Hey all,

I've had my Mini delivered from the transport company, and one side's hydro suspension has sagged on the transport over from Perth to Melbourne.

Now not all pressure has been lost, it is still just (just) driveable, but rubs they arch if I turn the wheel right. I can't see where the fluid has leaked from, but there may be some dried up spatter (it's hard to tell if it's dried glycol or something else) on the inside of the driver's side tyre.

The removalists (toll) will pay for the repairs, but I can't tell if it needs a top up or a bag replaced. Is it possible to have a hydro bag 'half blow'?

It seems they must have tied her down pretty tight, I can understand how it has happened and can't realy blame them for not knowing it was hydro. It hasn't happened previously and it has covered some serious miles on the back of car transporters before from state to state.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

there doesn't need to be any pressure in the system for it to be still drivable - it just sits on the bump stops, so from what you're saying, I'd say it has blown that front bag.... what a pain! in melbourne, take it to Link Auto to get fixed unless you'll do it yourself

Good point.....

I'm pretty sure there's a reasonable amount of pressure remaining as it isn't on the stops completely yet.

I'll get a mechanic to do it in this case instead of myself as Toll Transitions will recompense me for the expenses.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

If the bag has karked it, there would be fluid or signs of it everywhere, due to the high pressure. Not possible for a hydro bag to be "half blown" but there might be a chaffed hose or damaged line and thus a slow leak. Since there's no total sag, it sounds more like a collapsed nylon cup (ball joint or trailing arm) as this can cause one side to drop. Good thing you can pass on the repair bill

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1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

ell cheerin that u can pass the bill on i like it!

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-jamie-
1963morris 850
1965 solid side van
1994 rover racecar

If there is something inside the driver side wheel that looks like dried coolant it will be hydro fluid.
The hydro units can leak slowly from where the hose goes into the unit, this can be repaired.
Most likely the top of the rubber spring will be blown out, this can't be repaired.

I have seen them with a slow leak, Iwannamini had one in his Deluxe like this.
Hoses can be repaired as said, if it's anything else put another bag in.

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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.

Finally I can get back online (but I've been using AAPT instead of BigPond).

Whilst calling around for quotes to repair the suspension, I called the Bellarine Mini repairs. It turns out he's going out of business and said I could have two bags for 20 bucks. Suffice to say I got four for later on spares. Who knows, they may be worth a house deposit in the future hmmm?

TNT ( the car removalists) are dicking me around, I may just wade in and repair it myself since I got the bags so cheap. I will still submit the quotes though and see if they'll pay me cold hard caaaaaaaash. Now I just need a hydro pump, I offered for the fellow at Bellarine but he wants to hang onto that one. It's a computerised one he tells me cos it's mounted in a computer ATX case...lol....

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Mick, glad you made it safe'n'sound

Try Clubmn, he does pump-ups: http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21712&highlight=

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Too many cars, and too little time.

you could save your self the future trouble and convert to dry cone

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why does everyone want a Cooper S when you ca have a better Clubby

Yeah maybe, but as it's orig-g-didge I'll keep to the original Hydro, at least until my for spares run out, it's not that difficult to deal with the system actually, just you need a pump. It's the first bag glow out in 9 years so that's not at all a hassle really. Compare that with ball joints, radius arm bearings etcetera and it is one of the lesser hassle components on a mini IMHO.


Thanks Mike, you saved me the search I was trhinking about Clubmn, but theres a retired bloke up in Werribee (5 k's) who has an original pump and will do it for the same cost. If I could find one for a good price I would buy it. And I just don't have the time to really make one (I really don't!)


We made it safe and sound, just me the wife, the boy, and two very wind blown dogs and a forrester and a trailer. They've given us a brand new house at Point Cook (very nice) and we had a great time on the way over. I met a really nice old bloke in a 150 year old house (featuring a built in chapel) with a collection of 26 minis. I'll post a photo, but can't really give out any details as I was asked not to. Some great old cars though.
I let him know about Ausmini as well, he may drop in sometime as well.
A great trip.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Hydro pump is pi$$ easy to make, here's mine... built 12 years ago out of scrap Fiat 124S and Mini bits, still workin'...
Hoses are 2 Mini fronts joined together, end fitting to the hydro valve on car was made from a brass valve cap.

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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.

if you need new hydro bag thingos i have a good supply of them...

i had them on my yellow clubby one place to look is under the dustcover it is suprising how much fluid can get caught under them

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why does everyone want a Cooper S when you ca have a better Clubby

Pete at Bellarine is great. Are you going to come down to geelong for the social night on wednesday?

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Introducing 'LITE'. The new way to spell 'light' with 20% less letters!

I don't know my name anymore.

Yeah Pete is a nice bloke, shame he's dropping out of minis though.
His 'computerised' hydro pump was pretty cool, a lot of nice work went into making it.
Yeah the social nite would be cool, I'll try to organise it with the spouse and chillun.

Doc: I usually wade into most things, and I really would like one of these things on the shelf. I really should get my arse into gear and make one ya know....

I got the front bag changed out, I was getting worried as I had gone to all the effort of removing the top arm and everything else and wasn't seeing any hydro fluid. Not even under the dust cover, but once it dropped out there was the oily residue from glycol sitting on top of the unit. It must have given way up there somewhere. I'll hang onto it for the moment pending further investigation.

P.S. I'm going to look at the sag I get in the front suspension while I'm here, I've got some good helper springs here that I'll throw in the back tommorrow, but is it worth considering putting another washer on the front knuckles to jack up the front? Does this work?

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.