Got Air???

July 10, 2008

This entry is a bit early, but I just wanted to let everyone know about my air shocks.

After properly doing my homework, I did get the right air shocks (this time). For anyone out there wanting to do this but is either told you can’t (as I was) or can’t find the right shocks here is my tip of the day. Most shocks come is just a few varieties. Some have bushings, a steel insert through a rubber bushing. Usually a bolt goes through this insert. Some have a flat tab (with holes or slots) that takes two bolts (with or without nuts) and the third type is a straight shaft that is threaded at the end. The flat tabs and steel inserts that go through a rubber bushing are fairly interchangeable. For instance, my car requires a flat tab at the top and a steel insert at the bottom – both go through the rubber bushing. The shocks I ordered had steel inserts at both ends and they were not the right size, but the rubber bushings were the same. I removed the pieces I needed from my old shocks (which were actually brand new) and replaced the ones on the air shocks with these pieces. Now everything matches my car. Monroe has a good website and I was able to find shocks that had the right type of ends and the approximate length I needed. It took me about 2 ½ hours to do everything and they work.

The shocks range from 10 – 150 PSI and with just 70 PSI my car was level again. The shock have good recoil and I can actually get under the car from the front – well as good as I could before I added the batteries. The two pictures don’t appear to show much difference in height (I failed to get a before air shock picture), but in reality it was about 1to1.5 inches and that is at 70 PSI. If I did 120 PSI, it might add another inch to that!

These two web pages will get you to a wealth of information. The first will tell you if air shocks are available for your EV. If not, write down the model numbers of what will work and go to the second link. On this page, click on the “mounting and length” info and find your shocks. Note the compressed and extended lengths and type of mounting at each end – and start searching.

http://www.monroe.com/catalog_lookup/ocl_default.asp

http://www.monroe.com/catalog_lookup/ocl_miscappinfo.asp

I know this will probably not work with struts because of the types of mounting they have, but with a little engineering, you might find a solution. I spent $61.00 to do this upgrade and it was worth every cent. If you look at air bags for your suspension or coilovers, you can spend a fortune going this route. For you Fiero converters, the model was Monroe – MA803.

Until later….