Hello all. I'm been rolling this thought around in my noggin' for a few weeks now. I want to lower the rear of my 62 caddy, but have a nice little steep kicker at the end of my drive that I allready s****e on when I have a full tank of gas. My thoughts were to either cut the rear coils or have some shorter coils made and put gabriel hi-jacker air shocks on. Coils would lower the car where I want it and when I need to get out of my drive, air up the shocks to bring the car back up to ride height? Shocks and a little compressor can be had for about $150-200. cut coils are free... Any thoughts on this? Would the ride just ****? not work at all? Thanks bryan
you could probably bag it for about 300 if you buy your stuff off ebay. or for alittle less than 500 off suicidedoors.com 2 2500 Firestone Air Bags (each) $139.98 Viair 380 Compressor (Chrome) $164.99 5 GALLON 4 PORT TANK $34.99 2 E-valve 1/2 250 psi $59.98 Ford Ranger Front Cups $59.99 Airline 50 Feet (3/8") $19.99 2 Toggle Switches $9.98 Amount $489.90
ok so i'm not this far ahead on my 62 but since you asked i'll ask for some more info. what else would i need for the front? i know bags but would i need another tank or compressor?
you might want a bigger tank and another compressor. you also need cups and and atleast 2 more valves. if you run 2 valves per wheel you will get less body roll.
That's exactly what I did on the Shine-O-Matic '58. Just needed to get in the garage and over speed bumps. The ride is fine until you get to 80-90lbs. Then its a little firm. I usually cruise at 35-40 lbs. and it feels about what stock felt. I went to Autozone and picked out air shocks. Used their book to find the right ones. And I got the compressor kit from JC Whitney.
depending on how much you cut your coils this will not work. i tried this back in the day when i was into lowriders and had a 85 fleetwood broughm coupe! i have 4 turns cut out of the rear! 2 air shocks and i bought a 12v compressor from the parts store (just the ones that plug into the lighter) with that many coils cut i didnt not have enough spring tension to get any lift out of the car. it worked when i had 2 turns out but my car sat to high. on my 61 coupe deville i had i cut 2 out the rear and 1.5 out the front and it rode nice still and never hung up on any thing ever. I would try to bag it if you could ask on here maybe some one has some used bags and ****.
on my 61 coupe deville i had i cut 2 out the rear and 1.5 out the front and it rode nice still and never hung up on any thing ever. I would try to bag it if you could ask on here maybe some one has some used bags and ****.[/QUOTE] I'm not worried about draggin, just getting in and out of my drive. Thought this would be cheap and easy to see if I want to bag it in the future. I would only cut the springs a little...they are allready 'tired' and I'm running 225/70 tires that makes it ride a bit lower allready. thanks bryan
Maybe this is a dumb idea that would never work, and maybe I'm a complete idiot (and gay) for bringing it up, but I've always wondered if you could get a wrecked newer caddy or town car with factory air bag suspension & adapt it to an older car. Wrecked cars are cheap cheap cheap!
i wondered that too, but i wonder how many people have thought of it before us. might not be many around
My motorhome has bags on the front and they tend to leak down over time. I have a T on the dash and a gauge. I have one of those cheapy 12V air pumps that run off the cig lighter I can connect to it. I hide it under the driver's seat when I don't need it.I have been wondering why you can't just have a set of bags on the rear with a T and air it up when you feel like it. For me it would be like towing a trailer behind my 36 or whatever.......no need for a compressor. Just 2 bags some line and a schrader valve T.
you could do that no problem i have a schrader valve on my tank just incase my compressor fails. you would have to thinking ahead if you wanted it just for getting into the drive way. but that would get old. so you can get two bags from suicide doors. there 62 bucks each then run a cheepy on board compressor like i used to do in my old caddy and just use that. they come with the chuck so u can just snap it on the schrader valve and fill her up no need for valves. u can get the 10 feet of line and fitting you need at your local truck stop. my car has all airbrake lines. i bet you could do it for around 175 bucks. Thats very close to what you would spend on your air shocks. and as long as you can weld u can build your own bag plates and just set em right where your old springs would be. That would be the way to go. then you can just slowley buy the rest of the stuff you need for the bags when u have xtra money. i think i paid 19.95 for one of those little compressors at the parts store. or u can use a early mid 80's caddy compressor they used to have onboard airshocks for towing (least my 85 did) but the parts store one would be easier since u dont have to mess with lines and figuring out the wireing on it. only draw back is you will have to either install like a air compressors pull valve to let the air out or pull the schrader valve or something like that to get it back down
I pulled the compressor off of a 90's Buick LeSabre my friends dad had behind his shop. Ran a couple of wires to a toggle switch and it works fine. Takes about a minute to put enough air into the tank to get the truck to ride height. It takes about that long for the truck to warm up so it doesn't bother me at all. Cheap and easy fix for someone with shallow pockets like myself. Mootz
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