Constant, variable or professional grade springs??????

[gadget73]

Da fuq? LOL elaborate pls! If peeps can yank their air springs out and just drop coils in what's preventing you from doing the opposite?

On an aero, there is a hole in the top of the spring pocket where the air solenoid sits. Its not there on a box. The shape of the upper part of the perch is different in some other ways too, but thats the biggest problem. The air spring just won't go in with that upper spring area shaped the way it is. At a minimum it needs a hole cut for the solenoid, and the center hole on the spring pilot tit needs to be bigger. Ideally it would have that whole area cut out and transplanted with the pieces out of a roundbody car.


The load level things wouldn't be too hard. I'd just need to figure out what are appropriate valves to use. Most of them are intended for unidirectional flow, so its possible it either won't fill or won't vent, depending which way I face them. Most of it is about operating the air pilot that actually causes the valve to move. If i had some air in the springs, it should likely always open and then it would work normal. Its that initial fill that would be the challenge.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

On an aero, there is a hole in the top of the spring pocket where the air solenoid sits. Its not there on a box. The shape of the upper part of the perch is different in some other ways too, but thats the biggest problem. The air spring just won't go in with that upper spring area shaped the way it is. At a minimum it needs a hole cut for the solenoid, and the center hole on the spring pilot tit needs to be bigger. Ideally it would have that whole area cut out and transplanted with the pieces out of a roundbody car.

Well you know someone who's pretty handy with both metal separating and metal joining tools, so I don't see the perch swap being too big of an issue. Altho EZ Pull apparently no longer allows cutoff wheels, and using a sawzall with just an inch of clearance between the frame and the body above it when the sawzall has a stroke that is longer that than may be somewhat challenging... Better scavange the needed pieces before some asshole sets a car on fire in the other yard too and they also ban cutoff wheels.

The load level things wouldn't be too hard. I'd just need to figure out what are appropriate valves to use. Most of them are intended for unidirectional flow, so its possible it either won't fill or won't vent, depending which way I face them. Most of it is about operating the air pilot that actually causes the valve to move. If i had some air in the springs, it should likely always open and then it would work normal. Its that initial fill that would be the challenge.

Why couldn't you just use the factory electronics? With mechanical valves like big trucks and buses use, depending on how you have them set up, you may end up that every time the suspension goes up and down over a bump on the road they can vent out. Not an issue when you got an engine driven compressor and at least three storage tanks, but the Panther stuff just ain't cut out for that kinda duty cycle. That's why they went all electronic, yeah it's got some pretty stupid inputs (doors, VSS, etc.) but those should be easy enough to work around if needed. And factory springs already have the proper bi-directional valves in them...

[gadget73]

I really don't want to remove the body from the frame to change out part of the spring perch. I really don't even want to screw with the frame on the car for any reason right now. If the body comes off the frame, its going to be apart for a while to sandblast and paint it. Not really into funding for that right now, and the rear in the truck needs attention more.


Can't use factory solenoids with load level air bags that sit inside coil springs. The type I was thinking of using have an air line in and an air line out. I'm thinking electronic solenoid type valves, not mechanical nonsense like big stuff uses. I don't want to use the 80s stuff because it maintains pressure in the system all the time, and the way all that stuff seals it always has some amount of leakage. Add to that I have 1986-specific parts that I can't really get replacement parts for. My compressor and drier assembly is different and weird and it leaks fairly badly because I have parts from 3 different compressors cobbled together to make one that sort-of works. The later compressors won't install in my mounts, so I've got the '86 motor and compressor rotating assembly with a later cylinder head and drier. The drier is smaller, so the mounting brackets don't hold it. Its held in with a zip tie. My pump is also in the back, where all the later ones are under the hood. I want to swap all that stuff for 1990s parts that I can get, and put the compressor under the hood.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Oh you were talking about air springs that live inside coils? I thought that since you mentioned frame differences you were looking for a way to swap in the factory 90s air springs... The frame work the way I was thinking about it wouldn't be too bad and certainly wouldn't need taking the body off - basically cut out of your frame the minimum amount needed to clear factory 90s air springs, then from the donor car cut out sections of spring perches that are a bit larger than what was chopped off yours, lay the new larger pieces over your smaller frame holes (from underneath the car) and weld around the perimeter. Of course I gotta take a close look into the frames to see if that's even possible based on crossmember shapes and such, but if it is then it should be a fairly quick and easy job.

Regarding the valves, the solenoid valve I run on my air horn is exactly like you said earlier, it's unidirectional but that's only in regards of holding the pressure back - the way it sits right now it obviously holds the pressure in the tanks unless it's energized, but if I flip it around and thus pressurize the other side the air will flow thru it even when the valve is technically shut (found that out during initial install, stupid thing wasn't marked in any way and I apparently had it in backwards so the moment the compressor started charging the tanks the horn started singing). In a Panther air ride one could install just a single such valve per spring - it would hold the pressure inside the spring and only vent it out (thru the air line and the compressor) when it's energized, while the compressor can blow right thru it and refill the spring even when the valve is shut. If you only have one height sensor on the rear that's a good way to go about the mess I think.

[gadget73]

Initially I was, plan "this shit don't fit" is load assist bags inside the coils.

as long as it holds air in the spring when not powered, then it would work. It will power to fill too, but obviously it can't just blow pressure back when the compressor shuts off.

[sly]

The load assist bags I have are max 35 PSI FYI.

[gadget73]

someone must make one that will do more. Not sure what that compressor maxes out at, but it would be decidedly irritating to have the bag explode just because it trimmed itself.

[sly]

considering it works on level and not pressure, unless you REALLY loaded down the car, you'd probably never have issues. Might be worth putting a "blow off" safety valve on the line just in case... or dropping in bags of sand until you hit 35psi and note the weight and not go over that.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Well the level is a function of pressure, but I think even 35psi rating may be just fine considering the main load is still carried by the coils - IIRC those things have a surface area of around 10 sq.in where it counts, at max pressure that's 350 lbs lift force per bag so 700lbs total, that is quite a bit of weight they can take off the rear axle...

But a blow-off valve alone won't be a good idea unless the compressor controller has a time-out feature, with just a BOV if the car is severely overloaded it will just keep venting every time the line pressure reaches the BOV's set point, and since that happens before car is level the compressor will just keep running, that's a good way to kill the thing.

[GM_Guy]

a manual reset electrical pressure cut off switch to kill power to the compressor.
this type of thing, http://www.ueonline.com/pressure_switches/
Or get overly fancy and expensive; http://pisco.com/prodtype.aspx?prodt...FUg7gQodChcOzw

[gadget73]

yeah, pressure switch in the system would do it. Just run it NC and have it open over 35 psi to kill power to the compressor.