One more attempt to gather information on a air suspension for mkIII. Please, help

[Korg77]

I fed up with repair of bumper and welding the silencer after cruising on our roads with their speedbumps and parkings with high curbs.
The only way out i see is installation of a air susp.

Having no stock shock absorbers i prefer to use what i already have. It's bilstein shocks and airbags 3x130mm (3x5").

I see no reason to order the receiver at the other end of the planet, as well as the pump and hoses and so on. I only need to buy a valve block and control system of suspension. DakotaDigital and Airride sell a bunch of components. But i'm interested only in electronic system - computer and "angle" senders. Which one to choose? Other variants?

Who has experience of such swap? Rear fenders are rolled already to fit 9,5" +30 wheels, but i heard also that mk3 camber becomes more positive when you lowering the car. Is it right? Do i need to install an additional ~1 liter reciever for every bag to switch the damping pressure in different susp position?

I made some drawings in 3D, is it correct?

 

[IJ.]

I run an AirRide system in one of my non Supra Cars, it's brilliant!

 

[Korg77]

No doubt it is brilliant, i've heard only positive feedbacks.
But what's about susp. managing system? Is there other solutions? I mean valves, ECU, senders?

 

[IJ.]

I just bought their complete kit, one thing I did do was block one exhaust port on the Valve block then run a line inside the chassis rail from the other to slow and muffle it when you drop the car.

The system comes with height sensors and does a cool self calibration routine, full high to full low even muffled is about 8x faster than an SC400, I bought 2 complete kits, one for my DD as well just haven't got around to fitting it yet, a caveat is the spring rate is going to be about 30% stiffer than most aftermarket springs so adjustable shocks are a must.

If you have a look at Random's Pics thread in member's rides on the last page you can see the range of travel.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

I believe Arnout had airbags on his car waaaay back when. I've always been curious if there was a way to have an instantly adjustable ride height without breaking the bank. I know Lambos (and I'm sure other high end cars) have it as an option in the front.

 

[88SupraT]

One idea I have seen that looks to work well is a airbag "cup" kit. From what I have seen it's an airbag system which installs over your coilovers or shock/spring setup which gives you airbag height adjustability with whichever setup you have. Here's a couple pics from a guy that installed it locally to me on his g35 and I believe he is using bc racing coilovers with it. Might be an alternative to look up.

 

[Korg77]

I believe Arnout had airbags on his car waaaay back when. I've always been curious if there was a way to have an instantly adjustable ride height without breaking the bank. I know Lambos (and I'm sure other high end cars) have it as an option in the front.

The pig moneybox remains untouched if you do it by yourself. Look at the draws - cost of bags is $40 each. Machineworks about $50. The moneybox should be broken when you buy a control system of such suspension. It seems to me that Accuraid processor and height sensors are excessively expensive.

 

[Korg77]

>88SupraT: $2500 for front set? No, let me out. I'd rather make it by myself. But i have no idea how it works

 

[88SupraT]

>88SupraT: $2500 for front set? No, let me out. I'd rather make it by myself. But i have no idea how it works

wow should have looked what the price was for a set didn't realize they want you sell an organ for just the fronts.

 

[planemos]

I've airbagged trucks and I know a thing or two about air ride. You have pretty small airbags so it will take a high pressure to get them fully inflated and get to high ride height. So if you run 1 little compressor filling a 5 gallon or bigger air tank, then it will take a long long time to fill up. You will be sitting there waiting for the compressor to run all the time. I find that the best gauges are just basic needle gauges, one for each corner. Don't just run 1 airline to the front and tee it. You want 1 line going from the air tank to each corner. Also if you want to be making fine adjustments then you will want to run small size valves. 3/8 inch or so. It will make the adjustments happen slower. You could buy a valve block and control system. I would just buy some switches and 8 valves. Then plumb them up myself with some fitting off of the air tank. Using teflon tape.

 

[Korg77]

planemos, i've missed something due my not so good english. So, you say that better use 4 usual air pressure gauges? would you recommend valve block for this setup? i still cannot catch, why 8, not 4 valves? Yes, i dummie.

 

[IJ.]

4 for up 4 for down, the AirRide system comes with an 8 valve block and it's ecu will level the car no matter what load is in it on any of the 4 corners..

All depends on what you want, if you need something with all the intelligent OEM features or are happy with a dumb system like Planemos describes.

 

[Korg77]

Interesting. A "dumb system" can be upgraded to intelligent in future? without needing to dispose of some previous components, of course/

And another "don'tknowwhy": Some setups use four bags as i have already, but some have sleeve type bags for all four corners. And some setups have sleeves on back and toroids on front axles. Why? What the difference?

 

[Korg77]

For instance: If i do this:

and then, in future, will try to upgrade to airrade without swapping the valves

 

[destrux]

Just wanted to clarify that the camber does not go positive on compression. That's some false info some guy posted on his blog (that's about how much he hates Supras) and it's now become an "internet fact". The most "positive" point in the camber curve is at (or very near) original ride height. The blogger reasoned that since the suspension gains negative camber on droop that it must go positive in the other direction... which is halfway true, but it stops going positive and goes back to negative when it passes midpoint near ride level.... just like every other SLA suspension car out there.

 

[planemos]

Your car will corner better if you keep each corner on a separate air line off the air tank. If you tee the fronts together than the air will transfer back and forth between the left and right airbag in hard cornering. I like setting it up so that you can control and monitor each individual corner. With my airbagged truck I have 6 inch wide airbags on the back and 5 inch wide on the front. The bigger bags fill up and raise the truck faster. So when you run those small airbags like you want then it will take a lot of pressure to fill them. You don't want to cheap out on your compressors. And the larger airbags will ride better and be generally more comfortable.