How about we move on to the fun stuff?! Suspension time!
After doing a ton of research, there was not much to research about the E23 and air bags. I had seen it done by a handful but only found 1 forum post about it and it was pretty vague. No part numbers, no real info on how to do it etc,. So, off to do my own research and see what I could find.
Again, I have been a bit behind on posting this build so its going to look like I slapped this together really quickly but it has taken me close to a month to get everything right. I cant tell you how many times I had to pull the shocks, how many top plates I made, how many modifications to the camber plates were made. They should be perfect now though and the build thread is close to being updated...
I am going to offer a kit for the E23 so you could have either the parts to do it yourself correctly or I can set you up with a bolt on suspension. After doing it all myself, I can tell you that youre going to be saving a ton of time and money and actually be able to have a proper air bag setup with little effort. There was quite a bit to figure out and make right. I could be wrong and I dont want to upset anybody but from all the E23's I have seen, and probably a lot of air suspensions in general, they have not been done correctly. IMO, you need to have a camber plate for the front and all the parts need to fit correctly for proper alignment and strength. The bummer about some of our not so popular cars is that we dont have pre fabbed kits so we have to use a "builders" kit and sometimes thats too much for some of us to put together.
On the rear, it was pretty straight forward. I didnt want to paint myself into a corner on ride height, I had seen some info that some people were not getting enough height out of their bags in the back. This concerned me as I didnt want to simply weld it together and have regrets later. I came up with a plan to add a rod end to the bottom of the shock. This will allow me approx 1.5" more height if I so choose, not to look over the flexibility, strength and strength that it also gives. Adjustability is just too nice to pass it up.
It worked out perfectly as my rear with this setup is pretty low. My muffler is about 1/8" off the ground when fully aired out. Granted, the muffler setup could be refined to give me more clearance...
So, I am happy with the way the rear turned out. If I wanted, I could make this setup lower by modifying the rod end to be shorter. I will give it some time and see how I like it. Going higher or lower should be really easy if I choose to in the future.
As for the kit I will sell for the rear, it would include the top mounting plate and weld on bottom rod end setup. I can also send just the parts for you to weld on or I can weld everything together and you can simply bolt it on.
Rear shock top plates and bottom rod end setup.
Muffler 1/8" off the ground...
Rear shocks complete and ready to bolt in
I had to drill thru the shock towers and run my air line in the trunk. I used Butyl Sealant Tape to seal the holes.
The front was more complicated...
First problem that I had not seen addressed was that nobody had come up with a camber plate setup. If you just roll with the amount of camber you get, its probably going to be neutral or positive camber. This is going to introduce a lot of under steer.
If youre not too concerned with the performance of your car, thats fine but if are, there is a better way to do it. So, I set off to develop one and came up with what I hope is a great setup.
At first, I thought this would just be a nice feature but now that I have it all installed, I feel its necessary.
When installed and the camber plate adjusted all the way in for maximum camber, I am at approx 2.5*, which isnt bad and close to where I want to be in the end. (The rears aired out are close to 5*!) I will have to measure how much camber there is on the front with the strut centered (same as stock but I am guessing you would have positive camber or if youre lucky, no camber at all. Not good, loads and loads of under steer should be present.
Addressing the camber plate was #1 and I thought it would be the only situation to address on the front shocks but there was one other. Air lift gives you a random tube that slides over their shock that youre supposed to weld to their shock and then slide it over the now cut strut tube on the stock side or spindle side. This doesnt really work. The tube I.D. they provide is too big. I am guessing people have just been welding it anyway and calling it good but the problem here is that since its so sloppy, your camber could be off and its just not a strong good fit. So, I machined a tube that makes up for the fitment between the strut tube and also the shock that gives a good slip fit and makes everything stronger and aligns everything well.
I am planning to sell a couple different versions of kits for the front.
The first kit would be what I am running. You would get a camber plate and a sleeve for the strut tube.
The second kit would be a top plate that has mounting holes and just a standard mounted shock.
The first kit with the camber plate is ideal for getting correct wheel geometry. The compromise is that it raises the front of the car approx 1" more and makes it so its not possible to lay the motor subframe on the ground.
The second kit is going to be much cheaper since its just a simple top plate, does not allow for adjustment of camber but allows the car to be 1" lower.
FYI, air lift sends you blank top plates. They are huge in diameter and have no holes drilled in them for the mounting plates. Again, more room for error and not getting the camber right. This is a lot of work and hard to get perfect.
Edit: I just had the thought that on the non adjustable plates, I can simply move the center hole in as far as possible for maximum camber... if there is interest in this setup, I will adjust the parts. It still wont be adjustable and I dont think its going to give as much camber as the plate but it could be close.
Front shock top plates and camber plates (sleeve for strut tube not shown).
Motor subframe approx 5/8" off the ground...
Front shocks complete and ready to bolt in
I am running a 17x8 et 20 wheel and 235/45 tires. You can see that this is going to be the maximum allowed setup for this. It couldnt be more tight!
Shock installed showing the camber plates...
All aired out...
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