Air piston lift system

Thats long ! What diameter are they, mine are 45mm OD, 40mm ID (floating piston). Maybe have they changed the design.

I'm now looking for the seals, the circlips, the high pressure hoses, the valves, a small 0,85 liter tank (200bar/3000psi) with accessories....I am going to stay with my first idea, full air operated.
 
That seems to be an enormous difference in size for what is virtually the same suspension, give or take a few cm
 
45mm OD. I haven't opened them up yet so don't know ID.


Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. A couple of hundred psi will statically hold the car up, but you probably want a lot more to keep it rigid while driving over bumps. 3000psi tank gives you plenty to play with. Also interested in what you do for piston and mounting. While be awesome when you are done!
 
Ben Up North said:
That seems to be an enormous difference in size for what is virtually the same suspension, give or take a few cm
Click to expand...

It is really. When I first bought my coilovers, the canisters front tubes were 11,5cm, to which you have to subtract the inner threads and the floating piston giving only 7cm of floating piston travel (2 x 2 x 3,14 x 7 = 88cm3), didn't have enough volume for the shaft (1,1 x 1,1 x 3,14 x 24 = 92cm3) so I asked HotBits to send me longer ones which they did.

But I don't understand why they now make the canisters so much longer...?

The design I'm going for is of the same principe as the stanceparts cups, but located under the spring, with a 60mm OD threaded sleeve adjusted on the 58mm threaded strut housing and a 94/88mm OD/ID cup. All made of anodised aluminium. For 5cm of stroke, cup side needs to be 8cm high. Sealing will be made with high pressure "U" shape seals and wiper seals to keep the dust/mud/dirt/water out.
 
Interesting topic.

Are you guys going to fabricate or just buy the whole system? The set on stanceparts seems to be universal. Cheers.
 
I'm going to fabricate mine for a few reasons. I want the system to be located under the spring, it won't eat any stroke when not in use, I have barrel type springs that are not compatible with the universal cup on top of spring system....and I think different, I drive a Subaru !
 
True. DIY is always satisfying. The idea is good, especially for countries/places where compliance is not too tight.
 
I finished the drawing of the air piston lift, the parts will be machined at the mechanic school by 3rd grade students. I already ordered a 1,5 liter 232 bar scuba tank and a pressure regulator and still need to order 2/4mm ID/OD polyamid tubing and a few connectors. Hope to have everything done by january or febuary.

I currently have about 26-27cm of ground clearance at the lowest point under the skid plate. The air piston lift will add 4,5cm when needed but I will probably lower the ground clearance by 1-2cm for better road handling and a more "sleeper" look when the lift system is not in use !
 
Awesome! Looking forward to seeing the results. :)
 
I'm waiting for Santa Claus to bring me the seals, it seems to be the most difficult part of the project because they have to be fabricated to my specs. I should have them early '19 and then it will be time to machine the grooves.

Its a pretty slow project but I'm happy !
 
Finally had an answer from China about the seals....much too expensive ! Plan C was to get them machined at the mechanic school and well, ironically, its going to be cheaper !

Everything has been computerized, the work starts next week and everything should be ready soon (but its a school....), the ultimatum is end of march as I will need them for the adventuring season !
 
As long as you're moving forward, it's all good. :)
 
Its moving forward, slowly....!
 
I have all the bits and pieces but too much work right now, will start the job within 2 weeks :)
 
Fingers crossed it all works as expected! ;-)
 
I would have loved having them installed for this weekend as I go for an off road tour in France....well, for sure next time !
 
Install is sheduled tomorrow....
 
I hope you get some video/pictures of the install.
 
Ben Up North said:
I hope you get some video/pictures of the install.
Click to expand...

I didn't take any picture, I very rarely do even on holidays or when I've finished a work (I'm self-employed cabinet maker/joiner) but will probably take a few for you as well as a short video but not before 2 weeks because I'm going on holidays....

The mounting/assembly went very well except on the housing of the front right coilover, I had to grind the thread with an old file on about 8 cm to be able to screw the air piston with the help of fork oil.

Well, its done and it works very nicely. The calculations were spot on, at 13 bar, the car lifts up 4,5 cm, first the rear as its lighter then the front and the groud clearance is at 30,5 cm front under the skid plate and 35 cm rear under the diff.

Et voilà !
 
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