Air Jacks?

[Spam16v]

Has anyone put an air jack system on an ultima? considering it for a customers build as we're at the optimum time in the build for putting them on. Genesis has been the only consumer system i've found and the damn cylinders are 3.25" in diameter and 16.65" tall with the fittings on the top. that's going to be a stretch to find a location up front, but not totally impossible, that's for sure.

thanks everyone
-Zac

[UltimaCH]

Have you tried here? Looks like several options possible. I remember having seen some racing Ults (Belcar championship?)with this type of system.

http://www.apracing.com/info/index.asp?section=Air...

[Spam16v]

http://www.genesisparts.com/index.cfm?tpc=Genesis_...

here are dimensions for Genesis' kit, they offer 9.5" of lift. the Ultima is supposed to be set at 110mm F, and 160mm R ride height, so if i set them flush with the bottom of the car they've have to overcome 4.25" and 6.25" before they'd even hit the ground, and then lift beyond suspension droop which i haven't measured yet. the AP kits only allow for 330mm max lift from their largest cylinders which wouldn't even touch the ground unfortunately.

my interest also is in where someone would suggest installing the fronts if they were to fit them. the cooling pipes foul any real EASY fitment. the only real limitation is the near 17" height when compressed with fitting attached. inboard in front of the center section would be ideal if the battery was moved on one side but the master cylinders foul that option, in front of the A-Arms interfere with the tire on lock to lock, in front of the luggage boxes seems the only real ideal location.

thanks for the reply.

[Steve_D]

Do you have to have four jacks?
If you used three on the basis that the front is that much lighter then the front one could go against the front bulkhead, in the middle, where there is the most height. There is nothing there to get in the way as the steering shaft comes across at an angle.

Steve

[Spam16v]

brilliant idea, only issue with the steering shaft is that it will contact it b/c the jack is 3"+ in diameter. that does free up some ideas though for one central front jack though. i'm fitting the cill plate and right pod right now (well lunch is right now... but..) next is to bring out the a/c condenser and tinker with that.

why not a single cylinder in the passenger compartment in the right passenger (LHD) footwell just to one side of the center bar behind the bulkhead? other than the exhaust when it vents (nitrogen, or shop air) i could silicone around the cylinder and seal out the elements.

here's the tube for the sending unit, 3.625" in diameter shoved where i was considering putting it.

[srreck]

I'm using the 3 airjack system (AP Racing) one at front and two at the rear. I ordered the chassis tube brackets welded in place when I ordered the chassis. They work fine and is a good help to lift the car instead of the manual lifters.
Cheers,

Edited by srreck on Tuesday 21st October 18:48

[Spam16v]

where do you have yours fitted if you don't mind me asking? have any pictures if i may be so bold as to ask? if you don't want them public on the forum feel free to email them [e-mail]
thanks
-Zac

[robm3]

Ever so slightly off topic but where is the jacking point on the rear? I had a devil of a time getting a trolley jack under on the weekend so could only access the rear subframe which just didn't seem right.
Air Jacks seem a good idea anyhow..

[Spam16v]

no official jack points to my knowledge, just use some common sense and get under a solid tube with a non maring low profile jack as not to crush or destroy anything. and since you've realized you can't get anything under it is the exact reason i'm researching air jacks for ease of service and maintenance, since i'm going to be doing all of the above for the customer. that and they're just cool... but that's another ball of wax.

[GTRCLIVE]

you do realise it takes in excess of 2000psi to lift a car....
No normal compressor will do that

[Spam16v]

but a nitrogen cylinder will, the compressed air reference was to some sort of compressed inert gas, i knew some bagged lowrider guys who used helium for a bit b/c it was cheap due to an overstock at a local distributor. good looking out though.

[donkeasy]

if you use four cilinders the required presure will be lower

I did that

Edited by donkeasy on Tuesday 21st October 22:46

[nickmpower]

theres no way it hell it would take 2000psi. the whole car weighs that much so unless you are using a 1 square inch cylinder it will take a lot less. With 3 3.5 inch cylinders it should only take around 70psi i think

[srreck]

Spam16v said:

where do you have yours fitted if you don't mind me asking? have any pictures if i may be so bold as to ask? if you don't want them public on the forum feel free to email them [e-mail]
thanks
-Zac

Hope this helps.
Front unit....

Rear units....

In race conditions you will need at least 25bar for a fast lift. On trackdays I use just 15bar and it lifts the car slowly and safe. Cheers,
Javier

[Spam16v]

nickmpower said:

theres no way it hell it would take 2000psi. the whole car weighs that much so unless you are using a 1 square inch cylinder it will take a lot less. With 3 3.5 inch cylinders it should only take around 70psi i think

the 3.5" measurement is outside diameter, i'm not positive what the effective piston diameter is, so that 70psi benchmark would be accurate for a 3.5" cyl, but these lack that.

those pictures are worth 10 fold more than you could imagine. what ride height do you run aprox. and what length throw cylinders are those from AP Racing?

[Spam16v]

also, correction in my above post mentioning the AP units at 230 and 330mm wouldn't touch the ground i made a mental mistake on metric conversion that's over 13" and would be almost too much.

thanks everyone.

[GTRCLIVE]

nickmpower said:

there's no way it hell it would take 2000psi. the whole car weighs that much so unless you are using a 1 square inch cylinder it will take a lot less. With 3 3.5 inch cylinders it should only take around 70psi i think

OK Have you spoke to AP... I did and that was there reply.. Yes they meant so the car could be lifted up quickly but they where talking about 1000psi being slow...

Point of all of this is you have to carry around a Cylinder if you want to use it at the track or even in the garage, so even though I liked the idea the Logistics meant paying to have a cylinder charged just to lift the car..... So for me that was not really of any use..... IMHO but each to there own...

[Spam16v]

Clive, scroll up and Javier has posted pics of his car equipped with 3 AP cylinders and posted air pressure specs that he uses. 180psi or 15bar lifts the car slowly, so our shop compressor would be more than enough to get it off the ground. i'm not out to get the car jumping like it's on hydraulics, i just want to be able to work on the car easier, and being in a shop environment a welding cylinder isn't out of the question as we have an account, torches and bottles already. nitrogen is $30 for a 300cu 5' tall cylinder that would last for hundreds of lifts. i used to have one in my garage at home for side jobs b/c i didn't have enough power out there to run a worthy compressor to run my big impact ect. a 5 year lease is $60 for the bottle, that's not out of hand as the customer also has multiple high end cars we maintain for him and his bills are always paid on time.

thanks everyone
-Zac

[donkeasy]

use 4 airjacks and you need 10 bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!