getting rid of the entire air ride setup completely...

T

ThinkBlue89

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I know it may sound crazy but I never been a big fan of the air ride due to the expense and reliability issues, but I feel like getting rid of all the weight and all that jazz of it and going to coil overs in the future but meanwhile my front is low but the rear is up due to using box springs of 86 ltd meanwhile i get what I need but Im hoping to gt rid of the air ride hardware completely fro the weight reduction because its doing nothing for me.Is this advisable or am I on some other stuff because to me a Lincoln has always been a Lincoln with or without air ride since before the technology even came out (Mark V's etc,). My attempt would be a sleeper performance vehicle but not on the extreme level and reliable enough to be a daily driver for the time being , because the fact of the matter since Im located in the south these vehicles are harder to come by...(Im a believer cuz ive looked ) even after wrecking the front end , im still willing to give her another try after doing a front end swap with a 86 year model. Any opinions would be highly appreciated.
 
Like the ISLEY BROS. say IT'S YO THING DO WHATCHA WANTA DO. Like you say a LINCOLN IS A LINCOLN many years before air ride. Many things DETROIT created they did for themselves. (fuel pump in gas tank--windshield washer,turn signal,cruise,hi-lo beam etc. in same handle) When it's broke it's ALL BROKE. They did that for themselves not us. Like batteries,,ever wonder WHY there's 75 different batteries,,like radiators 1000 different ones, I'm exaggerating of course but this is ONE reason Detroit is in trouble. If more things were universal they would be cheaper and they would sell more but as years went by every new over educated pinhead engineer had to put his mark on whatever. Einstein bought all his socks the same because he thought it was a stupid waste of time to stand in front of your sock drawer figuring out which sock went with the other sock. He kept the colors separate that's all. THAT'S MY STORY and I'M STICKING TO IT.
 
I ran my 87 with air springs up until the day I parted it out and it never gave me an ounce of trouble after replacing the two rear bags. I had that thing 7 years. If you want it for the sleeper effect, the air springs make the car look like it's launching harder than it really is which is better for weight transfer. I'd keep it, but that's just me. LIke you said, a Lincoln is a Linoln, air ride or not. My Mark VIII I converted to coils because I couldn't stand working on it at the absolute worst times.
 
NYC LS8 said:
I'd keep it, but that's just me. Like you said, a Lincoln is a Lincoln, air ride or not. My Mark VIII I converted to coils because I couldn't stand working on it at the absolute worst times.
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Exactly i don't want to run into the misfortune of doing any time soon and the part support and affordability in my means is hard to come by, I only converted to coils after being put off by price and with some elbow grease made something out of nothing(lucky my dad had an old LTD lying around and gave me his springs for the meantime..) I'm just more concern about cost effectiveness and functionality. Especially when it feels like we are in the proverbial dark ages at times and I feel like if its doing nothing for me then why have it? when I had them working it was cool but when they didn't ..well not so much...other than that I'm more of minimalist when it comes to cars...functionality vs appearance. Plus I feel removing the air lines, solenoids, bags and sensors and whatnot would somewhat help remove even just a little bit of weight versus have them there just cause and not doing anything.
 
THEMOJOMAN said:
Like the ISLEY BROS. say IT'S YO THING DO WHATCHA WANTA DO. Like you say a LINCOLN IS A LINCOLN many years before air ride. Many things DETROIT created they did for themselves. (fuel pump in gas tank--windshield washer,turn signal,cruise,hi-lo beam etc. in same handle) When it's broke it's ALL BROKE. They did that for themselves not us. Like batteries,,ever wonder WHY there's 75 different batteries,,like radiators 1000 different ones, I'm exaggerating of course but this is ONE reason Detroit is in trouble. If more things were universal they would be cheaper and they would sell more but as years went by every new over educated pinhead engineer had to put his mark on whatever. Einstein bought all his socks the same because he thought it was a stupid waste of time to stand in front of your sock drawer figuring out which sock went with the other sock. He kept the colors separate that's all. THAT'S MY STORY and I'M STICKING TO IT.
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point taken, and a strong view at that.
 
I'd keep it, I have a car with coil springs and don't like it. I have 3 others that are road worthy with air ride and spent 20bucks about 5 years ago on rear bags for one of them.
 
ThinkBlue89 said:
I know it may sound crazy but I never been a big fan of the air ride due to the expense and reliability issues, but I feel like getting rid of all the weight and all that jazz....
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umm.. It does sound a little crazy. There's not much to the system.

4 rubber / plastic air springs.. maybe 10 lbs total.
About 50 feet of nylon tubing.. a pound?
The compressor and it's plastic manifold.. might weigh 2 pounds.
3 height sensors.. a couple ounces.
Wiring.. another couple pounds.

15 lbs is not a lot. The driver might go on a diet for a week or two accomplish that much weight loss.
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The worst thing about the air ride is I'm now spoiled. I look at cars to buy and think "But it has no air suspension!"
I see a nice couch at the furniture store but .. nope.. no air suspension. :(
 
ThinkBlue89 said:
...
Any opinions would be highly appreciated.
Click to expand...






Learn how easy it is to replace your rubber air springs.

The number one reason why people convert is because of bad installations.

Bad installations leak.

21 o-rings hold the system together.

Screw up one of them and you'll be come yet another frustrated Mark VII owner with only negative things to say about the system.
Keep your air springs.
 
OldSchool1 said:






Learn how easy it is to replace your rubber air springs.

The number one reason why people convert is because of bad installations.

Bad installations leak.

21 o-rings hold the system together.

Screw up one of them and you'll be come yet another frustrated Mark VII owner with only negative things to say about the system.
Keep your air springs.
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Lol, I just don't like air ride period and aware of how easy it is to replace and or/ screw em up ( such as lifting the car in air and not turning the compressor off) for the time being it'll be something to think about especially the 21 o-rings which is an interesting fact btw.
 
21 O-rings

There are (at least) 21 O-rings but not all of them function as sealers. (If we're including all of them in the system, maybe there's a few inside the pump?)

If you look at the middle photo of the guy with the purple hands holding the air spring, and look in the bottom of the hole where the solenoid sits, you can see a big O-ring.

That O-ring fits loose, and acts as a spacer. 4 of them, one for each wheel, means only 17 O-rings (21-4) are critical sealing elements.
-----

from memory..
1 at the bottom of the manifold. 4 at the top of the manifold. 2 at the bottom end of each of four solenoids, and one at their tops. That makes 17.
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All of the 17 mentioned are easy to replace, and kits are on the shelf at Ford/Lincoln dealers.
 
Elessee said:
umm.. It does sound a little crazy. There's not much to the system.
15 lbs is not a lot. The driver might go on a diet for a week or two accomplish that much weight loss.
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Losing even more weight on me is not option lol hell I need more of a weight gain..:eek:
 
Speaking of carrying around extra weight, I use my car for lots of things, including trips to the dumps. One time I loaded the trunk and back seat with something over 1,000 lbs of lumber scraps, rock and various stuff. (I recall 1,200 or 1,300 lbs but not sure.. the receipt is probably somewhere)

Since overloading a vehicle is never a good thing, I was slightly worried about it and took it real easy. Thanks to the air suspension it rode level and straight, instead of with the front wheels off the ground..

You park on a scale and pay by the ton. The girl in the office at the junkyard actually noticed the numbers. She said she didn't think I could load so much in my car. For her to mention it, it had to be unusual.
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I've had my share of air spring related problems and, although i've got factory manuals, admit it was a royal pain to learn the system in order to diagnose the occasional, exasperating, seemingly variable symptoms.

The entire problem turned out to be simple.. cracks around the lower part of the 20 year old deteriorated rubber air springs. Since they only leaked under certain conditions, it was not at all obvious. (an old piece of rubber may look perfectly smooth until you bend it. Then the cracks open and you see them)

I investigated going to solid springs and almost did it... so i understand where you're coming from.
 
Keep The air suspension

Keep the bags...good luck swapping out a set of coils springs in your driveway in 45 minutes. The front ones don't even require a wrench for pete's sake let alone a spring compressor. There's nothing more satisfying than watching the arse end level out after a fuel fill up or your fat buddy hops in the back seat. Even sweeter still is the sound of the solenoids cracking open and watching the car drop down to trim height when you close the door after a drive. This car is ALWAYS thinking...even after you shut it down :)
 
Four Non Critical O-Rings

Elessee said:
...
If you look at the middle photo of the guy with the purple hands holding the air spring, and look in the bottom of the hole where the solenoid sits, you can see a big O-ring.

That O-ring fits loose, and acts as a spacer. 4 of them, one for each wheel, means only 17 O-rings (21-4) are critical sealing elements.
...
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DSCF3147.sized.jpg

DSCF3148.sized.jpg


Non critical o-rings in the suspension system?

M'Kay.

Ford assembled over 192,000 Lincoln Mark VIIs. That's over 760,000 of the large o-rings in the bottom of the solenoid housings. If it wasn't critical, Ford would have left it out and saved the cost of labor and material ;)

The face of the solenoid mates here. Since it's a twist-lock connection, it doesn't get as worn as the o-rings for the air lines so when we replace it, it doesn't ~appear~ to be worn.

Do NOT try to inflate your air ride system without these o-rings.
 
ridindirrty said:
Keep the bags...good luck swapping out a set of coils springs in your driveway in 45 minutes. The front ones don't even require a wrench for pete's sake let alone a spring compressor. There's nothing more satisfying than watching the arse end level out after a fuel fill up or your fat buddy hops in the back seat. Even sweeter still is the sound of the solenoids cracking open and watching the car drop down to trim height when you close the door after a drive. This car is ALWAYS thinking...even after you shut it down :)
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Word up. I like the air ride when it works it gives it more of a unique attribute to it but Ive received another one with the coil swap done for me :cool: I'm parting out the first one for this one because the interior is basically intact, clear coat faded out, some minor electrical issues,headers leaking and god know what else but for the most part it runs except I'm trying to track down this source of fuel starvation but other than that I'm not too worried but most part , important the frame is straight vs Lola (My first car name) and the hell she went through at 150k and surviving the beatings i gave it, and for sitting around for almost a year it still turned over but now she will live on thru this one at the same year, but today Im relaxing and enjoying my 21 st birthday. work will commence tomorrow, bought a fuel filter just to make for sh*ts and giggles for it though because I really am somewhat looking forward get my hands dirty and put some knowledge into use of what i learned at school.:cool: just dropping the tank is aint fun if that is the case but oh well.
 
Swapping air bags is bone simple, springs are much
more work (and those spring/shock combo deals, a
physical risk).

The perches as they are, look like they'd need some
serious modification to switch over to coil springs.

All my leak problems were with the little O-rings; the
replacements have been good for I dunno, 10+ years
on the '87? Some of the factory ones quit leaking
with just a little grease.
 
jimmyblue said:
Swapping air bags is bone simple,,

All my leak problems were with the little O-rings; the
replacements have been good for I dunno, 10+ years
on the '87? Some of the factory ones quit leaking
with just a little grease.
Click to expand...

Dittos on swapping air springs. Anyone who's done it and figured it out knows it's a snap. Not much of a puzzle, nor does it require strength or even tools other than a jack to lift the car, and a screwdriver to un-clip or pry on a couple things..

I had success greasing one solenoid's O-rings, but the leak returned. Under a microscope I saw small flat spots on the rings. That was when I was wondering where to get new ones.. I bought some O-ring kits at a tool store hoping they had the right sizes, which was before I called Ford and discovered new ones were available.
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BTW.., OldSchool..
I didnt mean nor did i say that the big O-ring was not "critical".. It just not a critical sealing element.

Either the manuals or the instruction sheet that came with new ones said that big one was just a spacer, and not to be concerned about it's sloppy fit..
 
Elessee said:
...
BTW.., OldSchool..
I didnt mean nor did i say that the big O-ring was not "critical".. It just not a critical sealing element.

Either the manuals or the instruction sheet that came with new ones said that big one was just a spacer, and not to be concerned about it's sloppy fit..
Click to expand...

It's all good.
 
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