Its looking good. I wouldnt worry too much about strength issues lifting the front end on the shock bolts, after all thats what coilovers are doing on my bus all the time. Only difference there is that I have to get out a hammer and a drift to knock the lock nuts round to raise or lower it.. You have a new beam with solid side plates, so you dont suffer the problem of the stock front beam horns just cracking off with corrosion and extra load from messing with shocks taking load all the time (although at the instant you hit a bump, even stock shocks on a stock beam are holding a lot more of the weight of the bus as they compress .. or the bus would bounce.. )
@1973daisey Cor blimey you have put a lot of time-effort-money into that bus its amazing well done mate! As for the rest of you lot take note!
completely disagree on the strength points If a shock bolt snaps nothing happens apart from you loose damping as you still have torsion springs Coil overs and airbags completely rely on that one bolt to stop you totalling your bus ,or the welding that holds that bolt on . what do you class as a super strong bolt ? 8.8 ,10.9 ,12.9 or the worlds strongest Bumax Ultra range . Bearing in mind it’s in shear not tension .. For example the rear lower shock bolt on a Porsche 914 is 22mm in diameter ( car weights 1288kg) In industry you’d have to be a coded welder to weld anything like this. I’d worry every time I drove it
My bus still has full torsion springs just the centre retainers have been rotated and rewelded by a PO to make it too low. My coilovers are just pushing hard enough, lifting 25mm from that level and adding damping over stock so the wheel doesnt rub any more. Not the same as taking out the torsion springs and riding on heavy coils fixed at the top of the horns alone. The air shocks on Si's bus only have to lift from equilibrium using the torsion springs down on the floor, not having to lift the whole weight of the nose.
If 1 bolt snaps the van will be on the springs as u cab drive this totally air out rear spring plates the same weight kept off floor Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
May not look a lot but made up and ran all new front brake lines and relocated and welded on new flexi bracket allso gear linkage rod needed mod as hitting beam after raise and strangely it’s taken out a lot of slop raising gearbox nose and this mod makes it so much more precise ?? Was only bit of scrap tube I had in my unit hope to get tubs tacked in tonight if I can get home from work
Had a late night got the tubs welded in 3/4 of them allso want full turning so going into doors allso should finish this side tomorrow only 2 weeks to go for ninove
Finished 1 tub and stone chipped just needs a seam seal and paint other side is tacked in and tomorrow morning will finish welding in had to have a break eyes tired
Air system now fully in and working no leaks switches under dash new accelerator cable in engine all good gears seem good brakes all bled seam sealed all tubs underneath clutch cable is frayed and new one never turned up just waiting on that now to drive it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
1st pic is top height on lowest shock mount but beam raised 50mm so nice ride height the back has loads as the bags way better Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would fit a skid plate under the front, and work out how to use remote hydraulic shocks . Only $6000 ooerr. https://www.jrishocks.com/shop/ride-height-system/hydraulic-ride-height/ Your airbags need almost no pressure to lift, your front shocks probably need 20 -30 bar to work.. all in the relative surface area of the pistons. The two systems arent compatible. Airbag the front beam or fabricate a hydraulic system. Thats not enough lift to make it onto / off ferries where the road changes gradient suddenly or over sleeping policemen, round hairpin bends or make it down single track roads with camber, or handle soft fields.
To be honest when in ferry I’ll raise it up it’s 1 bolt mate and book low clearance they do help u tbf but I’ll be upgrading the front in time mate these are on the list Or I’m gonna make a little custom airbag set up have an idea mate just if I can get it to fit I have an idea in mind will explain at te Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Its just as well you did weld up the beam so you had some more holes for the shocks. I think I saw something at the Slough Swapmeet, on the Midland E@rly Bay stand. With something like this.. Wagenswest. That looks like small truck air suspension units, the bottom torsion springs replaced with a solid bar. There is a parallelogram linkage on the airbag so the whole thing cant tip over. Thats why there are two arms bolted one over the other under the airbag. Theres a nice underside of a Splitty with this setup on their website.
She is finally driving few bits to sort out but all seems good all the mods make simple job like clutch cable a 2 night job but worth it to see it laid out on the deck 7 days to fine tune and make it a camper again Abd fill it full of carling for a 1000 mile trip to ninove Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
