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air ride systems >350z<


valy

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Hi,

 

since there wasn't much info I can find on the forum regarding air rides unless I cruise through some of the member builds I thought it might be nice to gather some info/details/pics in a thread

 

what have you got

what materials have you used for the boot build

setting,etc....

few pics

 

:snack:

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Just as I was leaving e90post.com after my BMW got stolen, there were a whole bunch of discussions about the performance potential of air ride, with of course the old school crew saying things like 'why fit air to a sports car, it's not a low rider, it'll be dangerous in the corners, etc etc.' Of course the other side popped up, citing various manufacturer g pad figures that showed that the performance of a good air system was just as good as stock shocks and in some cases cheap coilovers too, as long as the car was run with an appropriate ride height that didn't mess with the geo too much.

 

Anyone got anything to say about that as far as the Zed is concerned? Do you you think it's possible to improve on the stock suspension with air-ride? Would anyone go as far as to say that a well setup air system CAN be as good as coilovers? Thoughts?

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Not as redundant as you might think for me. I already have HSD Monopro coilovers, set very close to stock ride height since I have a 1 in 5 incline as a ramp in and out of my garage as well as a right angle turn at the bottom. Keeping the car somewhere else is impossible. Even at stock height minus about 12mm I rub as I cross the threshold of the garage. I would love to be able to fit air ride just to be able to raise and lower it as I get in and out of the garage (and also drop it to the floor for meets, etc) but I do care about performance, I do drive the car hard, but don't go on trackdays, so don't need 'ultimate' performance, I need a good balance though. For me the whole question is 'how much of a compromise is it, really?' If it's too much of a compromise, I'll stay at my current height and enjoy my coilovers, but if not, it's something I would think about.

Edited by Aashenfox
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I was not impressed with the 350 suspension standard, a proper airlift 3P is most definitely better than stock shocks and springs, road or track. Coilovers is a different question but air suspension has improved a lot over the last 3/4 years.

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Yeh, that's what I keep hearing (that the performance of modern air-ride systems has improved a lot), but you know what it's like when you want to hear something, its hard to be sure you're being objective, so thanks for that.

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Few and far between, you need to be chatting to mopedmark and paralello.

Nearly its Parello haha!

 

One of the negatives of airride is the winter! My car stayed on the floor when the compressor froze did not move one inch!

 

But thats the only negative i have! It's such a good bit of kit as soon as you read reviews it just makes sense, i went on track too.

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Would anyone go as far as to say that a well setup air system CAN be as good as coilovers?

 

I would very much think its dependent on the coilover, whilst i have no doubt its improved massively there is probably a reason why most motorsports still use springs and shocks, apart from the associated gubbins necessary to run air :)

Edited by Jetpilot
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Hiya I have had the airlift 3p kit on my car since about august last year. It's a great bit of kit. People do still say running airbags on a sports car ruins the car because a sports car should not be on bags. But I disagree completely. As it's already been said airlift kits have come a long way and they have been well tested.

I mainly brought my kit because I love the look of slammed cars sitting on the floor but this isn't practical to drive and is to easy to brake parts off your car that you have spent a lot of money on. I haven't personally been on track with them yet but I do know that they would perform great. There have been tests on track with airbags and always good results.

So much easier to set you driving heights than having to jack the car up and get out your spanner for the coilover to drop it back down then realise you want to lower it some more 😂

 

Here's what I have done when we fitted mine just for some ideas

 

I removed the ashtray and fed the cables through from the boot for the controller. This just needed a little cutting and it dropped straight in ðŸ‘ðŸ»

image.jpg5_2.jpg

 

 

I made some templates and cut some 12mm mdf to make the floor. Had to make this in 2 sections to get it in the glued carpet to it.

And this is where I decided to fit the compressor & management. There is a handy grommet in the boot that you can feed all the airlines through into the boot ðŸ‘ðŸ»

image.jpg2_5.jpg

 

Tank is mounted just in front behind the seats.

image.jpg3_4.jpg

 

Then made this part after making another template and fitted Perspex to it. The management box sits a bit higher than I wanted but it's okay. This can be removed to get to any parts I need to. And also made a board for the other side to box it in under the strut part. This was all carpeted too.

image.jpg1_9.jpg

 

And this is how it sits after with empty bags 😀

image.jpg2_6.jpg

 

Hope this may help a little bit

Edited by Dean.B
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Not a problem 👠Yeah hopefully I like seeing how other people fit theirs.

Just to add I mainly decided to fit mine like this , because I wanted to be able to keep my spare wheel in the back. So I made this and can squeeze my spare wheel out if needed.

The Only downside of this is the compressor noise. When I first fitted it it was very noisy due to the vibration from the compressor going through the mdf board. So I brought the airlift compressor isolator kit, and that has stopped the vibration but you can still hear the compressor ofcourse.

This only runs when the airlift has been used and runs until my tank reaches 149 psi which doesn't take too long.

Edited by Dean.B
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Interested in fitting an airlift kit myself. Wondering how people went about doing it theirselves mainly running the air lines. Some people run them through the car and others outside the car (dependant on the car)

 

Everyone loves saving themselves some money by doing things themselves :)

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Mine are all fitted underneath the car and run into the boot. We mainly followed the root of the brake lines etc under the car where possible.

Rough cost would probs be around 3000 that would depend on fitting costs though, because if you were to pay someone to fit it for you that could cost up to 1000.

I agree with mark though, when I was helping to fit mine I got to know where everything is and what everything does. So if I did ever have a problem I would have a good idea of where to look and what to do.

 

Few more pics as requested.

 

 

IMG_0521_zpspwvmj0kc.jpg

 

You can see the metal plate I had made up to hold the manifold in position

IMG_0520_zpsbwl7bskn.jpg

 

Existing hole in boot for airlines

IMG_0522_zpsfojql7lu.jpg

 

Nearly there just some sanding

IMG_0516_zpslp8cvzsb.jpg

 

This is how it sits over the spare wheel

IMG_0517_zpseksxdrin.jpg

 

After some carpet

IMG_0519_zpsrhx98qbb.jpg

 

20160813_192808_zpsgo94cwvm.jpg

Edited by Dean.B
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