My new suspension set-up (semi-write up)
04-17-04, 05:45 PM
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My new air suspension set-up (semi-write up)
A lot of people knew what I had my eye on for my next mod. Brakes were out of the question because of the fitment behind my Junction Produce wheels. I wanted to address something I always wanted to do because of all the events I attended with the car. Majority of the time, when I displayed the vehicle at a show, I always had to take the front bumper off, jack up the car and work the coilovers down. Pain in the **** because it took forever and wasn't easy. Then I had to lug my jack around, blah blah blah! lol! People tried to talk me out of performing this mod, but I went ahead with it anyways. A few people think that air suspensions are ricey, but I only think that the ones that are trying to dance and what not is ricey. Making your car comfortable and ease of lowering the car for events is a different thing.
One of the things I noticed about VIP cars were the abundance of cars on some sort of air suspension. Whether it was on the stock air suspension w/ an air controller, or aftermarket one, a lot of cars were on air. I began to look at a lot of Japanese companies, then either Cylinders or Bags, then who's gonna install it? That was an install I wasn't about to play with.
I decided to go with an american company named EAI (http://www.excentrixauto.com). I also decided to go with a cylinder kit. Their prices were more than half less than the Japanese counterparts plus I was able to get a 5 year limited warranty. Not bad in my opinion, so I went for it. They then referred me to see Andrew at Individual Creations located in Palmdale, CA. His install WAS SUPERB! I am sometimes picky about stuff, but Andy took his time and made sure things were perfect and to my liking. He even helped me out with some "newbie" questions in regards to being on Air Suspensions. He treated the car like it was his wife's car so he was very meticulous and did not cut any corners. Went thru the testing phase many times to ensure that the kit was good to go. Anyways, I picked a front to back air cylinder kit. I just wanted to go all up and all down. I didn't want to go side to side. I would never have to use it, so I stayed with FB. The pressure would stay the same so the level of the sides would stay the same. I was pretty content with that. I used a decent sized compressor that kicks in when the tank goes low. Of course since I won't be "dancing" the car or "hitting the switches" very often, I went with a smaller 3 gallon tank. That way, I was able to keep everything hidden inside the spare tire well (I know, no more spare tire, but damn. When I get my brake upgrade, I wont fit it anyways. the price I gotta pay to play) Ok now, on to my thoughts...
I love being on air. The ride quality is great at the drive height I choose. The one thing about being on air cylinders, is the higher you are, the stiffer the ride. Of course when "locked up" you are at the highest the cylinders can go, the ride quality sucks! You have no suspension travel whatsoever. It is not advised to ever drive "locked up" unless you are going up a STEEP driveway or a trailer. Of course, the lower the car, the more floaty the ride becomes. If you go really low, you run the chance of "floating" into your fender wells. I am beginning to like to drive the car at a near stock height. With my Junction Produce bumper, I got sick of scraping it everywhere. with the car at a decent height now (I know, when im driving high, it looks weird) I can get up most driveways again. Of course at the drive height I like, the ride quality is so nice. No more bad backs, shaking, or what not. Basically a stock feel to the ride quality. I can drive the car low but I decided to just drive a higher level. when I park tho, depending on my mood, I will lower the car.
Now the reason why I went with cylinders is because I was kinda fearful of bags at first. As I learned more about it, bags seemed the way to go because from certain companies you can still use an adjustable shock to stiffen up the car when you are driving at a low height. When I drive the car really low, if I hit the right bump, the softness of the suspension will sometimes have my tire hit my inner fender well. If you are on an adjustable shock with an air bag sleeve, you can set the dampening to be stiffer so that you won't do that. At my normal ride height now, I dont have a problem at all with hitting the inner fender well, so I felt that it wont be a problem whatsoever... A few JDM air bag companies come with an adjusable dampening shock. , Air Runner is a good example. Their setup comes with a KYB shock with 4 way adjustable dampening. That might actually be good for those who still want the satisfaction of an air suspension but doesnt like the floaty feeling. With the car on cylinders, I can't take turns anymore like I could when I was on the Tein coilovers, but its ok, when I turned the car into a rolling Junction Produce catalog, I stopped driving like that. With the adjustable shocks and an air bag sleeve, its possible to have the car handle like its on coilovers! The cylinders also IMO, looks like it can stand up to the daily rigors of driving the car. The bags kinda worried about warping and even popping. I am pretty sure that now a days, the bags on the market are pretty strong, but I was a fan of cylinders.
When it comes to lowering the car, A majority of the Japanese Air suspension companies were able to only lower the car 3 inches. Which would be good to most since they will never lay the frame down on the ground, I felt that since I was gonna get air, If I wanted to be drastic about, I need to SLAM the car. Not just lower it. The cylinders from EAI, brought my car down to lower than an inch from the ground. I couldn't put my finger under my sideskirts when it was all the way down!!! Funny thing too, is I the car will STILL ROLL!! I can't turn, but I sure can move foward and back! hahahah sick!
The valves I received were really fast! too fast IMO, but that can be easily fixed with a filter. I slowed the back down, and I will slow the front down soon. I just need to pick up a fitting too put the filter on. The one thing about being fast tho, it should does garner attention with the sound it makes! lol
My final thoughts? I don't know why I didn't do this earlier! Its great. Ride quality is basically stock, if not better. I can't take turns like I used to, but its ok. Its possible to still have a great handling car if you want, the options are out there. EAI has ways to keep it stiff while the car is low. Even some Japanese companies come with adjustable dampening. I do recommend it a whole lot. Especially those who show their vehicles at events. No more adjusting coilovers to get the car low. Now on to the pics.
front cylinder:
rear cylinder:
all up
think I can clear most driveways at this height?
One of the things I noticed about VIP cars were the abundance of cars on some sort of air suspension. Whether it was on the stock air suspension w/ an air controller, or aftermarket one, a lot of cars were on air. I began to look at a lot of Japanese companies, then either Cylinders or Bags, then who's gonna install it? That was an install I wasn't about to play with.
I decided to go with an american company named EAI (http://www.excentrixauto.com). I also decided to go with a cylinder kit. Their prices were more than half less than the Japanese counterparts plus I was able to get a 5 year limited warranty. Not bad in my opinion, so I went for it. They then referred me to see Andrew at Individual Creations located in Palmdale, CA. His install WAS SUPERB! I am sometimes picky about stuff, but Andy took his time and made sure things were perfect and to my liking. He even helped me out with some "newbie" questions in regards to being on Air Suspensions. He treated the car like it was his wife's car so he was very meticulous and did not cut any corners. Went thru the testing phase many times to ensure that the kit was good to go. Anyways, I picked a front to back air cylinder kit. I just wanted to go all up and all down. I didn't want to go side to side. I would never have to use it, so I stayed with FB. The pressure would stay the same so the level of the sides would stay the same. I was pretty content with that. I used a decent sized compressor that kicks in when the tank goes low. Of course since I won't be "dancing" the car or "hitting the switches" very often, I went with a smaller 3 gallon tank. That way, I was able to keep everything hidden inside the spare tire well (I know, no more spare tire, but damn. When I get my brake upgrade, I wont fit it anyways. the price I gotta pay to play) Ok now, on to my thoughts...
I love being on air. The ride quality is great at the drive height I choose. The one thing about being on air cylinders, is the higher you are, the stiffer the ride. Of course when "locked up" you are at the highest the cylinders can go, the ride quality sucks! You have no suspension travel whatsoever. It is not advised to ever drive "locked up" unless you are going up a STEEP driveway or a trailer. Of course, the lower the car, the more floaty the ride becomes. If you go really low, you run the chance of "floating" into your fender wells. I am beginning to like to drive the car at a near stock height. With my Junction Produce bumper, I got sick of scraping it everywhere. with the car at a decent height now (I know, when im driving high, it looks weird) I can get up most driveways again. Of course at the drive height I like, the ride quality is so nice. No more bad backs, shaking, or what not. Basically a stock feel to the ride quality. I can drive the car low but I decided to just drive a higher level. when I park tho, depending on my mood, I will lower the car.
Now the reason why I went with cylinders is because I was kinda fearful of bags at first. As I learned more about it, bags seemed the way to go because from certain companies you can still use an adjustable shock to stiffen up the car when you are driving at a low height. When I drive the car really low, if I hit the right bump, the softness of the suspension will sometimes have my tire hit my inner fender well. If you are on an adjustable shock with an air bag sleeve, you can set the dampening to be stiffer so that you won't do that. At my normal ride height now, I dont have a problem at all with hitting the inner fender well, so I felt that it wont be a problem whatsoever... A few JDM air bag companies come with an adjusable dampening shock. , Air Runner is a good example. Their setup comes with a KYB shock with 4 way adjustable dampening. That might actually be good for those who still want the satisfaction of an air suspension but doesnt like the floaty feeling. With the car on cylinders, I can't take turns anymore like I could when I was on the Tein coilovers, but its ok, when I turned the car into a rolling Junction Produce catalog, I stopped driving like that. With the adjustable shocks and an air bag sleeve, its possible to have the car handle like its on coilovers! The cylinders also IMO, looks like it can stand up to the daily rigors of driving the car. The bags kinda worried about warping and even popping. I am pretty sure that now a days, the bags on the market are pretty strong, but I was a fan of cylinders.
When it comes to lowering the car, A majority of the Japanese Air suspension companies were able to only lower the car 3 inches. Which would be good to most since they will never lay the frame down on the ground, I felt that since I was gonna get air, If I wanted to be drastic about, I need to SLAM the car. Not just lower it. The cylinders from EAI, brought my car down to lower than an inch from the ground. I couldn't put my finger under my sideskirts when it was all the way down!!! Funny thing too, is I the car will STILL ROLL!! I can't turn, but I sure can move foward and back! hahahah sick!
The valves I received were really fast! too fast IMO, but that can be easily fixed with a filter. I slowed the back down, and I will slow the front down soon. I just need to pick up a fitting too put the filter on. The one thing about being fast tho, it should does garner attention with the sound it makes! lol
My final thoughts? I don't know why I didn't do this earlier! Its great. Ride quality is basically stock, if not better. I can't take turns like I used to, but its ok. Its possible to still have a great handling car if you want, the options are out there. EAI has ways to keep it stiff while the car is low. Even some Japanese companies come with adjustable dampening. I do recommend it a whole lot. Especially those who show their vehicles at events. No more adjusting coilovers to get the car low. Now on to the pics.
front cylinder:
rear cylinder:
all up
think I can clear most driveways at this height?
Last edited by JunctionGS; 04-17-04 at 06:32 PM.
04-17-04, 05:46 PM
#2
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and the rest of the pics!!!
my first choice for drive height, but now I drive at a bit higher than what you see here
my ideal show height
For those who want to know how low I can go now? THIS IS LOW!!!
my first choice for drive height, but now I drive at a bit higher than what you see here
my ideal show height
For those who want to know how low I can go now? THIS IS LOW!!!
Well done....
04-17-04, 09:34 PM
#6
Okay, one of the most sickest GS's I have ever seen has become even sicker (possibly making it the sickest? 
)! Your GS400 looks really sick, especially when it's laying frame. The tuckage on the rear wheels looks just right. I'm assuming that the EAI kit wasn't a straight bolt-on (not a direct kit) for your car? Will they put the kits on other Lexus vehicles (such as a LS400/LS430? No, I'm not hinting anything, hehehe. 
).
Anyways, a simply awesome-looking car John!
)! Your GS400 looks really sick, especially when it's laying frame. The tuckage on the rear wheels looks just right. I'm assuming that the EAI kit wasn't a straight bolt-on (not a direct kit) for your car? Will they put the kits on other Lexus vehicles (such as a LS400/LS430? No, I'm not hinting anything, hehehe. ).Anyways, a simply awesome-looking car John!
Sorry the brakes did not work out. Trending Topics
See I told you that you could lay frame and still roll....John your car looks sick!! And nothing beats the sound of the valves releasing pshhhhhhhhhhhh.. 
Please more pics.....
04-17-04, 10:31 PM
#9
Lexus Champion
Damn who would of thought you can take a sick a$$ car like yours and make it even sicker. I wouldnt even worry about a BBK anymore you dont need it your car is perfect the way it is 
04-17-04, 10:50 PM
#10
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thanks for the compliments guys!
The kit itself was not a direct bolt in AT FIRST. Andy at Individual Creations MADE it a bolt in kit. He had mounts made so that it could be a bolt in kit. His install of the air cylinders were flawless. The switches? are hidden inside top section of the center arm rest. The tank and valves This particular air cylinders will bolt off and I could throw my stock suspension back on. I am pretty sure Andy can do it again for a LS.
I still need a BBK. The stock brakes look kinda plain against my canvas already. 
The kit itself was not a direct bolt in AT FIRST. Andy at Individual Creations MADE it a bolt in kit. He had mounts made so that it could be a bolt in kit. His install of the air cylinders were flawless. The switches? are hidden inside top section of the center arm rest. The tank and valves This particular air cylinders will bolt off and I could throw my stock suspension back on. I am pretty sure Andy can do it again for a LS.
I still need a BBK.
The stock brakes look kinda plain against my canvas already.
04-18-04, 05:10 AM
#13
EV ftw!!!
Awesome mod!! 
This mod makes perfect sense for the role your car plays. Good choice and too bad about the brakes!
I would not do this mod to my car as I "drive" my car more than take it to "shows".
This mod makes perfect sense for the role your car plays. Good choice and too bad about the brakes!
I would not do this mod to my car as I "drive" my car more than take it to "shows".
04-20-04, 03:27 PM
#15
dude, i'm late....i understand compltely why u did this, i can't believe u were takeing off u'r front bumper everytime at a show 2 lower the front and than takeing it back off and on 2 lift it back up, thats crazy! that tucked shot is just insane