I apologize if my question is inappropriate here - maybe the air ride is considered a totally un-HAMB-worthy thing. But my friend, have recently acquired a barn find 1949 Mercury and wants to make it a mild custom - and he's decided to go air-ride route at lowering it. I'm not entirely sure about it, as I would probably just fit a lowering springs to it, but he wants air ride. Should I persuade him not to? Or is it ok and reversable modification? If he goes for air ride, what vendor makes a good kit/set of parts?
Check out Rick Erickson at extreme kustoms...believe his handle is exk on the hamb...he has the best kits for air ride on the factory frame Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
dont know how low he wants to go but you can get dropped spindles for the front. take out a leaf or two in rear and put air shocks on it for ride height, for the highway.
I don't really know what your road conditions are like in the Czech Republic, but I think he might be better off with an air ride system from what I envision them to be. At least with an air system, you have a little bit of flexiblity to motor safely ...
"reversable modification" could be done, but very expensive. All out air bag mods done correctly involve entire new welded frame suspension parts, floorboards modified for drive shaft clearance. So yes, reversable, but not like a mild street rod where you put back on the stock wheels and springs and you're back to factory.
We're not a third-world country, but we're no Germany either - so ability to soak up potholes is quite important. Anything with rock-hard ride quality is going to be a huge pain in the butt. So, what our options are? Are there more kinds of air suspensions? Sorry for stupid questions, I'm more of a muscle car/hot rod guy and I'm totally new to this. With lowering spindles and removed leafs, how will the thing handle?
If you want the suspension reversable that would be almost impossible to find some thing that would work well with booth. Also if your roads are not real good most air ride suspension has only about 6" of usable rear world wheel travel and if you want your car to lay frame you will have to drive around with the bags fully inflated and it would not drive so nice. You could look at our air ride kit as we do get 8" of usable wheel travel plus we also use larger dia bags than most so the ride is smother. Oh with our rear cruiser kit you do not have to tunnel your floor pan or butcher your rear seat or trunk pans like a tri 4 bar setup. We just finished the suspension under this black 51 for Viva. Want more info or pic's just let us know. The Erickson's / Extreme Kustoms 951 678-3520
While we would like it to be as reversable as possible, it is not the most important thing. If it works well, cutting/welding is not that big a deal. Can you post some more detailed info about your kits? What's included, what needs to be modified, what is needed besides the kit itself, how it will handle etc. Also, do you have those kits in stock, or do they have to be made on order? Thanks a lot for info!
BobAsh thanks for your interest. We also do some front suspension stuff. Here's 2 more merc's that have our front & rear air suspension You can go on e-bay to see more detail on what we offer and whats included. Our suspension kits will drive and handle better than 99% of all others !!!!! Ok that my bias opion so any one ells how has our suspension in there merc care to comment ???? As of today we are back logged about 6 weeks on suspension parts. The Erickson's / Extreme Kustoms 951 678-3520
Best air bag guy around is Ponch,The Bagman. IMO But,there are lots of shops that will do bags,EXK being one of them.
BB i am fairly sure you have never rode in anything i have bagged or seen my work because if you had you would not of made that statement IMHO. The Erickson's / Extreme Kustoms 951 678-3520
I can't say I've seen the BBQ t-shirts. I can attest to EXK air ride suspension. EXK recently finished my 51 Merc with the cruiser style set up. My wife and I have been rollin this 51 merc for the past 7 and she even says it rides much better after Rick at EXK recently installed a Camaro front clip with drop spindles and the cruiser set up in the rear. This Merc lays frame and when layed out the front tires don't tilt in like most of the other bagged set ups I see. Also EXK did not have to cut up the trunk or floor pans to make it work. A cake pan size box in the hump of the trunk was all. Which fits just under the air tank and you cant even see it.
I prefer a 2 link.Attached are photos of a merc i did.The suspension was built to fit the merc.But the lengths are very close to the way GM designed the factory 2 link truck suspension. I suggest doing your research on 2 links and you will the right and wrong way to do them...
I hope you have added some sort of structure from your main frame rails to your X member mounted pivot box as the X member in most of these old frames are way to weak. Here are a few pics of a 2 link X member install by a well known NorCa shop. This X member broke on it way back from it's first outing. The Erickson's / Extreme Kustoms 951 678-3520
Note that the bars pictured above are rigid, and not able to twist, as per the original GM design. There is a reason that the GM engineers, and NASCAR teams, to this day, made arms that twist.
That statement wasn't a slam on your work,cause I haven't seen it. I was just stating that Ponch does quality installs. For the record....I HATE airbags! Wouldn't put them on anything I will own. Many of my friends have airbags on their cars,and are pleased with them. I,on the other hand,prefer stock suspension with blocks.
Back in the mid 70s early 90s i uses to build some serious desert race stuff. Extreme Performance renamed ARPM at still have a foot in Desert Dynamics. The Gm style 2 link bars would crack and break so we made solid tube bars with Johney joints at the rear end and a hiem joint up front and it worked well as many placed well in there classes. My 2 link is not rigid at all it's based on the same thinking as our off road stuff except i use bushings on lower powered cars. The Erickson's / Extreme Kustoms 951 678-3520
No worry's BB. Ponch is an old friend and has also bagged a few of my friends rides. I personally love airbags if installed correctly and have had them on every kustom i have own since the mid 80's and even on my late model kustoms. The Erickson's / Extreme Kustoms 951 678-3520
EXK, I have sent you a PM regarding the Mercury suspension a few weeks ago - I need a quote and I need some more details about your product. Have you read it? Or, do you have e-mail or something you check more often? I would rather talk about the technical stuff in writing, it's easier for me (my spoken English is worse than written). Thanks
Sorry been very busy out in the shop plus my wife has been in the hospital for over 3 weeks and just have not had mush extra time. You can send me a direcy e-mail at [email protected] Gb & Thanks, Rick Erickson / Extreme Kustoms 951 678-3520
Just flip the spindles from left to right. You'll have to flip the upside down in doing so. This will give you a 4" drop in front with full factory ride intact. for the back simple blocks should work.
Good trick from the fifties. You need to do some major torch bending to get the angle of the king pin back. Many people don't mention tje best part of bags. Probably because they don't have them. Air up and go! No more watching for every dip or bump in the road.
I'm with you Bob,I don't have a custom but there is a '50 Ford coupe rolling around in the back of my head,,it will definitely have stock suspension. HRP
Just to clarify after a few phone calls and emails. MetalShaper is the one that posted his suspension setup earlier, not me, metalfaber. Just wanted to clarify Brian
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