Sponsored

Comprehensive Airlift P Install (Pictures Lost)

Jmeo

You said member ;)
Joined
May 28, 2014
Threads
250
Messages
8,544
Reaction score
9,006
Location
Massachusetts
First Name
Jaime
Vehicle(s)
2020 GT500, 2022 F150 PowerBoost
Vehicle Showcase
2
EDIT 1/26/20

Photobucket is USELESS and all pictures are lost. Do yourself a favor and NEVER use them





I finally finished installing my Airlift kit and thought I would make a thread on what I did as I could not seem to find much information when I was looking. I purchased the 3H kit but for now I have only installed the pressure (P) portion but I plan on adding the height (H) portion over the summer or maybe even during winter hibernation. I opted for the dual compressor setup (black), seamless 4 gallon aluminum tank, upgraded water trap and upgraded compressor leader line check valves. I also picked up two compressor isolator kits to keep the vibrations at a minimum.

This kind of install can be completed in so many different ways as far as the mounting of the compressor or compressors, air tank, manifold, water trap & lines. There is no one way to do this, just what way is the vision of the person installing it. I was able to find a few install videos on an S550 but I still had a lot of questions so I reached out to a couple of friends I knew who had Airlift installed. I would like to thank Jason [MENTION=26784]4orceFed[/MENTION] and Marcus [MENTION=10616]Terminated[/MENTION] for letting me pick their brains and answering tons of questions. Marcus takes the credit for painting my tank and mounting straps so thanks again buddy. Here are a the videos I watched to gather baseline knowledge.


Late Model Restoration Video
[ame]

American Muscle Video
[ame]

Stage 3 Motorsports Video
[ame]

PDF directions:

http://www.cjponyparts.com/skin/frontend/cj-pony/default/images/install-pdf/install_susk86-1.pdf

http://www.cjponyparts.com/skin/frontend/cj-pony/default/images/install-pdf/install_susk86-2.pdf

http://www.cjponyparts.com/skin/frontend/cj-pony/default/images/install-pdf/install_susk86-3.pdf

I chose to use the spare tire hole to mount everything since I have GT350 Brembo brake kit and no longer have a spare tire that will fit anyway. My goal was to make everything fit in the hole and not cause the cover to bulge as I wanted a completely invisible setup.

Getting started I positioned the brackets on the compressors so I could place them on their side to keep the total height low enough to fit under my trunk cover. Doing this requires a quick cut to one of the mounting holes on each compressor bracket.









I also installed the Airlift Compressor Isolator Kits






Here is the seamless 4 gallon tank & straps Marcus painted for me. Take the time to blow out the air tank before you make connections because you never know what you may find inside.






Upgraded catch valves & water trap






Mocking things up I realized I was going to have to pound the floor flat where the tank brackets needed to be mounted to get the proper depth for trunk cover clearance.

Note: Do yourself a favor and remove the evaporator system cover underneath BEFORE you pound the floor flat. Then you will just need to trim it a bit to fit back in place. You will see in an upcoming picture how I found out the hard way.








A test fit assured me I had the clearance I needed.






I used some cardboard to make a template to start building up the spare tire hole and make a level mounting surface. I used 3/4” plywood and cut a lower level piece then a mounting level surface. I made the top piece outside diameter about 1” greater than the first piece as the hole gets larger in diameter as it gets closer to the level of the trunk floor.







I applied some Dynomat under the first piece but before I applied it I drilled five holes in the floor. I will say the best way I could think of to do this was to drill two holes through the wood and floor at the same time where you are sure to not hit anything underneath. Now push two bolts through the holes to keep the board in place and now go underneath and drill the rest of the holes from the bottom up. This assures you are putting the holes exactly where they need to be and to not accidentally drill into your EVAP canister or lines.







As you can see above I also countersunk the holes in the first layer so the carriage bolt heads would not stick up and so the top layer could mount flush. I made sure to use all stainless steel hardware. Below you can see the first layer and tank brackets mounted into place and why it was important to drill the remaining holes from the bottom. There are a lot of EVAP lines under there.

Note: You will also see the MacGyver fix I had to do to my EVAP cover. Use 1,000,001 for a zip tie lol





Building this setup the way I did I needed to mount the tank before the top layer of wood gets installed. I failed to snap a picture but I also covered the rest of the center of the hole with Dynomat.

Note: I also installed all connections to the air tank and pressure tested it for leaks at this point. Mix 1 part dish soap and 4 parts water for the proper concentration. To test the tank I temporarily installed an inline ball valve shut-off to one of the push to connects. In the picture below you can see what an air leak will look like when you spray the soap & water solution on a connection. This was just a quick way for me to pressurize the tank and it was temporary so I was not concerned with applying thread sealer to this connection first.



Next I countersunk holes on both sids of the top board for the compressor mounting hardware. I used nut, bolt, washer & lock washer in each hole and secured them tight. I then filled the holes on both sided with liquid nail to make sure they would not loosen up over time, especially with the vibrations of the compressors. I did the same for two mounting bolts which will mount the board on top of the first layer and trunk floor then bolt from underneath using stainless steel hardware. Finally I covered with carpet.












I’m not going to get into the actual install of the bags themselves because the directions do a good. Take your time and assemble as instructed, especially the rear bags and be sure to use a torque wrench and stick to the values listed as the thread inserts in the rear bags can be pulled out if too much tightening is done. Here is whats included in the front & rear bag kits.





One thing I will say is move the two bottom allan bolts on each camber plate from the bottom holes to the holes just above so you will be able to reach them for final camber adjustment when finalizing alignment. You will need an extended length ball tip allan socket to reach them. It’s not listed in the directions but I called Airlift and I was advised to torque to 10 ft/lb and use a little blue loctite. There are four sets of holes so if you use the top two, skip the second two and use the third two you will be all set.





Fronts Installed:





Rears installed





OK, time to talk about running the harnesses and air lines. For the rear air lines I found a hole just above the rear camber arm and I opened it up with a right angle drill and step bit then installed a rubber grommet. This hole was only present on the drivers side, I had to drill one on the passenger side. Here is the passenger side hole I drilled with grommet installed.

Passenger Side:



Exiting at this location completely avoided routing anywhere near my exhaust eliminating any concern for melting the air lines. As you can see only 12” or so of line is outside the car and I also covered in wire loom.

Passenger Side:



Drivers Side:



Drivers Side:



This is where I brought the rear air lines into the trunk area. Just cut a hole in the large grommet and your good to go.





Now the harnesses and relays. I used the supplied self tappers to mount the relays to the back wall. There is a signal wire in the main harness that connects to the secondary compressor harness then I just followed the factory harness path up to the passenger side kick panel where I used a wire pull to pull the harness out the grommet at the back of the front wheel well.

When you reach the door sill area you can unclip and open the cover on the plastic tunnel the factory harness runs in and add the harness and re-close cover. I did not run the air line in this channel, I went down the side of it and tucked it under the rug and came back up at the area of the fuse panel. The airline was pulled through the same grommet as the wiring harnesses.

For the drivers side do the same thing. To get the hood release handle off so you can remove the kick panel just push a 9mm socket into the hole of the handle and it will release the clips and the handle will pop right off. Pull the drivers side air line through the grommet on that side.









Once out into the front wheel well on the passenger side just run the harnesses up to the battery area. The air line just plugs right into the push to connect fittings of the front bag feeder line. Do the same for drivers side front air line.


This is where my harness reached when done. I followed the exact run of the factory harness but you could make a few less curves to end up with a little more length if you wanted. This was not a problem because I had to add the fuse taps anyway. The only wire that I had to add length to was the second ground but I had enough left from the first one to add to it and reach the ground stud.



All ends added



The kit didn’t come with the correct add a fuse tap but I had one lying around. The kit comes with a few fuse taps you could use anyway but I wanted to use a add a fuse.

I cut a channel on the side of the fuse box to let me run the add a fuse for the ingestion sense wire. I covered with weather proof electrical tape and once the fuse box cover (and my Trufiber cover) were closed it’s not noticeable.





Everything connected (grounds went to stock ground on shock tower)





Front air lines connected to the leader lines





The following pictures are just showing how I routed the harnesses along with air lines and mounted the relays and water catch. As far as the tank drain and fill valve I just made the connection at the bottom of the tank and rolled up the line and tucked it behind the tank. If I ever want to drain or fill the tank I just have to unroll the line to do so.











When the wiring harnesses reached the passenger footwell I ran the USB control cable to the dash and mounted the handheld control unit with a magnetic ball mount.







Note: I has just enough USB cable to reach this location and I had to cut under the passengers side rug to do it. In hindsight I would have branched the USB cable off further back and taken a more direct route so I would have had more length but in the end it still worked for me.

Other than the wrong style add a fuse this kit has most everything needed for the install and even came with a nice little air line cutter. The only other materials you will need is Teflon tape and Loctite thread sealant. I used both the tape and thread sealant on the connections to make sure they all were leak free.

Loctite
https://www.amazon.com/Loctite-2344...F8&qid=1494798318&sr=1-2&keywords=loctite+572

Teflon tape
https://www.amazon.com/LASCO-11-103...F8&qid=1494798456&sr=1-3&keywords=teflon+tape

Note: Try and be sparing when calculating air line length and you will be fine. This is all I had left when I was done. Phew!



The finished product


















Haven’t had time to drive it or play with what will be my drive height but this will be pretty close

Sponsored

 
Last edited:

db252

Equinsu Ocha
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Threads
44
Messages
1,474
Reaction score
876
Location
Bay Area, CA
Vehicle(s)
16 GT Premium/PP/Nav
Holy crap Jaime. Absolute mad skills. Airlift sees this and they will hire you as their master installer. Pure art work that I'm sure you'll enjoy daily. Excellent work bud.
 

PaintItBlack

Active Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Threads
1
Messages
27
Reaction score
12
Location
South Carolina
First Name
Casey
Vehicle(s)
Black 2016 5.0
Looks awesome! Can you tell me what pressures you are at in that last pic? Also, what size wire loom did you use for,the air lines?
 
OP
OP
Jmeo

Jmeo

You said member ;)
Joined
May 28, 2014
Threads
250
Messages
8,544
Reaction score
9,006
Location
Massachusetts
First Name
Jaime
Vehicle(s)
2020 GT500, 2022 F150 PowerBoost
Vehicle Showcase
2
Holy crap Jaime. Absolute mad skills. Airlift sees this and they will hire you as their master installer. Pure art work that I'm sure you'll enjoy daily. Excellent work bud.
Thanks Dave I greatly appreciate the kind words :cheers:
 
OP
OP
Jmeo

Jmeo

You said member ;)
Joined
May 28, 2014
Threads
250
Messages
8,544
Reaction score
9,006
Location
Massachusetts
First Name
Jaime
Vehicle(s)
2020 GT500, 2022 F150 PowerBoost
Vehicle Showcase
2
Looks awesome! Can you tell me what pressures you are at in that last pic? Also, what size wire loom did you use for,the air lines?
Thanks! That last picture is set to the values shown on the Airlift controller which is 50 front 77 rear and for reference I'm on 19" wheels & tires
 

Sponsored

PaintItBlack

Active Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Threads
1
Messages
27
Reaction score
12
Location
South Carolina
First Name
Casey
Vehicle(s)
Black 2016 5.0
Thanks! That last picture is set to the values shown on the Airlift controller which is 50 front 77 rear and for reference I'm on 19" wheels & tires
I run 55 front and 80 rear, so very close to what you are. I wanted to ask because the airlift manual states 35-55 front and 70 rear, which gives me zero clearance. I'm on 20" wheels with 275/35/20 front and 295/35/20 rear, which are slightly taller than stock.
 
OP
OP
Jmeo

Jmeo

You said member ;)
Joined
May 28, 2014
Threads
250
Messages
8,544
Reaction score
9,006
Location
Massachusetts
First Name
Jaime
Vehicle(s)
2020 GT500, 2022 F150 PowerBoost
Vehicle Showcase
2
I run 55 front and 80 rear, so very close to what you are. I wanted to ask because the airlift manual states 35-55 front and 70 rear, which gives me zero clearance. I'm on 20" wheels with 275/35/20 front and 295/35/20 rear, which are slightly taller than stock.
I'm just learning how this all works but from what I've seen it's tougher to make it work on 20's. My fronts are 19x10 et30 with 285/35/19 and my rears are 19x11 et 50 (but with GT350 brakes which push rear wheels out roughly 5/16") with 305/35/19. I haven't driven yet to find out if 50/77 will work but I'm thinking it should. I can't wait for the alignment so I can figure things out.

What camber are you set to front & rear?

Oh and I'll have to look when I get home tomorrow to double check but I think the wire loom is 3/8"
 

Evo_Rob

Mmm... Boost...
Joined
Sep 21, 2015
Threads
14
Messages
1,185
Reaction score
405
Location
Virginia Beach
First Name
Rob
Vehicle(s)
2016 Mustang GT
Awesome thread, Jaime! It sounds like there's quite of bit of knowledge in the bag community now. ;)
 

Gibbo205

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2015
Threads
156
Messages
6,673
Reaction score
2,207
Location
UK
Vehicle(s)
UK 2015 Mustang & BMW E46 M3
Car looks totally awesome buddy!
What wheels are you running there?
 
OP
OP
Jmeo

Jmeo

You said member ;)
Joined
May 28, 2014
Threads
250
Messages
8,544
Reaction score
9,006
Location
Massachusetts
First Name
Jaime
Vehicle(s)
2020 GT500, 2022 F150 PowerBoost
Vehicle Showcase
2
Awesome thread, Jaime! It sounds like there's quite of bit of knowledge in the bag community now. ;)
Thanks bud but I don't know about that lol. I'm learning but can say for sure this is the best thing I've done to my car (minus Whipple)

Car looks totally awesome buddy!
What wheels are you running there?
Thanks my friend, they are Forgestar CF5V Deep Concave in Piano Black :)
 

Sponsored

Terminated

GTFO_0009
Joined
Oct 7, 2014
Threads
31
Messages
1,169
Reaction score
825
Location
MA
First Name
Marcus
Vehicle(s)
Bagged & Boosted 50th Anniversary
Beautiful job Jaime. You're going to love how awesome bags are
 

PaintItBlack

Active Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Threads
1
Messages
27
Reaction score
12
Location
South Carolina
First Name
Casey
Vehicle(s)
Black 2016 5.0
I'm just learning how this all works but from what I've seen it's tougher to make it work on 20's. My fronts are 19x10 et30 with 285/35/19 and my rears are 19x11 et 50 (but with GT350 brakes which push rear wheels out roughly 5/16") with 305/35/19. I haven't driven yet to find out if 50/77 will work but I'm thinking it should. I can't wait for the alignment so I can figure things out.

What camber are you set to front & rear?

Oh and I'll have to look when I get home tomorrow to double check but I think the wire loom is 3/8"
I'm running the following:

20x9 ET 25 275/35/20 -2.2* Front
20x10.5 ET 38 295/35/20 -3* Rear

I can air all the way out, just kissing the fenders. I suspect you will be close to me camber wise when all is said and done.

I'd be interested to see what you dial in for ride height pressure and damper adjustments. Right now I'm still tinkering with dampers, but I feel like 10 clicks off full hard is about where I'll end up for every day stuff.
 

Evo_Rob

Mmm... Boost...
Joined
Sep 21, 2015
Threads
14
Messages
1,185
Reaction score
405
Location
Virginia Beach
First Name
Rob
Vehicle(s)
2016 Mustang GT
Is the clearance to completely air out due to the fender or due to the shocks? I'm running 325's in the rear and have fender clearance as is right now at -1.7* and about 3/4" before the Viking Warrior shocks


 

PaintItBlack

Active Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Threads
1
Messages
27
Reaction score
12
Location
South Carolina
First Name
Casey
Vehicle(s)
Black 2016 5.0
If you clear the fenders, you will come to rest on the shocks. The shocks are adjustable (like coilovers) to set the height when aired out. From the factory, the lip of a 20" wheel will come just up to the fender.
 

Evo_Rob

Mmm... Boost...
Joined
Sep 21, 2015
Threads
14
Messages
1,185
Reaction score
405
Location
Virginia Beach
First Name
Rob
Vehicle(s)
2016 Mustang GT
If you clear the fenders, you will come to rest on the shocks. The shocks are adjustable (like coilovers) to set the height when aired out. From the factory, the lip of a 20" wheel will come just up to the fender.
So you can set a minimum height? Ideally, I'd love to sit on the Steeda slamming rails... I mean jacking rails, but who knows if that'll work lol.
Sponsored

 
 




Top