I just bought a 47 chevy with air bags on the front and back with the stock suspension up front.It appears that they welded different cups for the springs to hold the bags which looks OK but the link for the swaybar is bent to hell.I would like to keep the bags if possible but I want a better ride.The rear is FUBAR they used the stock old leafs and just mounted airbags instead of shocks.The springs are bent and I need to replace them.I really want to keep the airbags but I think the instal is ****.I bought the car off e-bay with out looking inperson and it is a piece of **** underneath.It is really nice from 10 foot.The floor is full of rust the gas tank leaks from being installed wrong,the exhaust is sitting right on an airbag and when they put in the 350 and cut the floor they never put metal back it is just carpet.I could put my foot through the floor if I am not carefull.Any help would be great
Sounds like a nightmare, stick it back on ebay, get rid of it and cut your losses. Find a stock one and do the job correctly the first time.
post pictures of it before you ebay it agian so none of us buy it. just kidding man sounds like u need alot of help on this thing saerch the threads there is many about airbag installs.
I am in Torrance work graveyard shift so I am up at night not a tweaker jsut working.I could not sleep if I sold the car to somebody like that.The rest of the car is pretty nice just the bags ****.I have stock springs for the rear if I had to go that route.I bought the car from a well known chopper builder in LA named Mike Powers not J.J.I e-mailed him back and told him what a pile of **** the car was he said sorry I feel that way but the car always got trophies at shows.There is so must rust in the trunk that the battery for the airbags was sitting on the gas tank.When I pulled the tank out the battery almost fell on my head.I bought the car to take my sons to the LA roadster show and the Ink and Iron festival but I do not feel safe driving it with my kids in it right now.
Dood, post up some good pics, there are plenty of knowledgable ch***is people on here thet could give you an educated opinion. Kind of need to see the evidence to make a rational judgement. Good luck.-MIKE
how good of a welder are you? If you are confident in your welding abilities, then redo it right. replace tthe cups up front and either build a link suspension or install a premade one. If you can't weld, take it to a shop. Do not cheap out on suspension, even more so if your gonna be driving your kids around. and post some pics too. Curious to see what the bikes this guy builds look like if he thinks that kind of work is acceptible.
My father is an excellant welder and can do the job for me.I have been trying not spend more money but your right I should just buy a four link set up and install it.I have stock wider springs I can put on it also .The rear end is a 10 bolt out of a camaro they put spring perches on it but they are only tacked not fully welded.I do not know if I really want bags for this application.The car is done up all lowlow style with visor,skirts and all sorts of fog lights and stuff.It has 100 spoke daytons on it which are the first thing to go.Do you now anybody that sells a good four link kit?
Well if your trying to save cash and your not even sure you want bags, and you have springs just put the springs in. I ***umed you wanted to keep the bags. But still fix the front cups. I am not real sure about the 4-link as I built mine. I'm sure you can get a good one from air ride technologies, or suicidedoors.com, but if you dad is a good welder you could probably just build one for cheaper. here are a couple of pics of how I kinda did mine.
I would ditch the car if I could...drive it up to Burbank and drop it off...if not there is a world of help here for you. And here is his website.... http://www.powerscustomcycles.com/about.html
looks like an ebay lesson learned. back in the day, i bought a '62 "rust free" Cadillac on ebay. When i got it, it was about breaking in half w/ rust. it instantly got the nickname "tet****." lesson learned, and i will never again buy a car site unseen. i got the mechanicals working well on that car and resold it on ebay with a more honest description. i didnt lose my *** too much.... -scott noteboom
I had a customer that bought a $25k Caddy on ebay without flying out to look at it first. Got it shipped to the shop and the rust was so bad it crushed the framerails when we put it on the lift! A plane ticket cost a couple bills and I would rather loose that than money spent on a whole car. As for the car, if you like the rest of the car, I would gut the underside and start over. If you don't want to get into that much work on it, as said before, ditch it. Got any pics?
Since your local, check out The Shop at Lomita and Eshelman in Lomita. They specialize in air ride suspensions. They also sponsor a car show at Sullys, every Sunday at 4:00.
Sorry to hear you got screwed by an unscrupulous seller. It sounds like you will never be happy with this POS no matter what you do. All you are talking about is Band Aid solutions for a car that is fundamentally junk. If the guy who sold it to you is in the automotive business and licensed in CA, you may want to talk to the CA Bureau of Automotive Repair and the consumer affairs department of the CA Attorney General's office as well as the Better Business Bureau - just Google them. If they seller is in the auto trade, he almost certainly knew what a POS this was when he sold it and failed to make full disclosure of known material facts. Put some heat on this guy - even if you do not win, he gets a whole lot of 'torture by bureaucracy' and it may teach him not to screw people. Or as others have said, just resell it and cut your losses. You will never be happy with it.
I am going to keep the car I am not into loosing money.I could sell it and get most my money back but I am not comfortable selling it to anybody like it is.Its not like if I drive the car to his shop he is going to just say her is your money back.If it was 20 years ago I would drive it through his shop window but I am a bit mellower now, got kids to take care of.I just got off work and am to tired to take pictures.I might on Friday.That is a nice homemade fourlink.I could get the heim joints out of McMaster Carr through work.It has a nice tank and compressor,get this **** the battery cables were held on with hose clamps the guy builds bikes but couldn't go buy a 3 dollar terminal for the battery.What a jack hole.Thanks to all I am getting some good ideas.
The car is far from fundamentally junk.The body is straight the chrome is nice the interior is nice and the paint is nice.I would never have been concerned if I did not look under the car.The Garage in Torrance is that yours I see the name matches your name?I might be to far south are you talking about the shop in the back part of the old tire shop across from 7-11?
Dont lose faith. Some times its better to start back from scratch and build it all your way. Atleast then you know what youve got, and not some cobbled together **** some one else has not installed properly. It may take a little more money and a little more time but youll have the satisfaction of doing it your self, know that its right, and will be able to find replacement parts if ever needed.
Well we have all been burned by ebay once or twice. But it a chance for you to learn and work on your car. Go buy some sheet metal, fix the floors. Super easy. Get a 4 link from Gabino here on the HAMB(its a really good 4link kit). Research posts on here on how to install 4 links. Not super easy but its not that hard either. Buy some cups form suicidedoors.com ( good company) reinstall youre fornt bags. Ditch the sway bar(if your ride height is low, and youre running 4 independent bags and your not racing the thing you wont need it for a cruiser...yes my opinion) And if youre wanting to drop the thing on the ground moght as well notch it while you are 4 linking it. Oh and reroute the exhaust! Good luck!
Good for you man, really. Just fix whats wrong and get on with it. I know from experience what a bummer it is to find that you got screwed, but old cars like this deserve to find an owner who will bother to make them right again.
if the car is nice up top, then it should be worth your time to fix it right. I'd take one of the locals up on help with fixing it. Shouldn't be too tough to fix the bags and the holy floor. Good luck. This will be the best car you ever owned... karma points for not selling it on ebay to some ****er.
just checked back on the thread lots of good advice once again.I have repaired the gas tank and put it back in and I have also moved the exhuast from hitting the airbag on the drivers side.I have also reworked the wiring in the trunk for the batteries and airbags.I will deffinately check out the links you guys have given for parts.I need some fittings to re-route the air lines they are kind of ****ty looking.We have driven the car a few times and are getting some enjoyment out of it so it makes it easier to spend more money.What do you do with the stock front sway bar when you run bags?The end link is all bent up form the travel of the bags.
From your description I dont doubt its bad. But one of the ways to do air bags in the rear is use them and one stock leaf. For a parallel rear that is. 4 link is nice but the fore mentioned isnt wrong, but it needs to be done right.
The one bright side is the car is a Chevy - even if you wanted to just go back to stock, suspension parts are cheap and plentiful. Which is one option if you don't want to get into engineering the airbags so they're done right, on your own.
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