Thanks for all the help and info guys, feel a bit more confident in putting the hydro back under the car, My uncle says he has a vacuum and pump that he used on a mates hydro mini back in the 70's and he will help me pump them back up.

asuming its a good idea to pull the bags from the subframes and put them in a jig and pressure test before bolting the sub frames under the car and filling?
If the hose swages all look good (not rusty) the hoses are probably OK.
I'd be tempted to leave them be if so, and test on the car when you pump it up. They are not hard to remove (easier than collapsed rubber donuts are).
I would either replace all the knuckle joints, or use a grease needle to inject some lithium chassis grease in there. They will be dry as a bone after 40+ years.


Ill ask my next questions here, let me know if I am better off adding a new thread for it though.

so now with the new found 'confidence' in the bags i have, I guess I am pretty damn close to beginning assembly on the car. the car is still in primer and the previous owner had painted the engine bay in that god awfull thick rubber body deadened which I plan to strip off and the re paint the engine bay. .

should I have the body painted (by the spray painter) before I fit the subframes? or should I assemble the frames and attach to the car and bolt my engine in before sending it of for paint?
It's always better to paint the body with the subframes out, but many people leave them in to keep the car as a roller.

I guess the reason i ask is I cannot afford the apint job right now but want to get to work on the car, but if it is better to have it painted first I can always bolt the engine into the front frame and all and find a few other things to do before i can afford the paintwork.

only going for a cheap paint job, have agreed with a painter that if I do all the prep and mask work he will shoot it in my choice for colour for a nice cheap price, and as inside the boot and engine bay will be black no reason why i couldn't fit the engine and frames right?
That is how I did mine last time. It was just a repaint, not a resto.

Leroy.