Well so far so good the car raises and lowers all on it's own.... with a
little assist from the air compressor... now on to the rear of the car..
the front bags are done and they work like stink... if pushing on a fender
is any indication... these should be a Big improvement....
I need to find a quality bump stop though... the lower A frame is right at
the frame when the bags are deflated and the chassis cross member actually
sits on the Ground... so a normal bump stop is in order to give it the one
inch clearance while all of the air is out of them... we installed them so
there would be air pressure in them at ride height.. Mandatory for making
them live..
This has been a really interesting solution.... as far as I can tell it is
going to meet all of my original goals....
now for the real decisions like the mini air compressor and the spare
battery.. to power all the electrical systems not important to the race on
the track... like starting and so on.. ought to be an interesting day
tomorrow....
Keith Turk
Austin Healey 100 / Bugeye / Box Sprite / Bonneville Land Speed Racer
Camaro ( D Gas Altered )
----------
> From: Keith Turk <kturk@ala.net>
> To: land-speed@autox.team.net
> Subject: Air Ride suspensions
> Date: Friday, January 29, 1999 9:23 PM
>
> Lets start with my reasons for running an air ride suspension in the
first
> place...
>
> A. for a car to go fast It makes sense that the front end be as low as
> possible to keep the air out from under it..
>
> B. with the change in rear tire altitude to aid in final gear selections
I
> wanted to keep the body at the correct rake or angle... The best
knowledge
> I have says that about 3 degrees of rake is close...
>
> C. Loading this pig on a trailer is about a two day job...
>
> D. I wanted a quality set of headers that I didn't donate to the Concrete
> at Maxton... the Track is great but a car that is this low... doesn't
fair
> well on the return road or the cut off to the starting line..
>
> E. I wanted to have the car up to work on it in the pits.
>
> All this having been said the air bags from Air Ride suspensions got here
> today and I started to work on it... the front left bag is sitting in its
> well and totally replaces the original coil spring. the installation
seems
> pretty straight forward so far and I am looking forward to hoisting it up
> the first time with air.. Range of travel adjustments can be made during
> this installation... but the front are pretty much limited to about 6"
and
> the back is limited to 5"
>
> The final Racing altitude is where the front suspension has to be aliened
> and must be maintained while the car is on the course... But the Ride
back
> to the pits will be at altitude to prevent from scraping the headers and
> cross members off the car..
>
> The Air source for this system has yet to be determined... I didn't order
> the on board compressor yet as I wasn't sure it was a mandatory
> requirement... we'll see
>
> Keith Turk
> Austin Healey 100 / Bugeye / Box Sprite / Bonneville Land Speed Racer
> Camaro ( D Gas Altered )
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