kamtra

I have little time to write today so let me cut to the chase.

After messing around with the air suspension in my car yesterday I figured out how to hotwire the front air struts to raise and lower them independently. In the rear of my car I have standard spring/struts from a non-air equipped LS400. They fit in the same way the air struts do with no altering. The fronts are a clean swap as well- however since my air struts still work I wanted to play with them. The air suspension is a far, far simpler and straight-forward system than we all think.

Each strut has a solenoid that when connected to 12 volts opens to let air into them. When the voltage is stopped, the solenoid closes- sealing the strut. The actual pump is located in front of the right wheel hidden in between the wheel well and the front bumper. If you connect 12 volts to the pump, it starts pumping air and any strut that has it's solenoid actuated will fill up with air. The solenoids are grouped in pairs- one in the trunk on the right inside corner, and one right next to the pump in the front right wheel well. The front solenoid has an extra spot for the hose that takes air from the front to the rear solenoid group. I was able to disconnect my rear system entirely by take the rear group and replacing the front group with it. The rear does not have the extra outlet obviously. So no my pump pumps air into the rear solenoid which is now in the front, and distributes air to the two solenoids which then goes to each strut.

I hope that you can make any kind of sense from what I just wrote. If anyone has questions about the air system please don't hesitate to ask. Post questions on this thread so I don't have to repeat myself Anyone can work on this stuff.

Oh, the only problem is that when anything is disturbed with the air system, the dash light for ride height starts blinking and never stops- even with the switch turned off. Tomorrow I will take my dash out to look at the caps which will eventually blow, leaving me with no dash lcd lights. While I'm in there I'm going to try and take out the bulb (if there is one) that is blinking.

Peace.

dunn378

thanks alot for the info. its good to know that its a pretty simple swap from air shocks to coil overs thanks again!!

jcolegrove

Thanks much for the great info. However, I'm not clear on where/how the coils fit into the equation, and specifically how they would be installed on the existing lower control arms. i understand the air shock is easily replaced by the conventional shock, but on the air car, like mine, there is no coil, right? so are the existing upper and lower controls the same so that coils can be installed? thanks for your insight...

JC

kamtra

The non air LS has a strut with a coil spring around it that has a top plate...like every other car. The only catch with the air to non air conversion is that when you take the air strut off there is no top plate to mount a standard strut to. The top plate is the round disk that the top of the strut screws to and holds the top of the coil spring down. If you were to go to the local auto parts store and buy a non-air LS spring and strut, you would still need to buy a top plate as well. The plate from a store is about $100. Not worth it considering you need one for each strut. However, I was able to find a non-air LS in a salvage yard and I bought the entire set of strut/springs/plates (you take each strut/spring/plate off as a unit by taking off the three mounting bolts at the strut tower, and the bottom control arm bolt- the only way to take the top plate off is if you compress the springs). I paid $50 for each corner- $200 for the whole set. I figured that that if the struts were worn out I'd replace them a few months down the road. Fortunately for me, they were still good. Now that I have the top plates I can order high end adjustable coilover shocks....I just wanted to be sure that if I ordered the non-air LS shock replacement that it would fit in my air car. It does and I'm happy.

350z

I guess i should consider myself lucky considering that all of my air struts are working. If they fail I might be making a road trip to iowa to hit up kamtra, considering these things go for about $900 each.

jcolegrove

i agree. i'm lucky as well- all i good so far with 92k on my '92. 350z, i have your exact car, except ;92 and no phone. great ride.

JC

kamtra

The only one that went bad was the rear drivers side. It is the most common. If your car is lower than stock it will happen sooner than later. If your car stays in high mode it will probably never leak. It's only in low mode that the air bag has lots of stress on it and starts to leak. If one leaks just look for a used one. If you plan on lowering your car than get coilovers. My car was fine until I lowered it.

Lexs400

I would like to know if there is a diagram available for the hose that is connecting to the driver side front air strut.
I think that the hose has developed a leak as I could feel the air leaking from the hose close to where the hose connects to the air strut.
I do not want the dealer to charge a lot of money just to swap the hose. Can the hose be purchased as a seperate entity going from the strut to the compressor ?
thnx.