The OFFICIAL Air Suspension Thread

I have created this thread for users who have already installed and/or are in the process of installing Air Suspension on their Sedan. Place to discuss available kits, management options, setups, installs, offer advice etc. There will not be many of us who can contribute to this thread, yet, but hopefully this proves to be very beneficial.

Kits Available-
Air Force Suspension - www.airforce-sus.com/
Accuair (Within the Next Month, Currently on Test Vehicle) - http://www.accuair.com/

Bag over coil-
Megan Racing Coils - Genesis Sedan Coils
ForjWorks Brackets -
Front
UAS Bags - https://www.universalairsuspension.com/store2/catalog/

Parts -
http://bagriders.com/modlab/


User who have installed air suspension:
Ri0uxx - Bag over Coil (SMA Coils, UAS Bags) - AirRex Management
GarciafactoryUS - Air Force Suspension - Accuair Management

Users currently installing -
Xiaphin - Air Force Suspension - AccuAir E-Level w/touch pad Management
ghicks99 - Bag Over Coil (Megan Coils, UAS Bags) - Management ???

Feel free to tell me what info to add to the first post and I will do so. Will be updating this thread as my build continues to progress.

Nice. I hope to add more soon as well but i'll be outta town for a few weeks. I need some PSHHHHH!!!! in my life. Btw i'll prob be doing accuair vu4 and e-level/i-level. I think I'm going to mount my tank on the underside of the trunk lid.

New Trunk Floor Fabrication

Although I created this thread I am unable to edit my original post which has never happened to me before on this forum. With that said until that is resolved I won’t be able to update the original post regarding available kits when new ones come to market until this issue gets resolved.

Past few months I have been working on my air ride install and figured it was time to actually show the community what I have been working on. A lot of thought and planning has gone into this build so far but not quite finished yet. Still need to complete wiring, bulkhead fitting and lines with new carpet and install the bags. Posts will be broken into sections in an effort to keep posts at a reasonable length.

Order to be something like this:
Trunk Floor
Tank, compressor, hardlines and fittings
Wiring and controller locations
Bag Install

First a new trunk floor was created out of MDF using the trunk liner as a guide and consists of 5 sections (two sides, one rear, one middle and one front). Front section is where the air ride tank and compressors mount along with the bulkheads. Keeping it up front still leaves a lot of trunk space left. Since the trunk opening is smaller than the inside of the trunk itself I was unable to make the new floor out of two pieces which turned out to be a good thing. 3/4" MDF was selected but if done all over again I would have used 1/2" for the ease of installing my bulkhead fittings. The middle, sides, and rear sections sit 3/4” lower than the front and needed to have spacers added. Sides and middle pieces have a 1” lip for the middle section to rest on. The middle section is also supported from underneath by the OEM spare tire styrofoam jack/tool holder. Cardboard is your friend when laying out stuff like this and was used as a template prior to cutting any of the MDF. The middle section of the new trunk floor hinges upward providing access to the spare tire, battery, air ride wiring, fittings and sensors. The rear of this section has a modified bungee cord that hooks onto the trunk lip similar to the OEM one. The hook has since been recessed into the floor when not in use. All of the cuts and edges will be sanded straight or smooth out prior to final install.

Pictures of the new floor below with initial test fit:










Tank Compressors and Line to follow...

Looking good. Can't wait to see the end result.

Tailwalker said:

Looking good. Can't wait to see the end result.

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Thanks man I'll be updating later tonight with the compressors, tank and hardline work I have already completed.

Awesome. I need to see the fitment on the wheels as well!
Pretty aggressive for our platform. I know that at +21 on 10.5, I poke pretty good. I need to go a bit lower which will camber it in a bit, but +8 is going to require a good bit of adjustment. I'm guessing you are not planning to tuck (not my style, but some people like it)?

Tailwalker said:

Awesome. I need to see the fitment on the wheels as well!
Pretty aggressive for our platform. I know that at +21 on 10.5, I poke pretty good. I need to go a bit lower which will camber it in a bit, but +8 is going to require a good bit of adjustment. I'm guessing you are not planning to tuck (not my style, but some people like it)?

Click to expand...

It is aggressive but based on Ri0uxx and GarciaFactoryUS wheel setups when running air suspension they will fit barely fit... Have an excel file where I compared all three. I'll only be sticking out 1/4" more than your setup since I am running a 10 compared to your 10.5. Not planning on tucking the rim only part of the tire at ride height. If I get enough negative camber when aired out tucking the rim may be a possibility. Got any pics looking down from top at your lowered ride height?

I'll shoot you spme

Tank, Compressors, Hardlines and Fittings

After what felt like a couple months of researching existing installs and setups I decided to go with the Accuair 5-Gallon tank, Dual 400cc VIAIR compressors and Accuair eXo Mounting System. The eXo System consists of three split tank mounting rings, two compressor mounting brackets and an ECU/Manifold mounting bracket. Bottom section of the rings are bolted to the new trunk floor, tank is set in place then the other half of rings bolt together. Since the trunk floor has to sit flush the hole locations for mounting the tank rings were counterbored.

Hardlines are 3/8” Type K Copper Tubing, wall thickness is 0.035”and were ordered in straight lengths that are hardened. Used a Parker 3/8” tubing bender and annealed each section of tubing that needed to be bent using a BernzOmatic TS8000 and a bucket of water. This was my first hardline setup and it took a long time making sure all the bends were correct and mirrored for the opposite side. Have the SMC water traps after the compressors but have since learned it is better to have them prior to the VU4 manifold. I may rebend the compressor to tank lines and install the water traps prior to the VU4 manifold but have not made up my mind on this yet.

Replaced the VIAIR check valves with SMC check valves and installed the directly to the compressors. All fittings have been changed to 316 Stainless Steel, purchased from http://www.stainlesssteelfittings.com/. The PTC (Push to Connect) fittings are pressed into the VU4 manifold and cannot be changed, come to find out they do offer a NPT version of this manifold but has to be specified when placing an order. There is no issue using the tubing with these PTC connections. All other hardline connections use a double ferrule compression fitting. Opting for a clean looking install I elected to run my hardlines to bulkhead fittings keeping all pressure sensors, DOT air lines and mufflers underneath.

If I went with 1/2" MDF I would not have needed to use a step bit to allow enough male threads to be exposed on the top side of the trunk floor. By dumb luck the OD of the hole on the bottom side is the same width from point to point of the male and female NPT side of the bulkhead fittings. ECU connectors have to be fed from underneath which required a rectangular opening to be cut directly below the ECU. A slot was cut for the 90° drain fitting located on the bottom of the tank and holes were drilled for the compressor power wires as well.

Some kind of pressed carpet/felt material was purchased to go on top of the wooden trunk floor and is very similar to the OEM trunk carpet material. It leaves a clean edge when cut with a blade and does not fray. Used hollow punches to cut clearance holes for the bulkhead fittings and cut X’s for the ECU connectors, drain and power wires. Setup has been test fit with carpet in the trunk but without hardlines and looks exactly how I thought it would. Should have the setup test fit with all hardlines early next week and can’t wait to see how it will look with the hardlines polished. Wrapping up my wiring this weekend and then on to installing the e-level sensors and bags.

Cutouts for harness connectors, tank drain and motor wires were not cut/drilled when these pictures below were taken. Not sure what nickname to give her but it kind of looks like a spider!?:

















Wiring to follow...

Holy wow. I was proud that I had my windows tinted... Nice work!

looks awesome. nice work man

Jutdean said:

Holy wow. I was proud that I had my windows tinted... Nice work!

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Ron5.0 said:

looks awesome. nice work man

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Thanks for the kind words guys. Wasn't sure what kind of reception it would get on this forum. Not many heavily modified cars on here.

Just finished all the wiring minus running the e-level sensors. Everything powered up and solenoids fired using the touch pad and iPhone app. Will post the wiring portion of my build up to this point tomorrow.

Wiring

Making the wiring portion of my build as clean and functional like the trunk and hardlines have been a challenge. Must have had over 300' or more of wire in my trunk before shortening and routing everything. The only ignition sources available are up front with wires being run through the back of trunk, under rear seats, carpet and center console. Communication wires for the e-level controller and Zaetech Digital Pressure Gauge were also ran to the dash using the same path. Pressure gauge is mounted in place of the factory ash tray with e-level touch pad located in a slot under the cd player. Illumination source came from the driver side taillight. Two weather pack style connectors were used to connect two pairs of ignition and illumination wires to e-level ECU and Zaetech control box.

Since the middle section of the trunk hinges upward, the bottom of this piece was used to mount the positive and negative power distribution blocks, inline fuse holder and relays. Inline fuses for the e-level ecu and Zaetech control box were mounted to the bottom side of front trunk section. Cable tie mounts were placed in multiple locations to make wire runs as organized as possible. Many wires had to be lengthened (compressors, ECU grounds, ignition, etc.) with all connections being soldered and covered with heat shrink. Wiring visible in the trunk will be covered with braided sleeving during final install. Tight weave braided sleeving will also be used to protect the airlines and e-level sensor wires at all four corners during bag install. The positive battery plastic cover had to be modified in order to accept the main power wire. Wiring needs to be modified during final install to achieve a cleaner look. Trunk pieces will be painted black prior to final install as well.

Power up test was a success with solenoids responding to input from both touch pad and i-level app. Tank was not plumbed so compressors did not run during test. I was pleased with how the controller and gauge look in the car at night. Trunk, wiring, tank and compressors have been removed in order send tank to powder coat and tidy up a few things before re-installing. On the fence about mounting the i-level wifi module outside the car, like described in the installation manual. Need to test the range with antenna attached located in the trunk and outside before deciding.

Pictures below:

It's funny how much more solidly built this car is than my 06 GS was. While there are a few issues with any car, the Lexus was a rattle trap. There are the console issues with the Genesis of course, but the cabin is essentially sealed from the engine bay as well as trunk, with only one grommeted pass through that I have seen (outside of the ski pass). It was a PITA trying to tune my sub because of this, as well as the surprising amount of factory padding/deadening material in the trunk, but it's a great problem to have.

Great job on the wiring to this point - what I am saying is I really understand what you are going through to accomplish all this, and it's quite impressive. Wish I had the patience.

well guys i have been talking to xiaphin about his airsetup because im in the midst of building my setup and installing as well so per me and his conversation he thought it would be good to put my pics in the thread as well as of right now im building the floor and the mount system for the air setup so i will have more pictures done this weekend after im further along

Looking good so far vipdoutaz, I like how you incorporated the wings into the base. I'm guessing the JP inside it stands for Junction Produce? Still wish I had easy access to a plasma or waterjet like I used to, sure does make life easier when doing your own custom designs. Do you know how many miles Tony had on his bag setup before he sold them to you?

See that you went with an air lift tank and incorporated the ecu/manifold and compressor mounts into your base plate. I thought about this but went the easy route with the eXo mounts. Are you going to run compressor isolators?

Looks like you also chose 3/4" MDF for the base. Making the trunk floor ended up being more involved than I originally thought with the way I went about making it. How are you going to lay it out?

xiaphin said:

Looking good so far vipdoutaz, I like how you incorporated the wings into the base. I'm guessing the JP inside it stands for Junction Produce? Still wish I had easy access to a plasma or waterjet like I used to, sure does make life easier when doing your own custom designs. Do you know how many miles Tony had on his bag setup before he sold them to you?


See that you went with an air lift tank and incorporated the ecu/manifold and compressor mounts into your base plate. I thought about this but went the easy route with the eXo mounts. Are you going to run compressor isolators?


Looks like you also chose 3/4" MDF for the base. Making the trunk floor ended up being more involved than I originally thought with the way I went about making it. How are you going to lay it out?

Click to expand...

(1) he said he had about 10 k on them which isnt bad because i had some struts on my mazda 3 and put about a 100 k with no issues and the jpt stands for "just plain trick" its a buddies shop and due to him letting me use his shop and stuff for my car i figured that was a nice gesture )

(2) i do believe the tank is from airlift and i did incorporate all the stuff to the mount so i can through it in all together in one shot , and yea ill be doing something with the compressors so they dont vibrate as much im thinking about keeping there rubber feet and lining the bottom of the mount with dynamat to soak up the sound and vibration i will as well put rubber washers underneath the mount so it sits a little off of the wood floor)


(3)i did choose to use the 3/4 mdf for the base one because its cheap and two i use this alot in stereo builds so im use to using that as my material , and the trunk was pretty easy to me because i seem to have went a different route i used the trunk carpet / liner for my outline and cut that out with a jigsaw then went back and sanded all rough edges and cleaned it up went to test fit and there was no way it was going to work in one piece so i ended up cutting it in three piece one complete piece along the rear and two seperates from the middle to the the inside wells of the trunk and its worked really well

well guys i have some updates i have actually bagged the car and are up and running still need to put height sensors and finish the trunk completly but here is a couple new pics

Looks like you made some good progress over the weekend. Like the hard wood floor gives it a classy touch. I thought about doing this but changed my mind early on when building he trunk. Did you take any pics of your struts during install? Interested to see at what height you set them. Set mine with 1.5" of threads exposes between locking collars. Going to post up pics of my progress later tonight. I also got the bags installed with sensors to come this week/weekend.

Wondering if you ran into some of the same issues during install like I did.