[project] laidlow,pt.2 pg.3

finally the time has come......

today i started my air ride install.
there will be progress updates at the end of each day.

big thanks to Bill M. for coming down and welding in
my shock relocation brackets, and relocating the brake line brackets.

on to todays progress.
test fit of the wheel after removing the front springs.
this is as far as it would go before it made contact in a few places.
instead of cutting and reworking the control arms and frame this is
how it will stay until i get drop spindles.



Bill was done admiring the lowness and wanted the wheel off
so he could get to work.


he got right to work with his magic metal bonding machine.
and before i new it both sides where done.





Bill left a short while later and i continued tearing into the front end.


with the suspension out of the way it was time to mark for cutting.


so i broke out the grinder and went to town.




alot of test fitting and trimming and the drivers side is just about done.



Taylor approves of my work and cant wait to hit some switches.


the plan for tomorrow is to get the passenger side apart and trimmed.

Billy likey! I wish I could have spent more time helping. What a great project.

Ah man cant wait for it to be finish.. what size lines are you gonna use 1/2 or 3/4?

billymac is going to have to get a job to get some rest. man hes busy lately. and ive got more work for him. anthony that is going to be nice. cant wait till see it. both of you do good work.

That's cool Ant, your Wife said I could call you Ant. lol. I got scared when you cut that notch in the frame, didn't know that's what ya had to do to bag it, sweet!

You should consider taking the frame piece you removed and adding it back in slightly modified. What alot of the truck guys do is put it back in upside down so that it forms a recess in the frame, and then cut out a hole big enough for the top mount of the bag to slide through. It comes out looking killer and restores some of the original strength to the frame with very little work. I'd try to find some pics for you but I'm too lazy

IMPALADAKID wrote:

Billy likey! I wish I could have spent more time helping. What a great project.

thank you again Bill.

BoSStonsSS wrote:

Ah man cant wait for it to be finish.. what size lines are you gonna use 1/2 or 3/4?

that makes two of us that cant wait.
im doing all 3/8s line and valves. i dont like it real fast.

iceman3201 wrote:

billymac is going to have to get a job to get some rest. man hes busy lately. and ive got more work for him. anthony that is going to be nice. cant wait till see it. both of you do good work.

thanks.
i almost felt bad for a minute asking him for help.

Tomz9C1 wrote:

That's cool Ant, your Wife said I could call you Ant. lol. I got scared when you cut that notch in the frame, didn't know that's what ya had to do to bag it, sweet!

thats what most of my family calls me so she was correct.
dont be scared its only metal.
and thanks

bammax wrote:

You should consider taking the frame piece you removed and adding it back in slightly modified. What alot of the truck guys do is put it back in upside down so that it forms a recess in the frame, and then cut out a hole big enough for the top mount of the bag to slide through. It comes out looking killer and restores some of the original strength to the frame with very little work. I'd try to find some pics for you but I'm too lazy

if you can find some pics that would be cool.
not sure i understand what your talking about doing.
this is my 4th vehicle ive bagged and ive assisted on a few others.
im also on the s10 forum and a couple fullsize forums and im
not sure ive ever seen what your refering to.


onto todays progress....

due to a drs. appt. this morning and some running this afternoon,
today wasnt as productive as id of hoped.
i was still able to remove the spindle and control arms and
get the spring pocket trimmed.
i also pressed out the upper control arm mounting bolts to replace.
the pics today arent much different than yesterdays, but im still movin forward.




there callin for rain tomorrow so ill be inside painting parts and
plumbing the tank.

how many compressors and tanks your gonna run?

BoSStonsSS wrote:

how many compressors and tanks your gonna run?

1 viar 550c and 1-5 gal. tank for now.
ill see if i need to up the tank size once i finish it.
the compressor is a monster.

laidlow91 wrote:

BoSStonsSS wrote:

how many compressors and tanks your gonna run?

1 viar 550c and 1-5 gal. tank for now.
ill see if i need to up the tank size once i finish it.
the compressor is a monster.

yea 550 is a beast lol damn

wen i had my caprice it was 250 and it wasnt enuff for me.. So i got 2 compressors and two tanks and it was perfect and i had more play..

Airbags FTMFW

BoSStonsSS wrote:

yea 550 is a beast lol damn

wen i had my caprice it was 250 and it wasnt enuff for me.. So i got 2 compressors and two tanks and it was perfect and i had more play..

Airbags FTMFW

when i had my 87 c10 i needed 4 of them little compressors there way to slow.
we put a 550 in my brothers s10 blazer and ill never use anything smaller again.
waiting for air sucks big time....

This is going to drive me nuts. I keep searching and finding pics of step frames and c-notches and not the backyard mod Im talking about. I'll have to dig through my mags or just draw a picture to explain it. Flipping the cut out is awesome once it's done (assuming it's done right) but it's tricky to explain over the net.

This is the best I can do until I find some real pics. Basically it will enclose the frame to keep crap out as well as restore some of the strength. For the b-body frame it'll be tricky to refit the old piece since the frame in that spot isn't a nice straight line like the back of a truck frame, but it's still doable if your willing to fill in some gaps with new metal.

And for those who don't enjoy my drawings, no I'm not retarded it's just easier to post sketches with paintbrush than with autocad

How the hell did I miss THIS?!?!?!?! Holy Crap!!!!

Awesome!!!!!

I... Dammit! I wanna help!

*grumbles*forumhiccups*grumbles*

toomanytoyz wrote:

How the hell did I miss THIS?!?!?!?! Holy Crap!!!!

Awesome!!!!!

I... Dammit! I wanna help!

*grumbles*forumhiccups*grumbles*

Bill
ill be out working on it all day saturday.(since this stupid weathers not cooperating )
anyone who wants is more than welcome to stop by and help.

laidlow91 wrote:

toomanytoyz wrote:

How the hell did I miss THIS?!?!?!?! Holy Crap!!!!

Awesome!!!!!

I... Dammit! I wanna help!

*grumbles*forumhiccups*grumbles*

Bill
ill be out working on it all day saturday.(since this stupid weathers not cooperating )
anyone who wants is more than welcome to stop by and help.

I would be there for you if not for we are having the wolds biggest yard sale saturday up in Ossipee.

since i was stuck inside today figured id play plumber.
grabbed the tank.

layed out the valves and all the fittings.

grabbed some wrenches and the pipe tape.

started mounting the valves.
i had to take apart a few of the valves because the solenoid wouldnt pass by the one next to it.


just about finished.
i have to run to the depot to get a couple more fittings.



looks like the rain may stop long enough tomorrow for me to get out and finish up the front.

psssst psssst

!

toomanytoyz wrote:

psssst psssst

!

Hey Anthony. I think Crono want's to play.

IMPALADAKID wrote:

toomanytoyz wrote:

psssst psssst

!

Hey Anthony. I think Crono want's to play.

hey Crono why dont you and the airbags get a friggin room.

ant. what is this going to do when its done? im thinking its going to be one of those jumping cars. is that right. dont laugh. i just dont know.

iceman3201 wrote:

ant. what is this going to do when its done? im thinking its going to be one of those jumping cars. is that right. dont laugh. i just dont know.

Ron
i wont laugh, when people ask what im doing on my vacation i tell them
im putting in air bags. then they start asking if its for insurance or safety
thinking im talking about the interior airbags.
deffinately not gonna jump.
i went with smaller valves and line so it wont go up or down real fast.
it will sit nice and low for parking.
and raise up for driving.

ok. now i under stand. thats cool. i like that. just like dumping trailer valves.

iceman3201 wrote:

ok. now i under stand. thats cool. i like that. just like dumping trailer valves.

yeah kind of like that.
hopefully a little faster than a trailer though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOaUTeps3Gw&feature=related

Bag it and Drag it.

And I've been informed that "we" want a nice, quiet, lazy weekend to chill and relax.

*sigh*

well the rain finally stopped so i could get back outside.
i think the front is ready to go together.
its a long pocess of trimming and test fitting but i think im done.

i got the back up on jack stands pulled the wheels off
and yanked the springs out, so i could jack it up and see where it hit.
looks like if i take my cut bump stops out it will go up another 2"
more than the pic.



in these pics you can see it hits the bump stop on the front of
the rear end first and still has a smidge before it hits the axle
tube to frame bump stops.
i might just remove the one at the front of the rear end and leave the side ones.



i have a long day planned tomorrow.

Looking good. To bad it rained for three days.

You just need a little

How close is the driveshaft to hitting the tunnel when you're on the bumpstops?

Making progress!!!! Wish I could lend a hand!

toomanytoyz wrote:

How close is the driveshaft to hitting the tunnel when you're on the bumpstops?

Making progress!!!! Wish I could lend a hand!

it looks like even if i took all the bump stops out it would still be fine.

Update?

IMPALADAKID wrote:

Update?

not much to update.
got a few things taken care of saturday, Jim came over and
he welded some tank and compressor mounts in the trunk.

im going to start pulling the interior tonight to run the gauge lines and switch box wires.

the plan is to knock out all the little stuff this week after work.
then finish up the install this weekend, weather pending.

You must be getting pretty psyched! You're getting close...

toomanytoyz wrote:

You must be getting pretty psyched! You're getting close...

originally the plan was to take it for a ride on sunday.
3 days of rain kinda shot that idea down.
hopefully this weekend i will be able to take her on the maiden voyage.

Yeah, that rain last week screwed a lot of things up!

I hope you're driving it this weekend!

Me, I might attack my headers/exhaust on Saturday...

toomanytoyz wrote:

I hope you're driving it this weekend!

Me, I might attack my headers/exhaust on Saturday...

if for some crazy reason things go as planned ill shoot
you a call sunday, and bring it down if your around.

best of luck on the header/exhaust install.

well things didnt go as planned.what a shocker.

i was getting out of work to late to work on the car so i didnt do
much through out the week.

the interior is all unbolted and ready to be removed to run the
wires and gauge lines.

the front is 99.9% ready to bolt back together, just need to
mark and drill a hole for the lower shock mount in the control arm.

heres the tank and compressor mounts Jim welded in. thanks again Jim.



this is what the tank and compressor setup will look like.(not bolted down in pics)
i am going to build a wood enclosure so nothing in the trunk will hit them.



ive run into one issue with the front.
the sway bar is contacting the frame and not allowing the control arm
to go up as far as it needs to.
Jim and I are throwing ideas back and forth and ive posted it on issf in the air ride thread. Josh from smith chassis asked for pics and i am waiting for him to reply.
we have come up with putting a spacer between the frame and the
sway bar to give it the room it needs to swing up.
heres some pics of the problem, if you have any suggestions im all ears.
the bar is off a 9c1.

I can provide a crazy idea but you wouldn't like it. Try mounting the bar upside down and on top of the frame instead of under it. Then it should line up nicely when lowered all the way, but it'll probably rip out when you raise the car. Told you you wouldn't like the idea

You can't be the only one to have ever run into this with bags... Any help on the low low forums???

Tank & pump look great!

ant. put some coils of copper lines in there. and you can say your running shine.

thats turning out so cool, gotta give u credit for that undertaking.. how much noise u think the compressor will make in the trunk

waynes91 wrote:

thats turning out so cool, gotta give u credit for that undertaking.. how much noise u think the compressor will make in the trunk

It shouldn't be too bad. I don't think he carries passengers back there anymore...

Maybe the shortest end links ES makes might help. I have purchased end links before and just used a shorter bolt and cut the sleeve to make it work.

I won't be doing that again the same way. If I burned through the floor into the gas tank it wouldn't been fun. oh well, hindsight...

boojum wrote:

I won't be doing that again the same way. If I burned through the floor into the gas tank it wouldn't been fun. oh well, hindsight...

true but we'd be able to see u from far away lol

Update?

Again!

car is still not done.
maybe someday when the rain stops long enough to
get more than an hour of work in on it.

heres a bunch of random pics dont feel like typing.

But... but... NO CUPHOLDERS?!?!?!?!

For the switches?

Hope it dries up soon! I've got work to do too!

lookin serious.. hows the sway bar problem going

waynes91 wrote:

lookin serious.. hows the sway bar problem going

thanks.
im going to put a piece of flat stock between the frame and the bar.
i think it will work.

toomanytoyz wrote:

But... but... NO CUPHOLDERS?!?!?!?! Smile

For the switches? Wink

Hope it dries up soon! I've got work to do too! Evil or Very Mad

the cupholders are still there.
got the console just about set.
i need to trim a little for the switch box to fit.
put the first coat of fiberglass on before i called it quits today.