1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

All they do is fit the regas shrader valve in the top. Nobody actually rebuilds the Hydragas displacers as far as I'm aware and I've only heard rumour not fact that someone out there is rebuilding the earlier Hydralastic cans.

Moulton car suspension goes: Rubber Cone (no fluid) - Hydralastic (fluid only) - Hydragas (fluid and gas)

Hydralastic (hydraulic-elastic) and Hydragas (hydraulic-gas) get muddled up fairly frequently so sometimes I've had tip offs on a Hydragas solution only to find it's a Hydralastic solution instead, which I can't use.

I've had the car sat on the drive thinking about what its done, gradually sinking on that front corner, and had some time today to have another look to see if I'd missed anything. Gave me a chance to re-evaluate the problems I'd been having and anything I might have dismissed. One item did come to mind which was smoke on start up as though something was on the exhaust. The smoke was odourless and disappeared after a few seconds of idling and, since it was so wet lately I'd put it down to just condensation or rainwater evaporating off a warm exhaust.

With the car being idle lately it's given things a chance to settle and leak where they need to so I can see any fresh fluid. Under the car there's a drip of Hydragas on the exhaust. I assumed this was coming from the pocket the displacer sits in and just taking the easiest route out.


I traced the pipes up to see if I could figure out where the leak was and it seemed fairly consistent to one pipe, I just couldn't tell which one while I was under the car as things are a bit dark and difficult to see. Red line here to show you where the pipe runs.


Then, hidden on the bulkhead side of the Hydragas pipe for the passenger side which passes over the exhaust pipe that has the Hydragas drip I noticed this strange mouldy-rusty stain.


Back to the schrader valve block and found a small drip of Hydragas fluid.


Wiped it dry and sure enough fluid bled through again. Perhaps it's not a failed displacer after all! If it is this joint that's failed I don't know how you go about repairing it, I may just switch over to the individualising adaptors I've got and ditch the pipes as it's not the first time this pipe has given me trouble.


Is repair of this part easy? Is it possible? I don't know how it's constructed to understand how it comes apart.

Don't know if new pipes are available or not - I recall many years ago replacing a pair of pipes on a Austin 1300 GT - the front sections had gone and to replace the pipe fully the rear subframe needed to be dropped - I cheated and fitted a couple of compression connectors at a mid point hence only fitting the damaged section at the front - I would think it's either new pipe or a decent second hand one to replace it - It looks like it would be quite difficult to attempt a repair on what you currently have - the valve block might be brass - the pipe steel - rusty steel at that so brazing would be one of the distant options or maybe silver soldered but I would go down the replacement pipe route first or remove the displacers and get individual valves fitted if not

For the pipe repair - is it something you could solder with a basic plumbers kit (clean the pipes with file or sandpaper, then use gas blowtorch + solder   ) ? 
Or if the pipe is a common plumbers size (8mm, 10mm, 12mm)  use compression fittings? Most plumbers use brass pipe, not sure if you can get something the same size that will cope with the suspension pressure? I know you said you prefer not to but...
Or take the pipe to a hydraulic pipe place (I got some metal fuel piping made in Stockton / Middlebro' but can't remember where   ) and see if they can make you a new pipe?

Hope you get it sorted !

Ooh! A two door.....I have thoughts about running one of these with a well tuned 1275 in it. Wish I'd appreciated them more when they were plentiful! Is it Black Tulip?

I love 1100s, nice choice. 👍🏻

While I wait for the Austin to turn up I realised this weekend I finally got the time to get the exhaust sorted on the Rover and have another look underneath to see what's what. Still trying to locate exactly where this shushing/zinging noise is coming from, Mike and I both think it's the upper smaller pulley here and it sounds a bit like either a loose circlip, a failing bearing or both. Neither of us can actually work out what's causing this because you can only hear it with the engine running and obviously you can't go sticking fingers and tools into spinning objects safely. When the engine is off you can't get anything to wiggle or make noises at all in this area, it's pretty annoying.


With the car on the ramp everything was given a general inspection and it's still much as it was. There's a massive scuff on the downpipe which was matched by a big scuff on the bumper before I painted it. Not really sure what that's about as I don't go around ramping off stuff.


Was very annoyed to discover the catalytic converter I'd ordered - the only one I could find listed for a 1.4 16 valve pre-95 R8 - is WRONG. Without the car being on the ramp I couldn't see the clamp properly it turns out so the elongated triangle gasket I ordered originally was correct. The triangular one a fellow club member sent me is also different to the replacement cat I've got being a good bit larger than the fitting. Current thought is to just swap the flange fitting from the old unit to the new one as all the rest of the dimensions and fittings match up.


Not particularly thrilled about that. It looks like the centre section of the exhaust isn't too old and all the rubber hangers were in very good condition, as though they'd been done on the not-too-distant past. Just as well really as I'd forgotten to buy new hangers. Off with the old exhaust which has been waiting for me to replace it for two years.


On with the new! The tail pipe is quite ugly, I need to get a trim for that. It does sound markedly better than the old box and thanks to the lift and having two of us the job took about two nanoseconds to complete.


Since I couldn't do anything about the cat we decided to tackle the lower gearbox stabiliser rod stay thingy. I'd ordered what was supposed to be the correct part but on putting them side by side it was clear something was wrong.


I mean, it did fit, so I wondered if perhaps this was an aftermarket part issue.


VERY close at the front with it fitted, there's not a lot of room as standard anyway. It also knocked at idle and under acceleration and by the time I'd driven the four miles home I decided to put the old part back on it was so annoying. Clearly it wasn't correct.


Ran the part number through the internet and was not terribly surprised when it turned out the part isn't for this application at all. Rather it's an upper engine stay for a 2ltr T series which is about as different as you can get from a 1.4 K series gearbox stay. I've had it that long I can't very well send it back either so if anyone wants it for cost of postage, shout up.


Refitting the old one was really easy at least. I'm pretty sure the smaller bush on the stay is what's causing the vibration too, even though the incorrect part was wrong, it did eliminate the vibration I was getting through the pedals and gearlever and the small bush on the old stay while not split, does seem a bit on the soft side.


The downpipe doesn't knock now either. As you can see there isn't much clearance at all here, Rover really squeezed this engine in.


While I was replacing the stay on the drive I noticed the antiroll bar bushes are past the first flush of youth. They don't need replacing yet and they're one of the few bushes I've not yet done so I'll add it to my list of things to try and sort before the next MoT.


Oh, and the new tailpipe looks stupid. It's offset in the bumper notch and an ugly shape so that needs a trim on it and a bit of work to sort it out.


Still, I no longer have to put up with that drone from the old backbox which will be a big relief on the motorway.

Why didn't I think of that?

Or use the new bushes in the old one.