to it being a gta model. At the end of this week/weekend I'm looking at a 1.1.
Okay. The K-Series Metro should have a suspension height of 321mm, measured from the centre of the hub to the bottom of the wheel arch. However, I don't know the measurements for other cars, and the website seems to be lost to history now.
If the expelled fluid is not in a suitable condition to reuse, how do you safely dispose of it?
I believe it’s hazardous, so absolutely don’t pour it down a drain.
I’d expect your local tip to take it, but with the way they’re stopping taking certain items, just check with them first!
I need you to do this to mine !
Anybody need a Churchill pump ( Darlex) I've got one but requires a little bit of attention. Has a new connect to pump up valve - cost quite a bit - about £80, 8 or so years ago. Nice little project.
I liked my Gta. But there are no more Rover 100 or Metros left in the Netherlands.