Hydragas regassing (again)

[Parazine]

My 1997 MGF suspension has reached the end of its life. It was pumped up to 400 psi and 365mm height five years ago but has now sunk back to 350mm and the ride is dreadful, like a plank on roller skates. I think the Hydragas displacers have exhausted their nitrogen charge after 23 years and something needs to be done.
As far as I can see, there are 5 courses of action I can take:
1) Get the spheres recharged by Hydragas and Hydrolastic Service Ltd in Telford. Advantage: fitting Schrader valves will mean future re-gas is easy. Disadvantage: unknown whether the valves will contribute to leakage at a faster rate than before. Reasonable cost though….
2) There are echoes of another player who can refill the spheres (Kevin in Stockport?), this time through the original rivets (i.e. no welding needed or valves installed) but I can’t find any trace of him on eBay or this forum. Anyone any further details? Is he still operating?
3) I can convert to springs using a Suplex kit. Disadvantage: quite expensive and very poor feedback in the past from users. Is it any better now?
4) Mike Satur is selling another spring upgrade kit, this time based on a coil over but it’s very expensive and I haven’t seen any feedback to say whether this solution is value for money or not.
5) I could get a scrap MG TF as they’ve become affordable, and swap over to TF sprung suspension. Expensive and many unknowns – apparently the bodyshell will need alterations to accommodate the springs and the subframes would need a lot of work.
I think I’m most comfortable with option 1 but would welcome feedback on the other options so that I can be sure.

[Geoff.F]

Get it pumped up every 3 years. It is overdue. Not expensive however you may be satisfied with the result.
Geoff.F

[Bigfootmgf]

I would go for option 1( because I already have!) It makes a real difference and it keeps the car standard and costs down. Also it means you can have them topped up when needed. Spare spheres are still in plentiful supply at the moment should you need one!
All other options are also okay but not option 3! All I have read about is it damages the cars damper mounts + it doesn't work very well!
Good luck

[nigelandjo]

Option 1 ~ transformed the ride on our Trophy.

[mowog73]

I went the Mike Satur route on both of our Fs and I am more than happy with the results. Every bit as nice a ride as hydragas and the handling is is as good as the hydrgas as well. The reason I went this route was so I would never have to worry about leaking spheres again.

[alect]

I have had my spheres regassed by Kevin in Stockport , excellent service, and value for money in my opinion, his telephone number is 07895 513800

[alect]

If you do go the regassing route, I would buy a second hand set of spheres, get them regassed and swop them with your originals, keep the originals as spares or resell them on E Bay to recoup the costs, or even get them regassed before selling, would fetch a premium then.
If I remember correctly Kevin charged me £17.00 per sphere.

[John SS]

My 1997 MGF suspension has reached the end of its life. It was pumped up to 400 psi and 365mm height five years ago but has now sunk back to 350mm and the ride is dreadful, like a plank on roller skates. I think the Hydragas displacers have exhausted their nitrogen charge after 23 years and something needs to be done.
There are echoes of another player who can refill the spheres (Kevin in Stockport?), this time through the original rivets (i.e. no welding needed or valves installed) but I can’t find any trace of him on eBay or this forum. Anyone any further details? Is he still operating?

Can't comment on the other options but I have gone this route and am really pleased with the result which has transformed the ride. Thoroughly recommended.

[RobboMC]

So there's always a lone voice from the other side.

How long will the regassed sphere's last? I have nothing against the idea or the Kennedy's work, I expect it's great from the feedback so far.

But there's still the original rubber parts inside that are now 20+ years old. Sooner or later one of the regassed spheres will fail, maybe in 5 years, or 10, and you will be replacing it again, with another regassed sphere. And like my situation now, if a sphere fails internally how do you tell if it's the front or rear that's failed; so do you replace both?

The only permanent solution is a spring kit. Or a TF.

Being in the colony changes the economics, if I'm paying 200 quid for freight it may as well be for a permanent solution.

[RobboMC]

PS, the harder the spheres get the more stress they place on the internals rubber parts. After 23 years it's time to stop 'just pumping it up' and find a new answer. My car has been pumped up at least 3 times then this year it went 'rock hard'.

When you hit bumps and the seat belt pre-tensioners lock in. (i.e. the car thinks it's having an accident ) then failure is not long away.
I was lucky, mine failed only 20 miles from home, a month earlier I was 500 miles away, that would have needed towing to get it back.

[John SS]

My 1997 MGF suspension has reached the end of its life. It was pumped up to 400 psi and 365mm height five years ago but has now sunk back to 350mm and the ride is dreadful, like a plank on roller skates. I think the Hydragas displacers have exhausted their nitrogen charge after 23 years and something needs to be done.
There are echoes of another player who can refill the spheres (Kevin in Stockport?), this time through the original rivets (i.e. no welding needed or valves installed) but I can’t find any trace of him on eBay or this forum. Anyone any further details? Is he still operating?

Can't comment on the other options but I have gone this route and am really pleased with the result which has transformed the ride. Thoroughly recommended.

Email for Kevin in Stockport; mgfhydragas@gmail.com

[mowog73]

I really liked the idea of keeping the hydragas suspension, the ride and handling of the hydrgas is great. The downside of having the spheres regassed is that you do not know the condition of the top rubber diaphragm.

The internal part of the top rivet is very sharp and if the nitrogen level in the sphere has dropped to the point where the rubber diaphragm touches the internal portion of the rivet, the rivet will start to tear the rubber diaphragm and begin to compromise the integrity of the rubber diaphragm and eventually puncture it. From what I have read on Ian Kennedy's website, he only can replace the bottom rubber diaphragm, not the top one. For me, also being in the colonies, this was the reason I decided to go the coil-over conversion route.

Internal part of the top rivet

Tears in top diaphragm from rivet

[Parazine]

Hmm, food for thought.

I have a another set of displacers from an "F" I broke a couple of years ago. I think I'd get those refilled, then swap them in.

I've also got enough now to contact the elusive Kevin, who provides an even cheaper route. Given that the displacers are going to fail sometime it seems, that might give me a further 5 or 10 years, which will be enough. The car would then be 30 - 35 years old and I'd be too stiff to get in it!

It seems the Mike Satur solution is a good one? I was distrustful of spring conversions after hearing all the problems over the Suplex kit, so it may come down to whether to pay for that "up front" or get a Hydragas refill done for another 5 - 10 years.

Still thinking.....

[mowog73]

My wife and I are very happy with Mike Satur's coil spring conversion in our two F. Fortunately I was able to install the conversion, which kept the cost down. I did discover that all the subframe mounts needed replacing, the rubber portion was flexing excessively. Both cars now have solid TF subframe mounts.

[YMGF1]

I've had a Trophy and Mpi re-gassed by the Kennedy's and both have been superb. Transformed really, and still so 3 years later.

[talkingcars]

I got so fed up with replacing components, spheres, fluid etc on my F that after 8 years I eventually went for TF subframes with MY05 shocks and springs, most parts replaced with new or polybushes rated at 70 shore (which is the same as rubber) all mounted on good condition O/E rubber subframe mounts. The only body modification is to drill a 50mm hole in the top of both front wings to allow for the top of the shock absorber. I also used the quicker TF steering rack.

[Rob Bell]

So there's always a lone voice from the other side.

How long will the regassed sphere's last? I have nothing against the idea or the Kennedy's work, I expect it's great from the feedback so far.

But there's still the original rubber parts inside that are now 20+ years old. Sooner or later one of the regassed spheres will fail, maybe in 5 years, or 10, and you will be replacing it again, with another regassed sphere. And like my situation now, if a sphere fails internally how do you tell if it's the front or rear that's failed; so do you replace both?

The only permanent solution is a spring kit. Or a TF.

Being in the colony changes the economics, if I'm paying 200 quid for freight it may as well be for a permanent solution.

Hydralastic spheres in my old Mini were 50 years old and still going strong - and there are plenty of old Princesses and Allegros on Hydragas on original spheres. Good quality rubber well out of the way of UV light exposure - they seem to last a very long time.

[RobboMC]

My wife and I are very happy with Mike Satur's coil spring conversion in our two F. Fortunately I was able to install the conversion, which kept the cost down. I did discover that all the subframe mounts needed replacing, the rubber portion was flexing excessively. Both cars now have solid TF subframe mounts.

Can you remember the order that you bolted the parts in for the front end?

That top shock eye bolt seems impossible to fit in a complete car and also the top turret bolts can't be torqued up in situ
as shown in the training video which is done with the sub frame out of the car.

[RobboMC]

My wife and I are very happy with Mike Satur's coil spring conversion in our two F. Fortunately I was able to install the conversion, which kept the cost down. I did discover that all the subframe mounts needed replacing, the rubber portion was flexing excessively. Both cars now have solid TF subframe mounts.

Looks like you don;t have ABS???? I can't see where you ran the cable.

[mowog73]

No ABS on either of our Fs but the kit comes with an ABS bracket.

At the front, I installed the new turret first and then the upper control arm, then the shock/spring assembly. Getting the shock/spring assembly in is not easy, although I believe his latest version of the kit has fixed this issue.

It is not easy to get that top shock mount bolt in but it is doable. I used a crowfoot wrench on my torque wrench in order to set the torque.