What in the heck does this stuff do?

[jordanGT]

I just bought all the stuff I need to set my air-ride other than the air-springs themselves, and the 1/2 inch line it's gonna take to plumb everything together. 2 3-gallon tanks, a thomas air compressor, 75-250 psi pressure switch (tanks and compressor already wired together with hard line), a box holding all 8 of the 1/2 inch parker valves, with the valves already hard-lined together; i just have to run line from the tank to the valves; a 10-switch box and 2 dual-needle guages, 1/4 inch line to run to the guages, as well as all the fittings i'll need for the whole car. i can't wait.

[jordanGT]

i'm planning on painting the tanks red and covering the switch box and the box with the valves in it with red vinyl. definitely gonna recover the switch box, not too sure if i'll mess with the stuff in the trunk or not.

[GTon9teens]

damn that is gonna be so tight, i've been debating on bags for so long, i put hydro's on my impala back in the day, and it was so much fun, i miss it
how much are your spending on that setup, i called CCE about a month ago and they have a complete fastbag setup for $1700 for the GA, but then you gotta find installation,
some one said it would be around $500
im just worried about going through tires once a month, my impala ate tires, i had to rotate them every two weeks and get new tires once a month, the only thing holding me back is the thought of having to spend $1,000 a month on tires
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/lowrider68/images/1setup.jpg
2 all chrome comp. Showtime Hydraulic pumps (12,000 lb pumphead in each pump), (10) 31 series batteries.

[balludc]

wow man.... that will be so sharp!!!!!!!!

-derek

[jordanGT]

Originally posted by GTon9teens
damn that is gonna be so tight, i've been debating on bags for so long, i put hydro's on my impala back in the day, and it was so much fun, i miss it
how much are your spending on that setup, i called CCE about a month ago and they have a complete fastbag setup for $1700 for the GA, but then you gotta find installation,
some one said it would be around $500

i spent 900 for all that stuff that fills my trunk up now; 145 a piece for slam specialties bags, so that's like 600 for those, plus enough 1/2 inch line to plumb it up and the machine work to get the strut and bag mated together.
me and a buddy are gonna do the actual install ourselves. the wiring will be easy, as will plumbing the valves, and once i get that machine work done, all i'll have to do is rebolt in my strut assembly, which has been done in my garage before, so screw paying someone 500 bucks to install it.

[JWeavis]

I think you'll get more looks in the General Section. Looks like fun!

[SilverEcstasy]

Don't take this the wrong way, but I thought you were getting rid of the car?

Either way, its going to be sweet! NeonGA had a setup just like this I believe. I think he put the compressors right where you did, then put a lifted deck to make it look cleaner.

[jordanGT]

well, i thought i was gonna get rid of it and get an s-10, but that fell through, and i'm glad it did. the family junk got worked out, so i went ahead and kept throwin' money at the grand am. :) i don't know what i'm gonna do to make the trunk look better other than painting some stuff, but it'll be alright.

[Greed4Speed]

Not to be rude or anything but the assembly looks pieced together at best. Whoever made it was too lazy/cheap/unskilled to bend their own hard lines. It looks like a plumber did that!

I had an '86 Lincoln Mark VII LSC with airbag suspension and it didn't have any big arse tanks like that. The pump pumped directly to the airsprings, no tanks involved. Check out reputable kits and see what I'm talking about.

As for tire wear, ya...If you run it sitting low it'll wear them out fast. Thats like running your car without being aligned.

[SilverEcstasy]

Originally posted by jordanGT
well, i thought i was gonna get rid of it and get an s-10, but that fell through, and i'm glad it did. the family junk got worked out, so i went ahead and kept throwin' money at the grand am. :) i don't know what i'm gonna do to make the trunk look better other than painting some stuff, but it'll be alright.
Thats awesome man! I'm really happy that all worked out with the family. I felt in the same position at one point, but we worked things out. Glad you are stayin with the GA Family! Good luck with the system!

[jordanGT]

thanks bud, didn't know that...the thing is...your pump on your old lincoln didn't throw 250 psi through the bags either. any decent air-ride system has a compressor and a seperate tank. you find me a picture of a truck using half inch valves and no tanks...:tool:

EDIT: MIke, it looks like i sent this reply at you, but i didn't. you posted right as i was typing my reply to the other guy...:)

[SilverEcstasy]

Originally posted by jordanGT

EDIT: MIke, it looks like i sent this reply at you, but i didn't. you posted right as i was typing my reply to the other guy...:)
Hehe its okay :thumbs:

[Greed4Speed]

Thats just it...you don't need 250 psi. Your car is far lighter than that Lincoln. Are you trying to make it move like hydraulics? Even a shop air compressor doesn't use piping that large, unless you're running airlines across the shop itself. I doubt any show quality vehicles have black castiron piping for air lines. Hand bent tubing or braided hoses with anodized connectors would be far better looking.

[jordanGT]

it's gonna be a fast system, yes. no i don't need 250 psi; i won't run 250 psi most of the time. but it'll give me a giddy smile every time i turn up the pressure and bring the back end off the ground (hopefully)
and no, my trunk set-up is nowhere near show quality as far as looks, but it's a good set-up. i may paint the tanks and recover that box of valves, and if/when i do i'll probably use some braided steel lines in place of those hard lines. but there's nothing wrong with that set-up. it's not 'cobbled together' it'll do its job and it'll do it quite well.
have you ever seen a car using 1/4 inch air-line? it's **** slow gettin' up and down. i don't like that. i want to get up and down fast. the appeal of air-ride is quite weak when you hear a 10 second psssst and watch a vehicle going down like granny onto the toilet seat.

[GrafxWerks]

Originally posted by Greed4Speed
As for tire wear, ya...If you run it sitting low it'll wear them out fast. Thats like running your car without being aligned.
Not to mention the fun you'd have replacing your CV joints on a regular basis!


- Ryan

[Greed4Speed]

Unless you run the same size lines to the air bag, it'll still be slow.

[jordanGT]

i'm gonna run 1/2 inch line from the tank to the valves and from each valve to its respective air-bag.
and thank you for the concerns about problems with driving it too low. i wasn't really planning on driving with 0 psi too often, though.

[Xride]

Originally posted by Greed4Speed
Even a shop air compressor doesn't use piping that large, unless you're running airlines across the shop itself.


Hand bent tubing or braided hoses with anodized connectors would be far better looking.

We have 4" piping at work for the 1000 PSI lines ;)

I think that the install is almost the larger part of getting somthing like this then what it does. if the install isnt nice it takes from teh whole system, SS braided lines wiht the anodized would look pretty sharp.

[Greed4Speed]

It doesn't have to be 0 psi to run low. Any change in front end geometry can cause worn tires.

[jordanGT]

thanks for your concern green. i understand how air suspensions work, though. if i didn't, i wouldn't be spending my money on it. since i was 15 i planned to have a frame-laying minitruck, but that just didn't work out. but i've still learned a lot more about air suspensions since then. it will be aligned at ride height, and i will drive most of the time at ride height. i'll only be low, in general, when i'm parked or when i'm cruising slowly through a show grounds.

as for the set-ups looks, i'm not too worried about that right now. i want to get my interior done to my liking first, then i'll worry about painting the tanks and running some braided lines.

[ArcticWhiteSE]

My friend jared has bags on his grand am now, and his tires got a little worn because the fruit was driving around about a hair off the ground the whole time.....Boy did he learn the hard way!!

Peace.

Arctic