Hey their Everyone,
Well, for those of you that know me, you know I have prided myself on being one of the lower, if not the lowest PT around still sitting on Coils having commissioned my buddy Steve (who used to build Off Road Trophy Trucks) to build me a one off custom set of springs to give my baby a full 3 / 5 drop. While I really, really loved the attention, comments, and just plain love I got from having my ride grounded like it was, with my really tore up back, having 2" of travel in back, and sitting solid on 3/4 cut bump stops in front with no travel, feeling each and every imperfection in the roadway no matter how minute was not working out to well for me! To better illustrate my point, here is a re-enactment of my head, and worse, my wife's head vs my headliner every time I would enter the freeway using our beloved Happy Faces.
Me
Headliner vs my head
me and Wife
and Wife after a ride in my PT with the springs
So I finally done went and put Air Ride on my baby which is still in progress as of yet, but I am hoping should be done by this weekend to play with!
I was always curious as to how close I was riding on springs to how low a PT on Air sat. I knew it was close, but just not sure how close. Here is a pic of my ride on the custom drop with a body ride height of 4" at all four corners, and 3 1/2" under both the front, and rear end of the car from lowest part of the body to the ground.
So, here is the project. The springs are out, and in with a full Air Ride Technologies System that came from another PT Project that unfortunately the owner sadly passed away before he could finish. The system was at one time installed, and used for a short time in the vehicle, but never was fully hooked up and operational. This is my first experience I have ever really had with Air Ride. Its an older kit, and probably not the best set up available, but for me, I am very happy with it and think it will work great for what I am looking for which is pretty much a more comfy ride and still retain that ultra low look at a show. The Switches are set up on a custom plate cut to go over the cup holders, and will provide controls for front, back, and side to side. Here are a couple of pic's of the system I am using in my ride.
I owe a huge thank you to both Slayerdarkcross, and Ray over at PTeazer for for helping make this entire Mod a reality! They both are 100% responsible for the entire thing from parts, to install, and I big time appreciate everything they have done for me! You guys are the greatest, and it truly goes to show how close PT People will go to help out a fellow Cruiser! This Project has had a few bumps in it, and both Slayer, and Ray have been outstanding in every way, kept me up to date as to any and all developments, and were able to totally take care of everything! Here is a pic of my ride in front of PTeazer.
And here is a couple of sneak pic's of the install.
It still needs a bit more tweaking before its drivable which should be done a bit later on today, and will still need a few more odds and ends that need to be done, but will be in the near future like removing, the plastic front inner fender wells, and custom fab up some new ones to fit all the way up against the sheet metal so I can tuck the front wheels as far as possible, so this will be one of those on going projects. As for the overall height, I knew I was not going to gain much as my ride was near rock bottom anyways, but did manage to gain a pretty good difference.
Where the body ride height was at 4" on springs, it now sits roughly 3 1/4, and both front end, and back end are now roughly 2 1/8" to the ground where as before they were 3 1/2" before. Since the Struts, and shocks are both fully adjustable, and they were still working on it when the measurements were taken, I suspect they might not have been 100% accurate, and will remeasure when I get her home, and all cleaned up for another sunny So Cal afternoon of pic's by the Lake again. Here are a couple of quickie shots of it on the ground so far. Everything is still waiting for adjustment this morning, but a rough idea.
As you can see, its a little lower, but the bigger thing for me is having the ability to go over speed bumps, and through driveways without cringing to the scraping sounds, and ultimately being able to lift it up enough to ride nice and smooth which I haven't been able to do in years! So now I can actually Cruise to a big out of town Show and still be able to walk the next day!
I'll try n get some better pics later, and possibly a vid once she is done later on, and will click some good beauty shots later this week after I get er all cleaned up and polished off again.
Anyways, thank you so much as always for checking out my ongoing project to make my little old PT into something cool! You guys Rock! And also a huge "THANK YOU SO MUCH" to Slayer, and Ray for all your help!
Go easy, and I'll catch you all later on.
Candyman