so. collected the car yesterday and drove the 80 mile journey home. bit noisy on the motorway but loved being behind the wheel on my beloved mini cooper s for the first time in nearly 30 years.
when i parked up the car i noticed that the front of the car was about 25 mm higher than the rear. seemed a a bit strange and wondered whether it was due to self levelling on the inclined drive. got her in the level garage hoping she would level out over night but still the same this morning.
any ideas? perhaps i should drive in, instead of reversing in, to see if the opposite is true?
and please don't say should have changed to dry...... )
Would never say "should have changed to dry". Getting Hydro to sit right is a bit of a black art though.
I am sure that some other members with more experience than myself will come up with suggestions, but for starters are you sure you have the correct helper springs on at the back? If they are too tight they will pull the nose up.
good thinking........ but they are the original springs with the car, and its the same 'standard' hydro units, apart from one replaced due to the refurbishment and repair failing.....
it my be the knuckle joints settling into the cups etc.
after a few hundred miles you can retrim the pressure, if its still doing it you can add washers / trim the mushrooms down that hold the knuckles in just to trim the height to what you want.
I bet you loved driving it - was it a good as you remembered it!
Old English . That looks a very nice mini . That's how my hydro S sat on its suspension , slight rake at the rear . ..... Ken
1963 austin Cooper s mk1 1071
1966 Austin Cooper s mk1 1275
1968 Austin Cooper mk2 998
1962 Morris mini super 850
Porsche 997 turbo S
Ford transit van 280s.
very excited to get to go for a drive although 80 miles on the motorway was perhaps not the most rewarding of first drives. hard to say if it was as i remembered as the last time was nearly 30 years ago! i can barely remember anything from 1987!
noisy, and point and squirty and bobbly, if you know what i mean? so very much as i imagined.
needs a bit of time to settle in, hydro suspension, brakes etc etc.......
there is another small leak from the displacer union too which i need to sort. hopefully its just a matter of nipping up the nut a bit tighter although its in a difficult position amongst the brake pipes to and from the servo and master cylinder etc......
hoping to have that sorted by next weekend so we can attend Beaulieu. have a spot saved on the Mk1-PC stand and will be disappointed if she isn't up to the journey! confirmation of attendance is now delayed until middle of next week - nothing like leaving it to the last minute....
I'm just sorting through a pile of displacers, is a quick way of telling an S displacer from a normal one the depth from the top of the steel casing to the rubber (at the hose end)? ie, S ones are shallower by about 10mm? I seem to remember that was the case.
Pete wrote:I'm just sorting through a pile of displacers, is a quick way of telling an S displacer from a normal one the depth from the top of the steel casing to the rubber (at the hose end)? ie, S ones are shallower by about 10mm? I seem to remember that was the case.
Also, did they fit green band 21A2008 units to Cooper Ss or just Coopers/ non Coopers?
Not sure whether that would affect ride height. Parnells book gives ride height the same regardless of cooper or 'S', and being half inch lower at the front.......
by the way.... how many 'S' ones do have going spare? ;o)
I've just gone through some hydro units to double check what Pete mentioned about the depth of the S units and I can confirm that the S units are shallower by about 6 mm.
Regarding the leaky union, I too had that problem when I changed a pipe on my Austin MK 2. No amount of tightening the joint would cure the weeping joint, so in the end I made a washer out of a bit of lead which I placed in the joint and tightened everything up.
It cured the leak and after 10 years or so the joint is still dry. Crude, but it works.
I hope you can get it sorted by Beaulieu and start enjoying driving the Mini again.
InimiaD wrote:I've just gone through some hydro units to double check what Pete mentioned about the depth of the S units and I can confirm that the S units are shallower by about 6 mm.
Regarding the leaky union, I too had that problem when I changed a pipe on my Austin MK 2. No amount of tightening the joint would cure the weeping joint, so in the end I made a washer out of a bit of lead which I placed in the joint and tightened everything up.
It cured the leak and after 10 years or so the joint is still dry. Crude, but it works.
I hope you can get it sorted by Beaulieu and start enjoying driving the Mini again.
Hmmm.... Maybe some ptfe tape would work too. Works for compression fittings in a plumbing system but not at such high pressures.......
Thanks for the advice. And yes, can't wait for driving experience with some confidence. She looks great but need to know she's not leaking!!!!!
Your PTF tape idea will probably work , I used this on my oil cooler pipe the other day as had small weep and any amount of tightening did not stop it, now alls good, its worth a try . After all hydro pressure is not that high, Got to get there next Sunday
Rusty old S wrote:Your PTF tape idea will probably work , I used this on my oil cooler pipe the other day as had small weep and any amount of tightening did not stop it, now alls good, its worth a try . After all hydro pressure is not that high, Got to get there next Sunday
Rusty old S wrote:Your PTF tape idea will probably work , I used this on my oil cooler pipe the other day as had small weep and any amount of tightening did not stop it, now alls good, its worth a try . After all hydro pressure is not that high, Got to get there next Sunday
hydro pressure is 230+ psi.
I also had problem with slight weep from the connector block which bolts to the rear subframe. Even nipping this up really tight did not cure the weep.
Used some Loctite hydraulic sealant on it, after taking apart and cleaning then reassembling with the sealant. This did the trick and has been dry for over 5 years.
If this is useful and you need to know the Loctite product code let me know and I will dig it out.
)
