Thinking of going with this setup: TIG COOLER KIT I've read good things about weldtec and this cooler in particular. It's small but better than nothing which is what we have now. $650 for everything including the torch is a killer deal.
Thats a great deal, and free shipping, Thanks. Shock: monroe, 3680-07027136 this is a short shock Shock: monroe, 3680-07027134 this is a longer shock, Im sure you will need the short one.
Looks great Nate, get the shocks on BEFORE making any decisions. You got a good looking setup there. I reccomend the Bilsteins that Elpolacko helped with.
One more thing to note. Are your rear bags tied to each other? If so air will tend to be pushed to the opposite bag when making turns (more so at speed). To fix this they should be isolated from each other. Meaning they will have there own air supply for each bag this will help with the flop too. A lot of guys run a 4-way air ride setup these days. Check out ride tech site they have a lot a good info on 4-way vs. 2-way setups. If your only baggin the rear a 2-way is all you need, or just use one fill port for each bag. Hope this helps a bit.
Yeah, I read about the problems with having the bags tied together. They'll be independent of each other. No compressor, no tank. Just a fill port for each sleeve.
This is what I was talking about when I said I don't think bags will work the way you want with a vehicle that light. Even with shocks you need some way to increase the volume and pressure of air in the bag to compensate for the added weight when it's loaded. Shocks won't help that. They will stop the bouncing for you but they aren't going to fix the 3 inch height difference from when your in it to when your out. You will need a tank, compressor And some valves. Even factory air ride equipped vehicles have compressors,tanks and valves to control ride height.
Well that's my concern. Only way to know is to put shocks on the car and see what happens. Really not planning or wanting to run a tank, compressor or valves. Model A's are small and even though I've got a sedan, there still isn't much room. Going to be way less room if I gotta run all that other stuff.
here are some manual valves. they take 1/4" lines. should be able to mount them underneath the dash so no one can see them and they are out of the way. You'll need 1 for each bag you have. they aren't fast by any means but will give you adjustment. http://store.gaugemagazine.com/paddlevalveswitch.aspx If you use a pancake tank you should be able to hide it under a seat or anywhere. they don't take up much space. here's one or you could use one from a little air nailer. doesn't sound like you'd be the kind of guy to be using a ton of air constantly so a small tank shouldn't be a big deal. http://store.gaugemagazine.com/4gallonpancakeairtank.aspx and finally a small air compressor. these can be mounted horizontally like on the side of a framerail. http://store.gaugemagazine.com/viair12v380caircompressorchrome-200psi.aspx finally a pressure switch and 1/4" air line. pick up some compression fittings at the local hardware store and your set. http://store.gaugemagazine.com/175psipressureswitch.aspx http://store.gaugemagazine.com/14dotapprovedairlineperfoot.aspx
Hey man, thanks for all that info. Very helpful. When this thing gets closer to being done I'll see if I have the room for that stuff. Also, once this thing is closer to being done you'll get what I mean when I say I have little to no room. The car's super low which creates a bunch of "challenges", if you will. First, I made sure that nothing hangs below the bottom of the frame. This is great for ground clearance but bad for interior room. The engine and trans are way up higher than normal so I'm losing room there. Second, going back to nothing below the bottom of the frame, I've got to route the exhaust through the area that's below the body but above the bottom of the frame. All my crossmembers are 1.5" tall (and on the lower side of the frame only) which really only leaves me 4.5" of room on a 6" tall frame rail. I'm going to do a 3" down pipe off the turbo that will probably split into two 2.25" exhaust pipes that will have to go down along the side of the frame, jump over the rear arms (which puts the exhausting tubing up inside the car) near the bags, and dump near the rear axle. Then, somewhere, I've got to find room for a battery, a fuel tank, two seats, and potentially an air tank and compressor. Yikes.
Be creative and you'll be able to stuff 5# in the 1# bag... my truck sits on the ground, and has all the same basic issues with placement, and then some (I also shaved everything off the firewall, which means I had to stuff everything under the minimal dash). For exhaust, I've built several using Burns Stainless 304SS oval tube. Their "3 inch" tube is only 2.25" tall. Don't choke that turbo with compromises. On one of my turbo cars, I built a setup using their 3" oval tube and it works great and gives me necessary clearance. Car is hamb-unfriendly , so here are generic pics--
Yup, had my eye on oval tubing. Dual 2 1/4" exhaust is actually more than a single 3" so back pressure shouldn't be a problem. The oval tubing will work but it'll still be hard fitting a muffler in the mix somewhere. I know these all sound like lame excuses about what I can't or won't be able to do but I've seriously spent countless hours just standing out in my garage, looking at my car, and scratching my head wondering how the hell am I going to do this. I picked up some P&J shocks today at the Long Beach swap meet. They don't appear to be gas charged so I'm hoping that the resistance to opening or extending the shock will be enough to help control the squishy bags. Just gotta build some mounts now. I'll keep you guys updated.
Spintech makes mufflers with oval inlet/outlet. And, he'll even build you one that's "pipe height" (as in 2 1/4"). That was my plan for the above setup, but had the luxury of a faux trans tunnel to fill with conventional round muffler.
Well it's been 3 months but here's an update... Finally got shocks on the rear suspension and it's totally made a huge difference. No more crazy springiness. It's super solid now and finally feels right. I just went with plain ol' Pete & Jakes shocks and mounted them vertically to get the most dampening possible. The car does still raise up a bit when I get out of it but it's much less pronounced now. I get out and it just slowly goes up a little bit. Not like before where it would shoot up like 2 or 3 inches. I did decide to do a compressor and tank and I actually got a Viair 380. I found a perfect spot for it and am either going to try and find a small tank or make my own out of some 1/4 wall 4.5" od stainless steel pipe. So the small change is ride height when entering/exiting the car won't be a big deal. When I park it I'll just air it out and when I get in to go I'll just air it up.
I thought that mounting the shocks at an angle would give you more damping than if they are straight up? but i dont kno for sure. Also i had those same sleeves on a car that is under a ton (920Kg), and with shocks it rode so good i hate it! Didnt feel a single pot on the road and no bouncing at all.
Yeah, I'm sure that the more you lay over the shocks (closer to horizontal) the less dampening you get. As an extreme example, image laying the shocks over completely horizontal. Obvioulsy you'd get zero dampening effect if the suspension travels vertically. So, the more upright you make the shocks the more dampening you get. Having the shock be totally parallel with the suspensions direction of travel (vertical) should get you the most dampening.
I thought those long bags were more for add on "hellper springs" for trucks carrying loads? The bags in that location won't give you much up and down either.
Those are sleeve bags, not helper bags. They are designed for this application. They have plenty of travel. The ones in the picture should have about 8" of travel.
OK i see the point. Maybe they are stiffer if at an angle then? which is what i wanted to achive in the 1st place. Right or wrong?
Great info here. I am looking at putting bags on the rear of my 62 F100 Unibody which is already set up with a four link.
The Jalopy Journal
