Hey Guys,
I finished making my hydrolastic pump yesterday (pics to come later) and decided to give it a try on my other deluxe which is sitting there waiting on its turn for restoration. The car had been off the road for about 10 years and the suspension had dropped so I thought an ideal candidate for testing.
The drivers side was hooked up and pumped up just fine
great the pump works!
I hooked up the passenger side and pumped - the back went up but not the front
so I checked the pipes underneath to see if they were dented or crushed but all was good. so I tried to bounce it at the front and rear to see if the fluid would take up but no good. so I opened the bonnet to see if I could see anything odd in that area. I noticed that at the top of the displacer / subframe area there was a little bit of dampness. was it old? I couldn't remember if it was there before or not - so I did the stupidess thing I ever did in my life - and as a maintenance/engineereing type person should have known ALOT better.
I looked down the opening where the hydro hose goes down into the displacer and wiggled the hose. What happend then was so quick I could have done nothing to stop it or get out of the way- 300 psi hydro fluid hit me square in the face as the hose let go from the displacer
I was had glasses on so that stop the bulk of the pressure but my eyes and nose were filled with 1000 years old rusty fluid which I had to blindly move around to find the tap to rinse the stuff out.
I am ok and continued to rinse my eyes in the shower for 20 minutes to be sure but Ijust thought I would highlight the dangers of these old hydro units - luckily I have spare displacers but I could have been in a much worse state. So take care with these things and NEVER EVER stick your head above something that could let go and hit you.
But the pump really did work brilliantly
Gig
