goodbye air ride, you shall be missed..kinda..not really.

[keVIIIn]

The car has been layed up for the last few days, and I finally was able to finish the fronts today, I've been working on it in between my nights off this week so it's slow going, hopefully I can do the rears when I get home tomorrow afternoon. Here's what I got so far. The kit is made by Tokico which is rated at supposedly 1.25" lower than stock for a thunderbird/cougar.

all my components for the rears..DLF's perches and prothane isolators, and the front KYB shock mounts.

for all of you air ride freaks..don't worry, I unhooked the ride height sensors and tucked the solenoids behind the fender liner..juuust in case I want to go back..

after bolting the wheels back up and rolling it out..disregard the ass end being low, the car was jacked up in front for 3 days straight and some air must have "dissapeared" from the rear bags in that time. Once I get the springs in I assume it will be closer to the height of the front, maybe with a slight rake to it. I wasn't really going for the lowest possible height I could achieve with springs here, I wanted something that would be slightly lower than stock but high enough so I wouldn't bottom out or rub on anything going over bumps and get rid of the major lean the car had going with the uneven air ride. As is, the fronts appear to be at a "sensor lowered" height which I like, so we shall see how it turns out after I get the rears done.

now to compare with the old rediculous 4x4 look caused by the air bags making the car lean to one side..

to be continued.

 

[the1andonlyGR81]

looks good. like the height. if you dont mind, how $ did it all cost? did you get it all at once or front first? i want to keep my stock height for the rim tire combo of 18 x 10 and 295 40 18 out back. went to a local shop and tried it and everything worked height and width were perfect. i had the spring conversion in my last car ( which is for sale by the way) and the air ride is working perfect in this car, but eventually i want the setup you have in the front and maybe the rear ( i was going to use bilsteins) but looking at stock t bird springs that kirk had they were a LITTLE high to say the least. i will be watching closely

 

[DLF]

Do you have two sets of the Prothane isolators? Both top and bottom of the rear springs are needed. I don't see them in the pictures.

BTW, New springs will take a while to settle. Don't be alarmed if the car is a bit higher then you expected right after the installation.

 

[UltimateSVT]

Dude, welcome to the club. It's going to feel great not to have to worry about air ride issues EVER AGAIN!

 

[the1andonlyGR81]

its still funny that the air ride when working properly is still better than any cheap, american air, strutmaster conversion kit.

 

[ford nut]

Two questions.

1) Whats the frame for on the wall.
2) Whats under the car cover?

Nice work on the swap BTW.

 

[purpony]

looks good... im doing the same right now.

I have the fronts and rear drivers completed... finishing the rear pass tonight.
My front is sititng nice and low but the rear needs to settle some. Going to drive in the weekend some and see what happens.

 

[NoLimit95]

its still funny that the air ride when working properly is still better than any cheap, american air, strutmaster conversion kit.

Any kit period when you have all new stuff.

 

[keVIIIn]

Do you have two sets of the Prothane isolators? Both top and bottom of the rear springs are needed. I don't see them in the pictures.

BTW, New springs will take a while to settle. Don't be alarmed if the car is a bit higher then you expected right after the installation.

Yeah I bought two sets I only layed out two for the picture though, and yeah it would be nice if it settles a bit.

looks good. like the height. if you dont mind, how $ did it all cost? did you get it all at once or front first? i want to keep my stock height for the rim tire combo of 18 x 10 and 295 40 18 out back. went to a local shop and tried it and everything worked height and width were perfect. i had the spring conversion in my last car ( which is for sale by the way) and the air ride is working perfect in this car, but eventually i want the setup you have in the front and maybe the rear ( i was going to use bilsteins) but looking at stock t bird springs that kirk had they were a LITTLE high to say the least. i will be watching closely

Don't have the receipts in front of me but the Tokico kit which came with front and rear shocks and springs was right around $400 through Amazon ($300 cheaper than tokicos website), the upper shock mounts were $40 and some change a piece, DLFs perches were a little over $80 I believe and the isolators were around $40 for 2 pairs...so around $650 for everything after tax. A little pricey but I'd rather do it the right way than go cheap with an eBay special conversion kit.

 

[lobird91]

I wonder if Tokico has changed their spring manufacturer. I have had 2 of the Tokico kits in the past and they have always had black springs. Let us know how the ride is.

-Alan

 

[keVIIIn]

Two questions.

1) Whats the frame for on the wall.
2) Whats under the car cover?

Nice work on the swap BTW.

This is my dads garage where I've been doing the work..the car under the cover is his 62 corvette which he's owned since 1973..currently its out of commission with the motor out getting rebuilt. The frame on the wall is the original chassis from my dads other 67 vette..the original one had alot of rust in the trailing arm area so he bought another chassis and had it shipped in from califormia..we did a body off restoration on it which took almost 10 years total, doing everything in either the back yard or garage.

 

[keVIIIn]

I wonder if Tokico has changed their spring manufacturer. I have had 2 of the Tokico kits in the past and they have always had black springs. Let us know how the ride is.

-Alan

The spring has letters and a number printed on one of the coils..don't remember what it said but ill keep ya posted on how it rides.

 

[Spree]

Can I have all your air ride stuff?

 

[ford nut]

This is my dads garage where I've been doing the work..the car under the cover is his 62 corvette which he's owned since 1973..currently its out of commission with the motor out getting rebuilt. The frame on the wall is the original chassis from my dads other 67 vette..the original one had alot of rust in the trailing arm area so he bought another chassis and had it shipped in from califormia..we did a body off restoration on it which took almost 10 years total, doing everything in either the back yard or garage.

Awesome.
Early vetts, very cool

 

[keVIIIn]

Can I have all your air ride stuff?

You probably wouldn't want it..as far as the air shocks and bags go..the fronts leaked, they showed the small hairline cracks where it folded and one of the front shocks where the steel part of the shock met the rubber bag was starting to rust..not sure if that matters or not but it sure looked like it would affect the seal. Not sure what the rears look like yet..they hold air to a point but since Tuesday they have dropped slightly being parked in the garage all this time. Everything else air ride related will be staying on the car because for one I'm too lazy to remove all of it and two if I ever want to go back to air I can without much hassle.

 

[keVIIIn]

Awesome.
Early vetts, very cool

I've posted this vid on here before but you might find it interesting if you like C1 corvettes..made a little slideshow for my dads birthday a few ears ago with a bunch of old pics of his car

1962 Corvette street/strip - YouTube

 

[ford nut]

That is a cool slide show, its neat he kept that car.
Cool dad! he must have loved that slide show.

My dad always made hot rods, then sold them.
I remember them but that's about it.

This was his last build he finished up in his 70s
We kept this car.

before

after

 

[ford nut]

Put it in storage last week.
Miss it already

 

[Moes8]

Put it in storage last week.
Miss it already

amazing what just a little wax can do...

:shifty:


looks very nice btw

 

[UltimateSVT]

that is a cool slide show, its neat he kept that car.
Cool dad! He must have loved that slide show.

My dad always made hot rods, then sold them.
I remember them but that's about it.

This was his last build he finished up in his 70s
we kept this car.

Before

after

in love!

 

[Markviiiedrea]

Why dose every one hate Air Ride so much? I just replaced the air bags with new ones in my town car last night and she allmost has 200K miles. I love air ride, I'm actully tossing the springs in the mark and replacing with air ride again. It's worth the comfort if I have to deal with the air ride every 10 years.

 

[kaha]

Why dose every one hate Air Ride so much? I just replaced the air bags with new ones in my town car last night and she allmost has 200K miles. I love air ride, I'm actully tossing the springs in the mark and replacing with air ride again. It's worth the comfort if I have to deal with the air ride every 10 years.

They don't hate the air ride, they just hate the uncertainty of taking a long road trip with old air ride components that could fail on the way.
I'm with you, personally. Replaced the rear airbags not long ago, and am planning on buying a brand new pair of OEM fronts before they become unavailable. Any luxury car is high maintenance, goes with the territory. But so far I've found my Mark to be one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned (I imagine that the first owner having taken it in regularly for maintenance has a lot to do with that, he loved the car as much as I do).

 

[keVIIIn]

Why dose every one hate Air Ride so much? I just replaced the air bags with new ones in my town car last night and she allmost has 200K miles. I love air ride, I'm actully tossing the springs in the mark and replacing with air ride again. It's worth the comfort if I have to deal with the air ride every 10 years.

Yeah I don't hate air ride, but at this point the car is 17 years old, so if I could take out one of the factors that make it unreliable, I will. I drive it daily so is rather have a suspension system that doesn't require any maintenance.

 

[Spree]

If you could just send me your "worst" front air spring (I'll pay shipping). I would like to try some experiment's on it but I need one that is known to be bad.
Or if anyone has one that is "junk", PM me!

 

[keVIIIn]

Finished the rears today. Bolted the wheels back up and took it for a ride, and I must say I'm very impressed at how it rides and handles, I was expecting it to be really stiff, but I would say it's better than the air ride. In my opinion I thought my car rode like sh*t with the original bags and air struts, very floaty and I felt every bump in the road..not sure if that is just because the shocks were bad or something but the car only has 82K on it now..so I would find that unlikely. I think the ride is really smooth with just the right amount of stiffness, I tested it out at the local railroad crossing which is notorious for shaking the piss out of the car at 15-20 mph, and it handled it well. The rear is a tad higher than the front like I anticipated, but hopefully it will settle a little bit over time. Eitherway I'm glad I don't have to deal with the compressor running immediately once the car is started, as well as the constant venting and pumping back up when I get in and out of the car while it's running..also no more leaning to one side like the old air ride made it do..now it's all even side to side.

here's the old front strut..as you can tell there's a decent amount of rust where the bag meets the steel, I don't suppose that is a good thing.