I'm so excited to share my work with everyone. I've for the longest time wanted to have air ride in the LS. My plans have finally come to fruition. Here you go. 2006 Lincoln LS Ultimate equipped with Air Lift 3P air management.
Mainly to vary ride height. Drive with the look of coilovers. Raise to get places coil overs can't. Dump to park. Ride comfort is just a bonus for me. It rides less sporty and more soft with very little bounce. Similar to oem air suspension on my 06 Navigator for comparison..
Wow that is slammed.. looks sick! Would be cool if you could show pics of what the install looks like behind the wheels.
It's coming. I've got pictures of the entire process. I was just too excited to share the completed project that I skipped right to the end result.
What percentage is the front windshield? That looks dark as night ... Like the wheels on that black paint and over all mod looks really clean. Nice!
The windsheild is tinted only 20%. It looks so dark because every other glass available is tinted 5%.
Laying as low as it could possibly go. Next thing I would like to do is fill in the small gap between the car and the earth, perhaps a splitter all around.
This is by no means a tutorial. Just pics taken during each stage. First, you'll need to gather everything necessary before starting or nothing will work. I used Air Lift 3p air management. For about $2000 - $2500 CDN it will come with everything you need (tank, compressor, hoses, fittings, wiring, valves, etc.) except the suspension components. This is where, for our cars, is easier to find a unicorn. I managed to pickup a used set. You can have a custom set made for about $3000 CDN. Because I already had the management and not the suspension yet, I started there. Installing the wiring was super easy because our battery is in the back. Route a remote trigger wire to the fuse labeled spare in the passenger kick panel. Then route the data cable for the controller under the rear seats, under the carpet and into the arm rest compartment. Next mounted the components on a piece of 3/4" mdf and then into the trunk. Wasn't going for show quality, just wanted it to work. Plans are to later do a display with hard lines. Great thing is that the spare is fully accessible. When I got the used air struts, the definitely looked used. So I cleaned them up before putting them in. While installing the bags, the 3/8" air lines were routed at this time too. Rear was easy. Drill two small holes in spare wheel well, add grommets and pass the line through. Remove old struts and replace with air struts. Route the air lines away from moving parts and secure. I could have used 90 degree fittings here but I already had those straight ones. Front takes a little more time to route the air lines. It can be ran under the car with no issues but I chose to run them inside. The passenger side has space for a new hole and grommet, the driver side will have to go through the factory boot. Remove strut and install air strut. Route and strap the air line along side the brake line. Removing the wheel well liners makes this go smoothly. Only one side is shown for each as it's just a mirror of each other. Don't judge the rotors, I've put only 200 km on the car this year. That's all there is too it. If you need specific details, send me a message.
Unfortunately because I got them used, I'm not sure. There's no stamps or branding anywhere on any of the struts. From what I've searched, it looks like a universal strut custom made for the LS. It was direct bolt on with zero modifications.
Resurrection.... I’d really like to see a pic aired up? (Video doesn’t work) I have a bagged and bodied ford ranger so I’m fully versed in adjustable suspension thinking of swapping my air ride over to my 01 LS.
When the weather clears up and I put it back on the road, I'll pose it in any position you'd like. I'll re-link the video for now. It exhibits all four bags actuating; its air'd up at 150psi of the 200 max I set the controller to. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAvfRAC99Gg If the video doesn't show for what ever reason, youtube "IcedLS" and you'll see it.