Restoring/fitting hydro units - hints and tips?

[AndyB72]

While the shell is away I'm tuning my attention to building up the subframes. Other than wire brush the units and paint them what else should I do to protect them? Is it worth bothering using rubber grease on the bags and pipes. Also the nuts on the end are very rusty, is it safe to dip them in ruts remover to bring them back to life or will it damage the hoses.

[mab01uk]

Some useful info on restoring Hydrolastic units here:
http://members.tripod.com/austin_america/id63.html

[scooperman]

That Austin America site has a lot of useful tips. Last week when I started working on the hydro I reviewed it. I didn't like the clamping method, and I decided to try the compression fitting adapter method. If that fails, then I will still be able to attempt the tapped-hole method. I sent Todd an email asking why he selected 14mm compression fittings. He tells me the ADO16 displacers have bigger fittings than my 1968 Elf displacers.

So if you have the small 3/8" pipes on your displacers, don't buy the metric fittings he recommends.
I searched and found straight compression tube adapters to JIC Male (AN-6).



Be careful cutting the old hoses. You need to save and reuse the end fittings on your new hoses, those are 5/8"-18 SAE 30 degree type, I was unable to find new ones.

Edit...Just completed my repairs. But I was not able to get new hoses made with my old end fittings. No hydraulic supplier/shop would touch my old parts, would only sell new.

I took some pictures as I went along. Because I am repairing an Elf, I posted my progress (?) on the Elf/Hornet Register forum. Link is http://elf-hornet.4forum.biz/t1303-hydr ... o-dry-cone