I dont know if my car came factory with the gas/hydrolic rear end with the two ports to let something out (like tyre valves). I want to know what they are for and what it does to the car. I have a veuge idea that it would and does alter the ride height, is this true?

If i lower the back end till its level with the front (so it dont look like its on 30 inch tryes at the back) would this be classed as illegal? Anyone in S.A. would know about the "eyebrow" rule and how its used. Does anyone know the mesurement thats legal for the front and back?

What is the Mini Stud pattern?? If its 4X100 pattern. Its the same as my Gemini. My Gemini has 14 inch mags ... forgotten the width of them, but since my gem will be upgraded to 5 stud i no longer have a use for them. Will these mags fit my Mini and if not, what do i have to do to make them fit?

Thankyou for reading.

Adam.

The hydrolastic suspension is linked front to rear.
Letting down the valves will lower the left & right sides, not front/rear.

Mini stud pattern is 4 x 4" , not 4 x 100mm.
Not quite the same, & not recommended to swap them (though it has been done).

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Too many cars, and too little time.

Added to what awdmoke said
There is a rule of thumb for hydrolastic minis - in simplistic terms the front should have three fingers of clearance between the guard lip and the top of the tyre. The height of rear is related to the height of the front.

The principle of operation is that the fluid in a sealed system moved between the front and rear to lift or lower wheels as the car travels over bumps and corrugations etc. This smoothes out the ride qualities.

Fitting bigger diameter wheels - that will create more problems than it solves - apart from giving a bigger rolling mass and exacerbate the fairly inefficient brakes it will also foul on guards.

Ok, relative to what you both say.
Why would the front be not even 1 finger width high from the wheel, yet the rear is high as stock??

Car is on a slope ??? - it will self level

or;

Handbrake is on and the car rolled forward or backwards even a few millimetres

In broadest terms - the principle is the same as a spirit level.

And it just may be low in fluid - also next time you have the car up on a hoist - check that the stainless steel inter-connecting tubing doesn't have a kink or a dent in it / them .

Mate, the helper springs in the rear are clapped out.
As these get slacker (stretched out), the front will drop accordingly, as the fluid is displaced from the front and replaced in the rear.
Get it?

The 2 rear helper springs (above rear wheels) pull the rear of the car down and displace fluid to the front. It's not unknown for these springs to get soft (or even break) with old age.

Later springs were stronger and colour coded orange I think.

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Get stuck in traffic, Doc?
Patient deceased 2 mins ago

do all mini's come with this hydrolastic suspension?

The problem is not really that the back is sitting high. The problem is the front is low. The rubber spring in the hydro bags will sag after time (just like rubber cones) and the front ones sag more than the rear because they carry more weight.
Also, in theory if you lower the car one inch you should also shorten the helper spring one inch. But of course no one ever does, but if the car sits higher in the rear they wonder why!

so if i have a once over on the lines and take the handbrake off and roll her around a bit it should level out. At the moment she is on a perfectly flat shed floor and has been rolled around quite a fair bit lately.

ruling them out would be that the helper springs are worn and need replacing.

Nearly all the Australian built cars between 1965 and 1974 had hydro. The rest had rubber. (well, they are all rubber really )

sorry to be rude but does anyone want to answer my question?

So my 1974 Mini Clubman has the hydroelastic setup??