Mini Cooper subframe with hydrolastic suspension
John has reduced the 1275 Cooper to its constituent parts. Pictured here is the front subframe on which the HYDROLASTIC suspension hoses can be seen at the top of the housings which contain the “wet” suspension bladders. This is a fluid medium suspension with all four wheels of of the car interconnected so that a jounce at one corner causes a rebound at the other three.
It is well known that after designing the iconic Morris Minor, it’s principal creator Sir Alec Issigonis went on to design the Mini. Less well known is that the suspension came from the drafting of table of one Alex Moulton C.B.E. Rubber was the Moulton family business, they were early licensees of Charles Goodyear. Hydrolastic was the originally intended suspension system for all Minis, but it warn’t ready in time, and the solid rubber suspension used on most of them was simply a last minute lash up by Moulton as well !
What a difference..
...A day makes
Welcome to the vagaries of spring. On Monday Steve put the gold series 1 E-type thru its paces and we’re pleased to report that it now has four forward speeds in its Moss ‘Box. It took Patrick about 20 hours to dig it out and put it back. Of course he took advantage of the access to fix a few other things as well. Tuesday I was out in the GT
Five Guys: Patrick & his crew re-attach the bonnet
in a full-on winter storm that dumped 14 inches of snow in our corner of Vermont. Let me just say for the last time, that if you’re going to be out driving in winter conditions then ditch the Three Season Radials before they ditch you. Invest in your personal safety and buy four studded snow tires.
Now that it is spring we’re likely to get a couple of real snow storms.
Jaguar cylinder heads came in a number of different colors depending on the head and when the car was built. The “C” type head in my XK 140 is red, and to the best of our knowledge, the later “B” type head on the Mark IX is supposed to be a metallic blue, so after taking care of the tappet guide hold downs, Butch took care of little paint job, too.
The finishing touch: "B" type metallic blue for the Mark IX cylinder head
