GOTJUICE

It was suggested to me to start a thread on this. I know there are several gs3s on hydraulics, but in my searched i had alot of trouble finding solid info on what and how to and no threads! I dont want this thread to turn into a Hydraulics vs Baggs debate i love them both and have had several vehicles with both setups. I just havnt had a car on juice in a while, so thats the route i took on this car.

-no it wont hop
-yes it will ride like a lexus when done.

As stated it is a 2004 gs300 on 20s im pretty far into it right now, but i will try to do some back tracking for info purposes for the next guy!

Dicesuspensioncomponents.com is a great company for all your hydraulic needs and they have great components for mounting the cylinders. (i have no connection with them other than purchasing items from them and talking with them)



I am away from my car right now but will post more pics of everything when i can.

GOTJUICE

Here is where i located my switches, i sheetmetaled the ash trey and smoothed it out with body filler then painted it


And heres the wiring in the trunk with all the solenoids



And here is a picture of last time i had everyrhing mocked up the speaker is being relocated to the factory location to regain some trunk space and a wall will be put up to cover the batteries, wiring and speaker box




This is the box i built to go in the deck lid to clear all the other components



Those are all the photos i have in my phone

nelson09

iTrader: (3)

Right on!
My buddy Brandon had a w202 c class Benz that he juiced. Got all his stuff through a company called hydroholics out in AZ.
Can't wait to see the outcome

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

Keep us posted. Always nice to see something done in a different way to achieve the exact same thing as with a different component.

GOTJUICE

nelson09, yeah Hydroholics is a great company too my buddy John has the orange Expedition that is on their sight. And i picked up quite a bit of my info from speaking with the owner (Eric) he has a very clean 06' GS300 on hydraulics. A few of my components are from Hydroholics as well.

And Mr jokster absolutely!

GOTJUICE

These are the shock tower brackets i made to mount the cylinders up top they bolt in to the shock tower and the cylinder slides in to it like a sleeve (the cylinder doensnt actually hard mount to the plate, a little hard to explain i am waiting on a few more pieces to come in that thread onto the cylinder when they come in i will take a picture of it together to give you a better idea.) Dice suspension makes a "bolt in kit" for our cars, i know it is just brackets to get the cylinders mounted, but im not 100% sure what all that kit initials. I enjoy fabricating so i decided to make them my self i took 2 standard 5" cylinder plates and cut them down for the rears and welded tabs for the fronts (220 welder of course, dont want that stuff breaking its a little bit important lol) then drilled holes and welded grade 8bolts to them to bolt into the shock tower.

SoCal Cyco

iTrader: (20)

I like the switches, very clean. this should be interesting, I cant remember seeing a gs on hydros before.

GOTJUICE

Thank you sir! I did have to use an aftermarket shifter **** In order to clear the switch extensions

GOTJUICE

I havnt had much time to work on it this week and i will be out of town this weekend, but here is a pile of parts i will be putting on in addition to the hydraulics

-adjustable front upper a-arms, moog everything else
-adjustable rear traction bar and adjustable rear toe bar (i will get adjustable uppers and lowers for the rear eventually they are just super expensive)

GOTJUICE

I did get some fresh paint on the accumulators and tanks though!

The accumulators are a necessity for a hydraulic set up, they are basically the shock absorbers for the system, they give you that smooth ride. It is a (300psi of nitrogen filled) bladder.

GOTJUICE

I finally made a little progress tonight!

Got one set of return valves plumbed.


got my battery rack holes located i used this wood as a base plate, (i think its formica?) once the batteries are in the rack they are a pain to get into position (it weighs about 225lbs) i have another piece of the wood attached to the bottom of the battery rack so it should just slide in...hopefully!




Battery rack





Here is my batteries they are a very odd shape, i used them because my buddy had a bunch, they are perfect for hydraulics and he sold them to me for $75 a piece they run around $400, and they fit perfect. cant complain too much










Im still waiting on a couple of parts for the cylinders, but this will give you an idea as to how it mounts. The cylinders are threaded half way down (im waiting on threaded sleeves for the cylinders) but it is sort of like an adjustable coilover, you thread the sleve on however far down you want it and lock it in with a jam nut, and it slides in the shock tower bracket. Then the bottom has a heim joint to mount to the lower control arm.

GOTJUICE

I had to mock up the tanks again when putting the fittings together, so i took a few pics while i was back there. I built a new plate [(spare tire cover, floor thing i guess? Not sure exactly what its called) the felt covered piece of cardboard that IS the trunk floor] anyways i built a new one (its two pieces) out of 1/4" plywood and covered it with ultra suede(i do upholstery work for a living, ill be re-doing the full interior hopefully within the next year, thatll be another thread though) ill take a few pics of it out of the car before final install. but i drilled holes and ran bulkhead fittings by the tank to give it a cleaner look. I did the same with the firewall (so there wernt just holes with hoses going through!



Cabin side, passenger floor area right under the dash


Engine side, kind of hard to tell but they come out just above the o2 sensors

GOTJUICE

Finally finished my speaker box and got it mounted along with my battery rack






Batteries wired in


You need to have a quick disconnect (ground side of the batteries) when running hydraulics, just incase of a fire (not very likely with my 36v setup) but better safe than sorry. You will see on most cars that they have them in the trunk, or hanging out of the trunk. That is usually on a hopper because they are standing outside the car. Mine wont hop, and ill always be in the drivers seat when using it, so i put it under the drivers seat for easy access. (My car is super dirty from getting in and out running to the hardware store today)

chek128

Any updates on this? Interesting build

GOTJUICE

Yes! I finished the hydraulics. Iv been going through some **** at home so i havnt been on here in forever.