Topic

Hi mates!
I've a 2000 mgf, 95.000km, and a suffering suspension ( and a bad back! Lol)
I was going to buy today the suplex kit available on uk eBay.
Had it on my chart, and decided before paying to see what we're the reviews......
Spoink!!!! All stop ! Reverse engine! Lol
I've been reeding your reviews and, suplex is not an option anymore!
I live in Portugal, MADEIRA Island, and have to consider importing or a subframe of a TF or the Aussie kit....
Importing outside EU, even with brexit, costs me 30% over the price, importing a couple of us frames costs me only the transport.
As for the Aussie kit, where can I buy it besides the rv8 site?
The sub frames I have to see on eBay, what is available from scrapers on uk.
Word of advice mates?
Cheers
Geraldo

To my knowledge, the only place to buy the Aussie kit, is from the manufacturer here in Australia via their RV8 site.
I'll leave the subject of the TF frames to our UK based members.

Chaps I'm not sure if anyone has seen the article in the mg enthusiast mag for July the chap who put in the kv6 into his mgf, he managed to weld on shredder valves to his hydragas units and recharge the nitrogen this would be a much cheeper option for the F. Recharging the units with nitrogen would be very simple. Yes i know you would then need a bit of equipment to recharge them but I doubt a flow guard recharge kit and nitrogen bottle would tally upto the cost of the Aussie kit or the supplex kit. Anyway just a thought and if you haven't read the article worth a read. I'm sure the chap would be happy to pass on his experience if we could get I touch with him.

Alans835 wrote: wrote:

Chaps I'm not sure if anyone has seen the article in the mg enthusiast mag for July the chap who put in the kv6 into his mgf, he managed to weld on shredder valves to his hydragas units and recharge the nitrogen this would be a much cheeper option for the F. Recharging the units with nitrogen would be very simple. Yes i know you would then need a bit of equipment to recharge them but I doubt a flow guard recharge kit and nitrogen bottle would tally upto the cost of the Aussie kit or the supplex kit. Anyway just a thought and if you haven't read the article worth a read. I'm sure the chap would be happy to pass on his experience if we could get I touch with him.

Not seen the article in the mag but the link below about fitting Schrader valves and re-charging the spheres has been on the net for a few years, also our T-Bar colleague on the other side of the planet (Cobber) is working on his own project for re-charging the nitrogen, if he sees this post he may update his progress to us.

http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/suspension/hydragas__depressurisation.htm

No progress of late due to lack of time, I'm busier than a one legged man in an arse kicking contest, but as I should have the 2 utes basically sorted by the end of the week, I should be able to pull the F of the road for some much needed maintenance and while I'm at it I'll fit the prototype spheres.

Check this Swedish site with some pics of a mgf hydragas with a valve fitted

http://mgftfregister.forum24.se/mgftfregister-about104-0-asc-15.html

The charging of the units is very straight forward we do exactly the same thing at work with pulsation dampers the only snag is getting someone who is a decent tig welder to weld in some shrader valves. If I was any good with tig I would have a go at it but unfortunately I'm not very experienced with this.

Even if you have success with the TIG welding and the fitting of a one way valve you don't know the condition of the rubber bladder as it looks like rubber perishes over time anyway.

For TIG welding; If the spheres are partially submersed in a bucket of water just over the crimped flange, then with a low amperage on the TIG set with just enough to melt the parent metal the latent heat should not affect the bladder.

Another interesting link below from a Canadian site.

http://www.wedgeparts.com/hydragas.html

Well you would soon know the condition of the bladder once the whole is drilled as fluid would pass through on the nitrogen side. In which case the hydragas unit is knackered anyway. It is a great idea the hydragas unit just unfortunately poorly done from new. Probably just a lack of money prevented them making or using one that could be serviced.

The biggest problem with damaging the diaphragm during these drilling/welding operations is the fact that they are often in the compressed position, that is to say that when looking from the top they are convex, thus the diaphragm is too close to the top and can be damaged by drilling the rivet, and the heat of welding.
The trick is to apply a vacuum to the lower the fluid chamber, thereby drawing the diaphragm away from the top of the sphere then welding in a water bath to keep the whole thing cool. it's a bugger of a job to do and probably too labour intensive to do on a commercial basis, especially when the supply of suitable spheres is limited.

Suitable fittings need to be made, I couldn't find anything suitable here in Oz.

The next problem is getting a gas regulator capable of charging the sphere to the required pressure @ 240 psi with the unit out of the car, it would be more to fill fitted in the car with a load on the suspension.
Most common nitrogen regulators are only good to @ 150 psi, the high pressure regulators cost a heap more @10 x more! I was lucky enough to obtain a couple of quality new regulators cheap.

The quality of the weld needs to be good enough to hold the maximum dynamic pressure of @ 850 psi when the suspension is fully compressed.

The whole operation is not for the average handy man.

thanks!

I will talk to a friend of mine that is a professional welder. He does any type of welding including TIG.
I will provide your precious information to him and try to see if he is able to do the job.

Yes I would have to agree this probably isn't for the DIY mechanic charging the sphere can be very dangerous if not done correctly. We have had many a safety slide show at work of people being injured whilst charging dampers. Here is a link to the kit and charging procedures we use.

http://www.flowguard.com/instruction_docs/FSD-4-9_A2.pdf

The fittings and charging kit shown in fig 7 and above is the ones we use which on most of our systems have a pre-charge of 200bar G +. Hope this is of use to you. Not sure on the cost for the kit as work pay for it.