Hydraulic "elevator shock absorbers" in Southern California..?

[spinjector]

Could anyone tell me what those "elevator shock absorbers" are that I see on cars in TV shows and movies? It seems like they are always on some old Chevy or Lincoln convertible driven by some crazy Mexican hombre in southern California. They pull up at a light and jack the front of the car up and down, like a "mine is bigger than yours" contest.

I'd like to see if there is one for a Beetle, or if one can be retrofitted into one without affecting safety or reliability of the stock suspension. I hit high driveways about 3x a day with my TS, and I'm not getting the scrapes on the air scoop fixed until I find a way to protect it better.

I am considering installing the Panzer Skid Plate, but frankly I don't think that will be enough coverage.

[marvins_dad]

Most likely Air Bagged...also possibly Hydrolic.

Air Bags, they do have them for Beetles - system cost without installation is around $2000. You can check Ebay for a set or google search.

[marvins_dad]

Here is one...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FBSS-...spagenameZWD1V

And...this is the clearance that a bagged bug can get...

[spinjector]

Originally Posted by marvins_dad

Most likely Air Bagged...also possibly Hydrolic.

Oh, it's definitely a hydraulic system. I've heard the pumps running. They sound like the hydraulic system on a snowplow on a pickup truck.

[marvins_dad]

I know of no out of the box system for a new beetle.

I would look into the bags personally. The hydraulics are prone to leaking and breaking down alot more than an airbag system.

[spinjector]

Originally Posted by marvins_dad

Here is one... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FBSS-...spagenameZWD1V

Woooooooo!!! That's sexy!!!

[NYBugman]

Your best be is to find a shop that specializes in lowriders and/or mini-trucks. A proper lowrider hydraulic system requires MANY car batteries to power, plus lines & pumps and who knows what else. Furthermore, everything will have to be custom fitted, but that's the way it is with most lowriders.

A better solution is to go with airbags. There are kits that you can buy and install on your car with little or no custom fabrication. Plus, it will be lighter weight and no hydraulic fluid to leak or burst through a line and catch fire on all those batteries you had to put in for your hydraulic setup

[spinjector]

Yea I followed the link for that airbag system that Marvins_Dad posted, and read through all the literature there. It looks like exactly what I want. In fact it specifically says that it can be used to adjust the ride height of the car.

This part of the description practically jumped put and smacked me in the forehead:

"...this kit will set you on the ground, let you clear speed bumps, and get you in and out of driveways without scraping your ride..."

Here is the link from Marvins_Dad:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FBSS-...spagenameZWD1V

It looks like a fantastic system...! The only problem is that it's $2,000...!!!

But I think it may be worth it. It sounds like this will also take care of my sore-hiney issues from the bad roads around here.

Long story short: I moved from Buffalo to Seattle last October. In the Buffalo area, the roads are mostly OK, with only a few bad spots, and only scraped my Noob a few times. Here in Seattle the roads are HORRIBLE. In fact I found after I moved here these are some of the worst roads in the country. I scrape my car at least twice a day, no matter what I do. So hopefully this kit will help. I just have to start saving up to buy it.

[marvins_dad]

Check out this thread...I think there are a couple people you can talk to on the Org about the ride of an Air Ride system....

http://www.newbeetle.org/forums/show...light=air+ride

mojo_trixie said she has an Air Ride system, might check and see the pros and cons behind doing the modification.

[nats]

Originally Posted by marvins_dad

Here is one...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FBSS-...spagenameZWD1V

And...this is the clearance that a bagged bug can get...

lol holy chet.
ive never seen that on a bug before.

[marvins_dad]

Here is another one with bags...

[marvins_dad]

This guy showed up to our first TNBRU show.

[mojo_trixie]

Tis true tis true. My NB is bagged. I know of a guy in KY that has hydros on the front and bags on the rear. He chose the hydros in the front bc he lays lower. My bf has hydros on his car and runs Pro Hoppers. (And no they don't make his ride hop) If you have any questions, feel free to pm me and I will try to answer them. I belong to a minitruck club so I am sure if I don't have an answer on a system I can get it.

One thing I have found is that no matter what the ads say, air ride does NOT give you a better ride quality. Hydros are a better at that though.

[mojo_trixie]

Originally Posted by marvins_dad

Air Bags, they do have them for Beetles - system cost without installation is around $2000. You can check Ebay for a set or google search.

Please oh please oh please do your research before buying a suspension system off ebay. There are a lot of components that go into these systems and you don't know everything you need to buy until you decide how you are going to run all the airlines and such. Also, even though the descriptions say it is 100% bolt on DO NOT TRUST THAT. The set up I bought only gave me a lil short self tapping screw to hold on my rear bag mounts and I also had to cut the rear spring mounts off to get the bag mounts to line up right.

A great company to buy the set and all the components (airline, valves, gages, etc.) is www.suicidedoors.com They are a company that are minitrucker owned and operated.

[marvins_dad]

Hey girl!
I just put the ebay thing up because of the price...not endorsing, I'll leave that to the experts

You never posted pics of your setup on that other thread, will you do so here, please?!

[mojo_trixie]

Originally Posted by marvins_dad

Hey girl!
I just put the ebay thing up because of the price...not endorsing, I'll leave that to the experts

You never posted pics of your setup on that other thread, will you do so here, please?!

This one will have to hold you over until I can find where I stuck the other ones.



Edit: Well I guess my pictures of the install are on the computer that is down right now. These pictures are from when we welled the rear bag bracket on.



This is a picture of the way I decided to arrange all of my valves.



I guess I will have to wait for my car to get out of the shop before I can snap some pictures of the setup.