air shocks on rear

[1990new]

So have you tested to see what kind of hitch load you can hang on the vehicle and it still drive properly?

Don't know what the hitch weight was but I did haul a baby grand piano on a 4x6 trailer with my stock 92 GL.....no problem...wish I had taken pictures.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

So have you tested to see what kind of hitch load you can hang on the vehicle and it still drive properly?

[1chrisapple]

Ya its sweet

[getnpsi]

If the components worked ok id step up and get nicer pieces to match from a kit Half the reason those "kits" fail is because the cars are heavy. When you are using components that go on heavier cars in theory they will hold up to daily abuse from crappy roads AND light towing...win win win.

the idea is to have a single festiva that does it all. My original interest in these was to pull around a dirtbike or two rather than go find another ford ranger. Many members have multiple festivas for different reasons, of course that itself is cheaper than anything else out there to do as well. If you have had your suspension apart, you wont have frozen bolts in the rear, and trashed bushings up fronty. You can rip your air pieces out and go back to regular springs or coilovers in a hurry for track time and leave the air ride in year round almost. Lower and slightly stiffer than stock would make most people happy for aggressive street driving anyway. Push a button to effectively hold another BP swap in the hatch? banana time

[1chrisapple]

going to see if I can find some kind of compressor off a towncar.caddy,or navigator tomorrow at pap

[FestYboy]

muahahahaha!!!

air ride festiva for ~ $300!!!

[1chrisapple]

that's sick right there I bet those could be made to work festyboy

[FestYboy]

Possible Fronts? just add Rio top hats?

[getnpsi]

Hm, I dont know. Pretty sure there there are 2 bolt camber plate kits out there, that double as top hats, or they can be made up pretty easy to serve this purpose. 450 for a random bag kit is reasonable, just have to check out what kids do to other cars. I was around minitruckers for quite a while out here in so cal...you know giving them rides when something broke lol.

I know this title is air shocks on REAR and I'm not trying to turn this into a bagged hard parkin' detour but as some members use VW stuff, here is full blown retail example of VW fronts

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Golf_III--VR6_12v/Suspension/Air_Ride/ES1905489/

[1chrisapple]

oh gotcha.guess its just the way you wrote it.lol but yea I thought about that to.if u just used the part that mounted to the hub on another air shock some how. idk how u would do that tho bc u cant really take the shock apart and I don't think u can just start welding onto it either. seems like u would need a sleeve that u can tighten around the lower shock shaft and then weld the stock festy bracket to that sleeve

[getnpsi]

@chris i mean for the front struts to be air ride and nothing availiable...may have to cannibalize a kia or mazda strut to put a rear shock inside to use as a strut up front in other words, no weld solutions

[1chrisapple]

yea im going to hide all the air lines and but want to leave most of it alone till I get a compressor.as of right now im not running a compressor just fill them with my home compressor.

[zoom zoom]

Man, that's pretty awesome! I move to sticky this thread immediately, anybody second?

I know what I'm doing next time I tear the rear end off one of my cars..


Can you give us a pic of your compressor, or do you just use any compressed air for now?

oh...poke a hole in your spare tire well and run the lines through that haha....hide that stuff man! Thanks for doing the leg work on this and finding the part that will work best for all of us, and the good pics! I'm off to finish my bumper hitch and daydream about the day my festy gets air ride rear suspension..

[1chrisapple]

pics for ya suckas

heres pics of the new ma822 air shock and ak29 air hose kit

notice the mounting bracket(take a hammer and remove it)its difficult but will come out

remove your old festy strut. you should know how right?


old compared to new



take a air gun and fill the shocks with air slowly the first time and the air bladders should be able to seat or fit better .
now I reused my festy strut upper bushings.use those on the new shocks.

now put the shock throught the upper mount and put the bushing on and nut to hold it in place.
when you do this make sure the fitting on the shock faces the rear bumper bc its the best way to run the air lines

now take the lower and put it in the bracket there will be play because the shock isn't as wide as festy strut.take some washer and put it on the side where the tire is that way the gap for tire to shock clearance is as wide as possible.i didn't the first time and one shock rubbed bc I just spaced with washers on both sides. put the lower bolt in and tighten everything up.
pic of spacers to take up space duh it shows where I had washers on both sides but ony but them on the beam side or closest to the tire to keep from rubbing.


here is tire to shock clearance pic
crappy pic but its roughly 1/2" of clearance

now just connect your air lines and run them wherever u want.but I do suggest running them separate from each other because there is no valve to keep air from transfering from one shock to the other during cornering. im still working on this part myself.when I figure what im gonna do ill post it.i do know im going to run an onboard compressor.

here are pics of ride heights







good luck yall if u need to know then ask

[1chrisapple]

pics and how to