Mustang Air Ride?

[wiedemab]

I'm really seriously considering putting Air Ride on my '89 Mustang. Any thoughts. I'd probably bag it and then save my money for some good double adjustable Bilsteins. I thought about their AirStruts and shockwaves, but after talking it over with them, I think the separate bag and strut is a better way to go (CoolRide). My car is mostly for ripping around on the street, but I will probably try to hit as many of the RTH type events as I can. The AirRide gang put some pretty good times down at RTH2. I'm just really diggin' the slammed look when parked.

Any thoughts are welcome, but I'd rather not get into a technical discussion about the progressive nature of airsprings versus a coilover spring. I'm aware of these things, but for my application, I think it would suit me pretty well. That being said, I've never owned a car on air, so opinions are welcome.

If anyone has any pictures of a Fox Body Mustang on air, I'd love to see some.

OK - Dinner time

Later,

Brandon

[THX 138]

close. Same chassis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFmzsMkRxpk

[wiedemab]

That was a pretty cool demo video. That car looked great. I'd like to drive a car like mine with bags. I think the key to getting air bags to handle is a good set of adjustable shocks. I'll take anything over my Eibach springs as far as ride comfort. Hopefully with adjustable valving I'd be able to cruise comfortably and also tune if to perform respectfully too.

The Air Ride fellas really ran the piss out of their stuff at the RTH autocross, and performed really well.

[formula]

You're right on adjustable shocks being the key to ride quality...once you hit that sweet spot with the shocks and air pressure, ride quality on air is incredible. I don't have any experience with the coolride stuff, but I really enjoy driving my shockwave setup daily. I have a feeling you'll enjoy it too if you're used to eibachs.

[TUBED]

I say do it, you'll like it.
Gerald

[Gordz32]

I'm just curious, other than the cost, what made you look at the coolride syst3em over the shockwave system. As far as handleing, the shockwave setup is far superior to the coolride system. Air ride Tech has a really nice product and there customer service has been great for me.

[wiedemab]

I was originally looking at their AirStrut and Shockwave setup. Apparantly due to some problems with their previous shock manufacturer (I won't mention the brand), they switched to Bilstein shocks. In making the AirStrut for the Mustang they have had some tire interference problems (depending on wheel and tire combo) with the new design. In talking to them, they think that I can get basically the same performance with the CoolRide if I use it in conjunction with a good set of double adjustable struts and shocks.

I'm going to try to get some Cash for X-mas and funnel it toward this.

Brandon

[darren@ridetech]

Just want to clarify one thing. It's the McPherson style AirStruts that we are switching over. All the Shockwaves are the same.

[wiedemab]

Sorry Darren, if I stated that incorrectly. I'm always leary about answering questions like that, because I may have understood something differently than is the actual case. I'm glad you are checking up on me!

As soon as I see how X-mas is looking I'll be giving you a call. I'll probably run with my current shocks for a little while until I can save some more cash to upgrade them.

Later,

Brandon

[Gordz32]

gotcha!

[formula]

Just want to clarify one thing. It's the McPherson style AirStruts that we are switching over. All the Shockwaves are the same.

Whew!! I thought I was already outdated!

[wiedemab]

This was my quick little update on my web site.
__________________________________________________ ______________
Well, I've been tossing around the idea of putting Air Ride on my Mustang for a while now. I finally decided to go ahead with it. After talking to Darren at Air Ride Technologies, I decided to go with their CoolRide setup. For now, I'll just keep the shocks and struts that I have, but I'll be looking into some double adjustable Billsteins.

Along with the ART CoolRide, I purchased a 3gal tank and a Thomas 317 compressor off of Ebay. I also sourced the digital pressure gauge and the Asco 3/8" solenoid valves from Ebay. I mounted it all to a piece of 3/4" MDF and used the original trunk carpet to cover it.

I test wired the entire setup before installing any of in the car. If anyone is looking for a way to simulate a car battery for such purposes- here is what I did. I bought a 450W ATX computer power supply. It put out 20A on each of 2 outputs. It worked really well for testing the compressor, solenoids, gauges etc. Once I have the entire management system complete in the car, I'll proceed to tear down the suspension

__________________________________________________ ______________

I'm going to have a buddy of mine laser out a stainless switch panel that will mount under my ashtray door, so they can be hidden.

Side Note: whatever paint is used on the Firestone air tanks does not like to be painted over. I sanded it down and sprayed some primer over it. It curled up like I put stripper on it. So the I ended up having to strip it all to bare metal and start from scratch. It ended up being a bunch of work for something that will be hidden in the trunk, but oh well!

Later,

Brandon

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/01/ARM1JPG-1.jpg
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[darren@ridetech]

I'm not sure what is on the Firstone tanks, but the newer tanks that we are using are powdercoated inside and out.

[wiedemab]

I'm glad it wasn't powder coated in a way, because it would have been really hard to strip and paint body color.

Classes started back up for me in the evenings so I'll probably be slow going for a while, but I'll post some progress as I go.

[wiedemab]

Update: It's back on the ground. The front tires actually bottom out into my inner fenders, so I have to be gentle when laying it down. My quad shock will also bottom out into my rear brake calipers.

I've got some details to button up, but it's nice to see it back on the ground.

Let me know what you think.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/02/ARM5-1.jpg
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[Rubes]

Looks good B. Looking forward to getting mine. Ordered up a set for the Impala and the Malibu.

[wiedemab]

Thanks! Hopefully it will warm up sometime in the next few weeks so that I can road test it.

Brandon

[Tony@AirRideTech]

Siskel and Ebert gives you two thumbs up! Now take that dude around some corners and let us know what you think.

[formula]

wow! no offense but I was worried it was going to look kinda funky because of the body style, but that thing looks sick! Great work mang!

[wiedemab]

Hey thanks for the comments. It's going to have to wait a little while for the maiden voyage. We got about 6" of snow today and it's been cold as hell!

Formula- I can see your reservations about the body style. I haven't seen too many Fox body coupes (actually I don't think I've ever seen one) on air. I did some photochops prior and liked the look and I've been wanting to give Air Ride a try.

I've got air bags on my '52 Chevy truck, but it's not finished yet.

I had hoped to get some good shocks, but I'm going to have to wait a little while. I've kind of blown my budget out a little on this car!

Later,

Brandon

[LMDGUY]

SICK! I miss my foxbody..

[MonzaRacer]

yeah its hard to make the Fox coupes look a cool as the hatches but the color scheme and wheels work well for you.
As for the quad shock set up you can set that stuff on the shelf and put in some good control arms and beefy sway bar and with the cool ride your not gonna need the quad shock system.
I had a 71 Monte with thrashed rear springs and worn out shocks and when i went to Bret back in 98 before the East coast power tour I slid in some boxed arms, pol bushings and a good set of take off shocks(customer came in with a chevelle and thought it needed new shocks and the old ones were fine) anyway I put it all together and it had absolutley no wheel hop and the 60 ft times at the track were, on street tires, all within 0.008 on all my runs at the track and tyhis was a 4000lb car with no gears, not much converter and I was still tuning the engine. and it ran 10.12-10.08.and this was with 2.73 open rear and just belw me away how consistent it was.
So if you can get some good Monroe or Gabriel shock till money come through for higher dollar adjustables it is still a good up grade.
Lee

[darren@ridetech]

Lookin good Brandon...
BTW, the front struts for the SN95 & 05-Up Mustang are almost ready to ship. We ended up using a Bilstein monotube stut, they work really well. We have had a set on our 05 through several Auto Cross and Road Courses with 0 problems.

[wiedemab]

I've pretty well got everything wrapped up. I flipped the quad shocks back to their stock orientation and that allowed the brake lines to clear. Everything is mounted and ready to go. It still needs to be aligned. I finally let all of the air out of front bags - man does it go low. Hopefully the weather will warm up and clearn up here some time in the near future so that I can get it back on the road and try it out.

Here are a few pics from earlier tonight.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/02/IMG_186920Medium-1.jpg

Here's one with my dumbass in the picture!
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https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/02/IMG_187420Medium-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/02/IMG_187720Medium-1.jpg


I'm going to bed!

Later,

Brandon

[Z06killinSBF]

Nice setup. If you want to increase the shock travel for the rears, you can fab up some extended mounts ( have done it myself ) and I will ride TONS better. Looking forward to seeing some driving pics.