MG Quiz

maxi
Allegro
Ambassaodr
Princess
then as before?

Sorry for the delay, snow on the lines, internet keeps dropping connection.

Rog I gotta give it to you. The first car to use Hydragas suspension, was the Allegro, followed by the Princess then the Ambassador .

The Keys for the MG Quiz are now in your hands, take care on the slippery roads.

Picky here

ADO16 was the first to have hydrolastic suspension in 1962 ~ Morris 1100, 1300 etc

All minis from 1964 until 1971

The Allegro
Metro
Maxo Austin 1800
Princess
Ambassador
Maxi
Rover 100
MGF

2. The fluid hoses came out of the top of the displacer units on the Hydrolastic units and they were connected front to back. the later Hydragas Speheres have the fluid lines coming out of the side of the lower part because the top of the sphere is filled with Nitrogen.

Picky reply here, we are only interested in Hydragas not hydrolastic systems, but thanks for the info Bryan.

Ahhh. Maxi only had hydragas from '78 onwards.

Anyway, what's the story:

Hydragas was first introduced in 1973 in the Austin Allegro and was later fitted to the 1975 Princess and its successor, the 1982 Austin Ambassador. Between these last two and the Maxi in 1978. All systems attempted to address the ride-handling compromise of car suspension by interconnecting the suspension of the front and rear of the car in some way.

:woohoo: rog1963,

You're under starters orders, and .... you're off

Thanks to everyone for helping you

PQD44 wrote: Hydragas was first introduced in 1973 in the Austin Allegro and was later fitted to the 1975 Princess and its successor, the 1982 Austin Ambassador. Between these last two and the Maxi in 1978. All systems attempted to address the ride-handling compromise of car suspension by interconnecting the suspension of the front and rear of the car in some way.

:woohoo: rog1963,

You're under starters orders, and .... you're off, time

Thanks to everyone for helping you

Sorry i didnt read the question correctly :slapme: :slapme:

Part 2 first ~ the Hydragas units were NEVER interconnected across the car, they were always connected front to rear. Interconnection was dropped in 1980 on the Metro for design & cost savings, but Moulton convinced BMC to interconnect the rears across the car for stability and an attempt to reduce the "knobbly" ride.

Part 1.
1973 Austin Allegro
1975 18/22 series Austin Princess
1978 Austin Maxi
1980 Austin Metro
1982 Austin Ambassador
1990 Rover Metro/100

1995 MGF (parts bin special)

My case rests

Yes Rog gets it :yesnod:

Thanks for that Bryan, you've become extremely adept at being very wise after the event, please do try and get your reply in before others do the research and post an answer Just kidding, you are quite right, your table of Hydragas suspension cars is the most thorough - Thank you.

Well back to rog1963's question

rog1963 wrote: Anyway, what's the story:

As Mr forgetful is yet to make an appearance I shall take up the mantle of tenuous link answers and offer this as the MG - Tiger -Darts link;

Ever since its introduction in 1962, the MGB two-seater roadster and later, the hardtop coupe were our most popular and best-selling sports cars. They are well-built and finished, and they had a substantial, reassuring feel on the road. But you could never pretend that their 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine gave enough power to move the car's one-ton weight in the manner in which it should be moved.

The problem of the under-engined MGB remained but British Leyland were too busy revamping their more popular lines to do anything about it. A solution was found - albeit at a price - by a free-lance engineer and well-known former saloon car racing driver called Ken Costello. After 2.5 years work in the garage of his bungalow in Bromley, Kent, Costello has developed an MGB which could out-drag a Jaguar E-type up to 100 mph, which had a theoretical top speed of 140 mph, and which is actually lighter than the original car.

The Sunday Times, described Costello's solution as A Tiger in MG's Clothing.


Just out of interest, this car is still apperently in use and is currently SORN, perhaps waiting for the spring to leap in to action...Roooaaaaar :lol:

Maxwell Boyd of the Sunday Times takes up the story;

"The new car is called the Costello MGB V8, and its secret is the 3.5-litre V8 Rover engine, which fits snugly under the bonnet with hardly any modification at all. Made wholly of aluminium, this weighes 60 pounds less than the MG engine, yet it has nearly twice the cubic capacity, 50 percent more power (150 bhp compared to 95 bhp) and double the torque.

The result is an MG which, as I discovered last week, combines all the tigerish acceleration, power, and speed you would ever need, with kitten-like docility and mechanical silence. Moreover, since the weight distribution is now 50-50 front and rear, the handling and roadworthiness of the car are of a very high order."

So what about Darts I hear you ask, aahhhh you are forgetting about SAM Costello, top man in the Hampton Mini Summer Darts League. His check-out of 160 is the highest in all four divisions, but his team, The Griffin Brentford, are only third in the Second Division, 16 points off the top. What car does Sam Costello drive? :yesnod:


Hows that for 'Forgetful' answer

Sunbeam Tiger
Daimler Dart?

David Aiketgate wrote: Sunbeam Tiger
Daimler Dart?

....and the MG link, sorry to be picky

Just as a reminder, the current question by rog1963 is about half way down the previous page

PQD44 wrote: Thanks for that Bryan, you've become extremely adept at being very wise after the event, please do try and get your reply in before others do the research and post an answer Just kidding, you are quite right, your table of Hydragas suspension cars is the most thorough - Thank you.

Well back to rog1963's question

rog1963 wrote: Anyway, what's the story:

As Mr forgetful is yet to make an appearance I shall take up the mantle of tenuous link answers and offer this as the MG - Tiger -Darts link;

Ever since its introduction in 1962, the MGB two-seater roadster and later, the hardtop coupe were our most popular and best-selling sports cars. They are well-built and finished, and they had a substantial, reassuring feel on the road. But you could never pretend that their 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine gave enough power to move the car's one-ton weight in the manner in which it should be moved.

The problem of the under-engined MGB remained but British Leyland were too busy revamping their more popular lines to do anything about it. A solution was found - albeit at a price - by a free-lance engineer and well-known former saloon car racing driver called Ken Costello. After 2.5 years work in the garage of his bungalow in Bromley, Kent, Costello has developed an MGB which could out-drag a Jaguar E-type up to 100 mph, which had a theoretical top speed of 140 mph, and which is actually lighter than the original car.

The Sunday Times, described Costello's solution as A Tiger in MG's Clothing.

Just out of interest, this car is still apperently in use and is currently SORN, perhaps waiting for the spring to leap in to action...Roooaaaaar :lol:

Maxwell Boyd of the Sunday Times takes up the story;

"The new car is called the Costello MGB V8, and its secret is the 3.5-litre V8 Rover engine, which fits snugly under the bonnet with hardly any modification at all. Made wholly of aluminium, this weighes 60 pounds less than the MG engine, yet it has nearly twice the cubic capacity, 50 percent more power (150 bhp compared to 95 bhp) and double the torque.

The result is an MG which, as I discovered last week, combines all the tigerish acceleration, power, and speed you would ever need, with kitten-like docility and mechanical silence. Moreover, since the weight distribution is now 50-50 front and rear, the handling and roadworthiness of the car are of a very high order."

So what about Darts I hear you ask, aahhhh you are forgetting about SAM Costello, top man in the Hampton Mini Summer Darts League. His check-out of 160 is the highest in all four divisions, but his team, The Griffin Brentford, are only third in the Second Division, 16 points off the top. What car does Sam Costello drive? :yesnod:


Hows that for 'Forgetful' answer

A chap i know called Lawrence Wood bought a Costello Roadster from one of our club members three years ago and started a website/forum in an attempt to find and reunite as many of the 250 odd MGs that Ken Costello converted in the seventies. he has been very sucesful so far and continues to find them . have a look at his forum www.mgcostello.com :yesnod:

XKN 490 J is a 1974 MK2 GT owned by Richard White and is awaiting restoration.

BTW Lawrence will be invited to bring his Costello on Epsoms Surrey Run again this year.

Picture of XKN 490 J


:bang: got uploading problems :bang: :bang: will do it later