legacycentral bbs

FYI Ive done some searching both on this site and through google, but cant find any good DIY airbag tech. any links would be much appreciated.
I was prett bored tonight and got to thinking. how hard would it be to airbag a legacy using the pneumatic struts? for me a stiff, high ride height and a soft, low ride height would be ideal. you know, romping and cruising.

questions
-how similar is a legacy air srut to a conventional airbag strut?
-are all the original equipment ones so shot that they wouldnt be worth using?
-how much tavel do the air struts provide?
-how adjustable is the factory setup(complete)?
-what dampers are available for the air struts?
I always hear people saying how crappy the air suspension is due to leaks and such.

things needed:
I'm thinking that much of the system can be DIY. airtank and compressor certainly, JY air struts,(take a bike pump with an adapter to test them?) valves may have to be from a supplier.
-on board air compressor using stock compressor or A/C compressor(many how-to's for this online, could be done DIY for cheap)
-air tank: stock in fender or diy in the trunk
-valves/switches(???) not too familiar with how these are set up in lowriders
-lines to air struts
according to www.car-part.com air struts go for about $200-$50 each. new prices are sure to be exorbitant, didnt even check that.

I figure the best way to set up the camber for these would be with 0 deg. at whatever the normal ride height would be, (1"-2" below stock??) lifted it would have slight positive camber(outer edge of tire digs a little for better traction in the dirt? ASSuming ), dumped it would have slight negative camber(looks cooler).
I would be willing to try and rig something up if I were to come across a set of good air struts/ parts for cheap. anyone wanna donate to the cause?
feel free to flame, laugh, contribute ideas, ask more questions, etc. Ive never seen the air struts in person so maybe this concept is totally flawed/a big headache waiting to happen. just thinking out loud is all. discuss.

Really? You want to bag a Legacy?

Um... interesting idea I suppose...

I dunno, I can't really endorse this idea. By fundamentals of pneumatics, airbags are WRONG. The lower the center of gravity, the lower the effective spring rate of the suspension.

It works in the exact opposite way of how it should. The lower you go, the higher your spring rate should be.

I understand your efforts, so good luck to you and I hope you get the setup you are looking for! I'm sure you could just find a way to control the stock compressor.

One thing: In the rear of our cars, camber becomes more negative as travel decreases. Just the opposite up front, however As the suspension compresses, the camber becomes more positive. Ideally, when you lower the car, just slam out the camber in the front and rear, and it will, for the most part, be pretty close to factory spec.

BAC5.2 wrote: One thing: In the rear of our cars, camber becomes more negative as travel decreases. Just the opposite up front, however As the suspension compresses, the camber becomes more positive. Ideally, when you lower the car, just slam out the camber in the front and rear, and it will, for the most part, be pretty close to factory spec.

are you sure about the front camber becoming more negative through the suspension travel? it was always my impression that mac strut cars became more negative. maybe I'm wrong.
I do more of my hard driving in the dirt/snow though, hence the stiffer spring rate at a higher ride height. to me, low traction surfaces are a lot more fun.
there are also ways to limit the maximum ride height while still running high pressure. like a limiting strap at the very lowest of tech.
my main concern I guess is finding air struts that arent shot for a decent price.

Nope, a double wishbone setup will be fairly static.

There is a problem with the strut setups. They ALWAYS go positive under compression, and it's the fault of the strut pickup point on the kunckle.

The rear of our cars, remain fairly static under load, thanks to the trailing arm setup.

See, this is an engineering feat as well as a cost saving venture.

Double wishbone setups handle better. They gain negative camber slightly through the travel. This allows less static camber going straight, which increases traction and promotes tire wear.

But there's a reason for a strut-type front suspension setup. The mandatory requirements for engineers to promote understeer. With a strut type front suspension and trailing arm/lateral link rear suspension, the rear camber will exceed the front camber at the limits, and Voila... Understeer. Makes the job real easy.

But, of course, a strut-type setup can be turned into a GREAT handling car. It's all a matter of setup. Caster is a big part of that. You can have all of the benefits of a double wishbone (low static camber), and increase dynamic camber with more caster. Best of both worlds.