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PostPosted: December 8, 2015, 3:07 pm 
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so.. After reading a few more build thread's, with the amount of motorcycle shocks people seem to use, I got to thinking. Why not use some air shocks off of a larger Harley? surely a set of four would handle the weight of a locost just fine.. you wouldn't get the same height adjustability, but you could certainly mess with the dampening qualities, which often times could be enough to save you, or the car.

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PostPosted: December 8, 2015, 3:16 pm 
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Honda Goldwings also have air adjustable suspension.

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PostPosted: December 8, 2015, 3:57 pm 
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I saw that as well, the difference is price vs spring capability though. The Harleys are inherently heavier than about 90% of their import counter parts. While the gold wing and the Harley are almost on par weight wise, the Goldwing rear air shocks are nearly 4x as expensive in my limited experience researching them. It looks like a good condition pair of HD air shocks can be had for $~70. where as the goldwings are going for close to $200.

the only piece of information that seems to be difficult to locate is what the equivalent spring rates would be of the air shocks to a standard coil wound spring. I am sure a good portion of it has to do with the amount of air loaded into the bag.. but how much PSI would it take to attain the equivalent of say.. a 100#/in spring rate. hmm.

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PostPosted: December 8, 2015, 4:34 pm 
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You need to know the size (area) of the piston for starters.

Also are these air shocks or air springs? I would assume they're shocks, so there are some internal passages that provide the damping and the air pressure against the piston provides the lifting force.

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PostPosted: December 8, 2015, 6:30 pm 
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It's been a while, but I recall the pressure being very low since the air was just an assist. Air is supposed to be added with the included hand pump to prevent damage. They look better but I think you'd be much better of with gabriel air shocks for a common application, such as an 80s ford ranger.

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PostPosted: June 14, 2016, 2:37 am 
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This could easily be done. I have looked into it myself. My Lotus replica uses a Mustang II front suspension. Air ride is available for that. Airbags for the rear would be super easy. Street rods use air ride suspensions. These would just replace the coil over shocks.

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PostPosted: August 4, 2016, 6:04 pm 
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Just to provoke outside the box thinking, Anyone recall the hot rod Caddy built for ZZ Top with adjustable ride height? Pretty simple concept, move the "fixed" end of the coil-over with a linear actuator via a rocker arm (in their case).

How about a Citroen DS-19's (& other Citroens) hydropneumatic suspension? My primitive understanding of the system is this: Put more fluid in the system and it raises the ride height, remove fluid to reduce ride height. Different loadings automagikally change the air pressure in the suspension spheres.
http://www.citroenet.org.uk/miscellaneous/hydraulics/hydraulics-1.html

EDIT: Downside to air springs is that spring "rate" varies with temperature. PV=NrT afterall

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PostPosted: July 30, 2020, 4:07 pm 
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I put air ride on my MGB about a dozen years ago and have been tweaking it ever since plus helped put it on 2 other cars, so I might have a point or two to consider. Now for your Locost an air shock or bag-over-shock might be the only way but the B uses Armstrongs so a simple bag works. Sizing is the big issue there. But here's the biggest problem:

Your air bag gets stiffer as more air is supplied.

Which is backwards from what you want of course. In a perfect world we would make it get stiffer as the car is lowered and softer as it is raised. That way you'd get a nice cushy highway ride and could soften it up and get more clearance for rough roads. Unfortunately it's just backwards from that. It gets softer as you lower it.

So... for it to do what you want, adding air needs to make the car sit lower. How do you do this? Well, maybe by using the airbag to compress the coil-over spring. Then you could set it for max ride height with little or no air pressure, and lowest ride height with max air pressure. Unfortunately I have yet to dream up a configuration that will do that.

Jim


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PostPosted: May 16, 2021, 11:49 pm 
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Jim Blackwood wrote:
So... for it to do what you want, adding air needs to make the car sit lower. How do you do this? Well, maybe by using the airbag to compress the coil-over spring. Then you could set it for max ride height with little or no air pressure, and lowest ride height with max air pressure. Unfortunately I have yet to dream up a configuration that will do that.

Jim


There's a company doing a "smart" air ride setup now that you can lego together. You set the heights. Basically uses a TPS sensor at each corner. Based on the deflection it adds or subtracts air pressure real time via solenoid to add pressure on the compressed side. (Stiffening the spring rate while maintaining height) and does the opposite on the inside. In theory it should handle rather flat.

Works with a generic bag over shock system to retrofit coilovers.

I don't necessarily trust it yet, largely the sensors. (There are really nice shock travel sensors for drag cars that would be much more confidence inspiring.)

But compared to an air bag in a cup over a coil over it may be the best compromise. (Been eyeing a Fortune 500 setup for a car. Same rates and dampening, just a 1.5" lift for curbs.)

These guys are testing it on a diesel swapped 240z. (Om606).

https://youtu.be/Nz-xiAdiuw4

Think they're sourcing through airmext.com

No affiliation with either, but seems like a score given how easily a locost builder could adapt any cheap local coilovers to air with a set of calipers and some time.


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