Air ride Suspension
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My 2 cents on Air Ride Stuff...
Ive had the full Air Ride kit installed on my '63 Wagon with the "Ride Pro" control setup / 4-bar rear / shockwave front / 3/8" diameter airlines for about 2 years now... My 2 cents on what we (My Dad and I) went through installing it.
1) Not sure if it's a Wagon only deal, but the link bars were too long in there "kit" form. (Meaning it increased the wheelbase of the car, once everything was reassembled & installed you could see a shiny spot on the driveshaft yoke going into the trans where it actually pulled the driveshaft out of the trans more than stock.) May not be a problem on sedans, but on the wagon the increased wheelbase caused the tire to contact the spare tire well on the passenger side when the suspension cycled through it's travel and wouldn't allow the car to move... We shortened the lower bars 1" (can't remember how much on the uppers) welded everything back together and that problem was solved. I told Air Ride about the problem, at the time I had the only kit installed on a wagon, they had sold one other for a wagon, but it wasn't installed yet...
2) Again, just my preference... Unless you have a good reason to get bigger airlines DON'T DO IT !! I regret having 3/8" lines and wish I had smaller 1/4" lines... Which leads me to my next issue...
3) Repeatability of the system isn't all that great. Without getting too technical on things the combination of 3/8" airlines and open / close air solenoids don't do much for consistancy. My kit came with ride height sensors (installed at all four corners) as well as pressure sensors on the solenoid/distrubution block. The system has too much air volume and can't accurately repeat...
In closing... (my disclaimer) this is just my opinion on my experience. I bought the kit because I run big wheels/tires on my car (big for stock suspension car 18x7 front & 20x8.50 rear) and I could never get the car as low as I wanted in the front w/o fear of "zinging" the front fender lips. So I thought Air Ride was the solution. Unfortunately I could air the car up & down 5 times and the front end MAY be at the same level 2 or 3 out of 5... Most of the time it's too low and I have to get out of the car & check ride height before I feel confident driving. I believe cars are meant to be driven, and I've driven mine less and less since it's been "Bagged". I've got a fairground flyer not a freeway flyer, and that's not what I want. At this point I plan on pulling all the Air Ride stuff off my car and heading back to the drawing board so to speak. (I will most likely share the rebuild in a seperate thread when I get going) Heck... If you read all this and still want it, I'll sell you my stuff! It's got less than 300 miles on all of it! (Except the 4-Bar, it stays.)
Please don't slam me on my reply... Nothing against Air Ride they make a very, very nice product. If it's what you want there is nothing wrong with it. I just realized it wasn't what I wanted... Expensive Mistake, Live and Learn ! !
Good Luck with your project!
Ive had the full Air Ride kit installed on my '63 Wagon with the "Ride Pro" control setup / 4-bar rear / shockwave front / 3/8" diameter airlines for about 2 years now... My 2 cents on what we (My Dad and I) went through installing it.
1) Not sure if it's a Wagon only deal, but the link bars were too long in there "kit" form. (Meaning it increased the wheelbase of the car, once everything was reassembled & installed you could see a shiny spot on the driveshaft yoke going into the trans where it actually pulled the driveshaft out of the trans more than stock.) May not be a problem on sedans, but on the wagon the increased wheelbase caused the tire to contact the spare tire well on the passenger side when the suspension cycled through it's travel and wouldn't allow the car to move... We shortened the lower bars 1" (can't remember how much on the uppers) welded everything back together and that problem was solved. I told Air Ride about the problem, at the time I had the only kit installed on a wagon, they had sold one other for a wagon, but it wasn't installed yet...
2) Again, just my preference... Unless you have a good reason to get bigger airlines DON'T DO IT !! I regret having 3/8" lines and wish I had smaller 1/4" lines... Which leads me to my next issue...
3) Repeatability of the system isn't all that great. Without getting too technical on things the combination of 3/8" airlines and open / close air solenoids don't do much for consistancy. My kit came with ride height sensors (installed at all four corners) as well as pressure sensors on the solenoid/distrubution block. The system has too much air volume and can't accurately repeat...
In closing... (my disclaimer) this is just my opinion on my experience. I bought the kit because I run big wheels/tires on my car (big for stock suspension car 18x7 front & 20x8.50 rear) and I could never get the car as low as I wanted in the front w/o fear of "zinging" the front fender lips. So I thought Air Ride was the solution. Unfortunately I could air the car up & down 5 times and the front end MAY be at the same level 2 or 3 out of 5... Most of the time it's too low and I have to get out of the car & check ride height before I feel confident driving. I believe cars are meant to be driven, and I've driven mine less and less since it's been "Bagged". I've got a fairground flyer not a freeway flyer, and that's not what I want. At this point I plan on pulling all the Air Ride stuff off my car and heading back to the drawing board so to speak. (I will most likely share the rebuild in a seperate thread when I get going) Heck... If you read all this and still want it, I'll sell you my stuff! It's got less than 300 miles on all of it! (Except the 4-Bar, it stays.)
Please don't slam me on my reply... Nothing against Air Ride they make a very, very nice product. If it's what you want there is nothing wrong with it. I just realized it wasn't what I wanted... Expensive Mistake, Live and Learn ! !
Good Luck with your project!
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6,497 Posts
I ran 1/4" lines on my car(not an air ride system). Larger diameter lines do make things happen too fast. Couldn't see how some people run 1/2" ortwin up two 1/2" lines in order to get the car/truck to jump. You could slow the system down by reducing down to 1/4" lines before the solenoids and or installing mechanical flow valves to limit the volume of air thus allowing the ride height sensors to be more accurate in closing the solenoid at the correct height. Raising the car should be slower then lowering the car.
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8 Posts
Shane, I thought of those options... Yes the 1/4" lines and manual flow valves would help. The flaw in the system is the solenoid design. It's open or closed and you can only adjust the frequency or pulse that they open & close on... A reduction on incoming psi (at least with my current setup) would just create "busier" solenoids. (They would just continue to open & close trying to get to the proper ride height... Same thing it does now when the tank is running low.) I read a while back that Air Ride was in development of a needle valve type of solenoid that would have a variable amount of flow based on how much the valve was open (think Air Brush tip...) IMO that would really help things out a BUNCH !:yes:
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72 Posts
Air ride
Thanks for the info Shane and others..... my main idea is to have the air ride for road handeling not to bounce up and down... do u think that it would work ok for that??? also my 67 is a 2 door hard top. From what I can see from the install instructions the 4 bars bolt to the original front leaf brackets and the only thing that is fabed is the brackets for the top bars, were u have to weld the tabs on to the top of the rear end housing, sounds simple enough???
Extreme
Thanks for the info Shane and others..... my main idea is to have the air ride for road handeling not to bounce up and down... do u think that it would work ok for that??? also my 67 is a 2 door hard top. From what I can see from the install instructions the 4 bars bolt to the original front leaf brackets and the only thing that is fabed is the brackets for the top bars, were u have to weld the tabs on to the top of the rear end housing, sounds simple enough???
Extreme
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11,931 Posts
I've heard a few comments from nova owners that have airride systems in their car but before I post them how will you be driving the car? You said you want it for better road handing but that is a fairly wide spectrum. You can get better road handling with a CPP kit also and it would be much less expensive since you said ride height was not a priority for you.
John
John
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3,849 Posts
And yer right on the money.
If you are set on your ride height, and it needs to be set for an air ride too, they have ONE ride height, where the control arms are set correctly, thats your ride height. So the adjustable height is nice for oh who knows? Sitting in the weeds at a car show. But other than that there are so many other possibilities that are less expensive and give better performance.
IMO the air ride systems are ok for a show/drive car. But if your objective is to just drive it like yer having fun, there are some better methods of suspending the car.
And yeah, I have an air ride, yet to drive it. Not gonna do any shows. Gonna get some groceries, thats about it. So why did I go that route????? LOL HELL, I dont even know. Just one of those things, going from a not so good coilover setup to hopefully something slightly better. JR
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72 Posts
John... I do not want to smash it into the weeds, what is this cpp system and were can I get it???
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6,497 Posts
John's right. Air ride isn't for everyone. They do handle(at least Air Rides system does) but if you only need or want one height then CPP(and the Church Boys system is a good choice if CPP and rack and pinion is wanted) or one of the numerous front clips are a good way to go. Best bang for the buck is CPP and if rack and pinion is wanted now or in the future then Church Boys/CPP would be the choice for me. If you want big block or LSX engines or more engine compartment are then one of the front clip would work.
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396 Posts
I just got the CPP single adjustable Coil over set up and I was expecting a little bit more. I don't think the rebound adjustment is the issue, I think a lower spring rate would make it ride softer but the adjustment in the shock could make it firmer? I'm getting more road feel, like a tight bump feel? This is why I was thinking of going to Air Ride. But I don't want to spend a wad of money and still be dissappointed. I have a custom set of coils 1-1/2" shorter and edelbrock shocks in my converible and the ride is nice, but for the wagon I thought the coilovers would be nicer.....
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4,070 Posts
How heavy is your spring rate? You could opt for a light spring and a heavy sway bar.
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4,070 Posts
You can start with this..........
.................and in the future it can be outfitted like this.
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Great, you have to throw out the good stuff. Some stout looking arms there.. Really nice looking setup... JRYou can start with this..........
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396 Posts
I went to the CPP website and it looks like they only have one spring rate for their coil over kit (for the SBC) is this a custom spring for this kit or is it a standard spring size. Should I bite the bullet and order a pair of double adjustables?
CHUCK! Yer killin' me with the lower arms! I'm ordering a set from Walt this week for the 63!
CHUCK! Yer killin' me with the lower arms! I'm ordering a set from Walt this week for the 63!
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4,070 Posts
You will be even more pleased :yes: once you get them with the powder coating, that picture was before the coatings.
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