Customs Air ride guys. Need advice on valve block.

Hey guys, I'm hoping that by this thread I will learn of some new options when it comes to valves. I'm doing an air ride on my 63 1/2 falcon. This car means a lot to me as my grandfather purchased it new in the summer of 62 while on a summer road trip with the family. Any how, he was a machinist and everything he touched turned out to mechanical gold. There are a lot of custom touches that he did to the car when he had it. I want to keep the car very clean and do it in a way that he would be proud of.

Any how, I am looking for a clean way to control the air ride. I have not ruled out manual valves. The only thing I require is a clean looking instal. Ideally I would have a valve block in the trunk ran with all hard lines (stainless if I can flair it and afford it)

My car has a factory center console arm-rest option so I can likely hide the control in there. It does not need to be hidden as long as its clean and look like it belongs. Nothing that looks like it would be home in a civic.

I don't want anything fast, as I am not trying to bend my uni-body car in half...

So as I mentioned earlier, I am looking for new options. The individual valves (parker etc) look stupid to me...and something that belongs on my sprinkler system.

I remember about 5-6 years ago, there was a valve out that was a solid block that had two solenoids...one on each side and you could bolt them all together. Something like that would work..

Any ideas, criticism, PICTURES, etc very welcomed.

As a side note (dont hurt me) I am going for something different...so I am running air cylinders up front. I came across a set new for very cheap from a member here. I decided on them due to the short upper control arm and the fact that the articulation will really fold the bag more than I am comfortable with. If it doesnt work (I think it will) I will go to a bag. But I decided to try this first. Its different and I think it can look much cleaner than a bag.

Thanks for your help and God bless.

Rob

 

heres a good falcon thread for ya

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80033&highlight=falcons+done+right

 

Yup! Love that thread, thank you!

 

clean but way to expensive...



better but still $115 a piece...



This actually looks clean but still kind of "plumber" haha.

 

I perfer these manual valves from M.I.C. no wiring or malfunctions cheap easy to install....





Or if you want Hi-tech and clean go with accu-air manifold!!



-COS

 

Man, I really like those manual valves. Are they all 1/4"? Link to website?

Thank you!

 

http://www.masterimagecustoms.com/products.html

No, used to have a set of them in 1/2" - my advice is to buy four of them your car will ride much better than with two.

 

Their website is acting up. Any other place to order the toggles? Are they two way or just one?

 

A.I.M. sells a A.R.T. knock off valve block for a third of the price that comes with metal fittings.

 

forgot about them. I will check them out. Thank you.

 

try http://wheelsnparts.com/
they have reasonable electric valves and valve blocks

or http://www.airbagit.com/Air_Shocks_s/30.htm
they have the shockwaves for half the price of others and custom cut to length.

 

in the hot road world, airbagit.com, ch***is tech or aim may not have ****ed over enough people yet to get the bad rep it has in the minitruck world, do a search on street source.com and it will yield some fun answers, complete and utter garbage.

i understand you not wanting to go with individual valves but if you want to be inexmensive thats about the only way to do it, you can plump them all tightly and hide them behind a nice panel in the trunk and still make it look factory

as far as the manifold goes. best affordable one out is made by gc valves the accuair i would not advice because they are a newer company and no feedback is really available yet, it looks pretty but hell i can make a piece of brown **** look pretty too lol the gc manifold at the bottom of this page http://www.theslamstore.com/category_s/2.htm is where i would go for a manifold

also just as a comment, if your grandfather couldnt have made it id be damn sure he wouldnt skimp on buying some nice products, AIM, or Ch***is Tech or airbagit.com anything from them is not one of them, spend a few extra bucks on the gc manifold, it works 10 times better than the air ride technologies one even

 

just contact kustombuilder here on the HAMB and he can hook you up with all your bag needs.

 

I went with the accuair valves. Very pleased with them so far.





The controller is actually smaller then my cell phone.



It's also considerably less cluttered then what we were running.

 

True, and thanks for the input.

 

It looks really great. Thank you for the pics.

 

great info here-at least on airbagit.com they give basic info on what you need to consider when building an air system (of course pushing what they sell). Thanks aceuh for posting pics of how you did yours. I have a '51 Ford coupe with a Camaro clip that has bags, but need to completely redo air system, so always looking for ideas before spending $ and time.

 

check out waylayedinc.com or suicidedoors.com for airride parts. I've delt with both company's and both have great deals and customer service. waylayd has some really good hard to beat sales all the time and SD has plumbing diagrams in thier tech section to help you build your system.

 

You should also consider giving Gambino a call or PM. He hooked me up with a really good kit for an awesome price and i'm really stoked on how everything came out. I just finished today..Ok I'm lying, i have the 2 lines for the front and the gauges air lines to do tomorrow and that's it!!. If you like the valve block he can hook you up at a good price!! Here's my set up if you're also looking for set up ideas.













Ian

 

That looks really great! Where did you get the finned gauge holder? That would look perfect with my interior as it does your.

Rob

 

Aceuh, that Accuair setup is real clean. Gotta check that out!

 

Thanx man!! So-Cal speedshop online,30$, they sell single , double , triple. The cheap ugly ones from auto gauges sell for 20$, so it's a great price!!

Ian

 

I got my valve block direct from air ride tech. If you order from them there big red valves are on sale right now. I upgraded from a setup I had from airbagit. Night and day difference in quality.

 

There is some truth to distrusting AIM, however the ART manifold is no way near worth it's price tag. Valves are valves, there is some difference in orffice size and quality diaphrams, but even if the AIM contains junk, it can be replaced/rebuilt with a 10 dollar Parker rebuild kit. The ART block has a less then 3/8s inch orffice. The AIM has a valve size of over 3/8s. The ART has plastic fittings (these things leak when the tempature changes!), the cheapy has all br***. Br*** fittings go for about 6 bucks a piece. Theres at least 6 fittings in a manifold block. Slide some DOT tube in a br*** fitting and it wont leak, even on cold mornings.

Keep your system dry (both inside and out), away from heat and from potential abraisions and even a modest "off brand" system will function for many slammed miles. Having said that, put your bucks into a compressor (or 2), thats the one thing that takes a beating in an airide system. Tip, if your car has AC it can easily be converted to fill your tanks, for low-dough.

And self-leveling systems and like training wheels..

 

LOL!

Thanks for all the good advice. I did end up going with some of the lower end stuff because that is what the ends will allow. I did not get individual valves, but a block instead. I want to mount it all together and do some hard line to keep things tidy in the trunk (or maybe under it...dunno yet).

I've installed a few self leveling systems on customer cars and they were nightmares, not to mention worthless.

Again, thanks for all the ideas! I am tired of seeing all the cookie cutter setups, and wanted to do something different. Its about like seeing an SBC in early ford, any more.

Rob

 

I'm not sure I understand why you're saying that a self leveling system is worthless. The accuair system has sensors that monitor height not pressure. I found that when we were still using gauges that even though I might have inflated the bags to a pressure that I had previously used, it was possible for it to not be sufficient due to variables such as load or temperature.

For instance, the first time my wife went to back the car out of the driveway with a couple of her larger friends with her, she had inflated the bags to the pressure that she and I had always used. The extra weight of the p***eners still had one side of the car leaning way to low to exit the driveway.

I'm not saying that gauges aren't useable. It just seems that they're affected by loads so much that they're only useful as a guide. For our use, the management system has been great. We simply get in and hit a switch and it goes to our predetermined ride height every time. It doesn't matter how much of a load we've got in the car, it will always lift to the same height. This has also allowed us to get a true alignment done on the frontend. Sure, gauges and experience will allow you to set your height pretty close but I'm doubtful that you'd be able to get it exactly the same every time. So by default your alignment is only going to be "close".

I've also got a preset that puts the car just above the point of touching the ground. This keeps us from having to use the "drop it til it s****es and then bump it back up" method of determining our cruise height when we really want to roll it low.

I also agree that keeping your valves clean is a key factor to them working properly. We're running a moisture trap between the compressor and the tank, we've got a drain on the bottom of the tank with a ball**** valve and another moisture trap between the tank and the valve block. Every time we pull the car back in our carport the trunk gets popped and we purge the traps and the tank.

So sure, a management system might be overkill and considered "training wheels" for the occaisonal weekend car. On our car that gets driven alot with different drivers and p***engers, it's a conveinence that takes a little of the h***le out of driving a car that's on air.

 

Sweet *** ride Aceuh! After you get a few miles on ajustable suspension, you just sorta know where the car is sitting, and how long to hit the switch., at least with 3/8s valves. Ive done my past few rides with only a tank gauge, no real need for anything really. Anyhow we can all agree that airide is the best thing to happen to custom cars (and Kustoms) in the past few decades.
Do what works for you, but do it correctly.

 

seriously, seriously, seriously do not go with the blocks...

i cant say enough how many people ive seen with issues with em, and if one part goes you pretty much need to buy a whole new setup unless u take it apart and figure it out..

plus, they are WAY too much money for the lack of performance they give

get 8 valves, and mount them remotely... you can run 1 line off the tank into a bank of valves and put them anywhere you want.. might look like plumbing **** to you, but works MUCH better, much easier to fix, much better performing, and they really can look good if done well..

either way, i guess i cant convince you if you think the generic looking blocks look better than the individual mechanical pieces..

but no matter waht, you can hide the **** outta them both.. the blocks are just overpriced as the day is long..

 

I made the mistake of going with airbagit in the beginning. They were total **** and getting the company to deal with defective **** is a nightmare. Luckily the **** I returned I sent by return receipt proving they got stuff back then it took several phonecalls to get replacements which worked for a while then failed just like the originals. Never again! For fittings I started dealing with local heavy truck parts suppliers. They use the same stuff on their trailer air brakes and they have self-serve parts bins like a hardware store.

Ask Alex Gambino for parts that work. He will take the time to help you and he gives Alliance discounts. Great guy too!

 

I see your point on the auto leveling. Perhaps I was harsh and should I have just said it is not for me. I'm glad that it works so well for you. Your car looks great by the way!