I need help w/ air assist

On the Saturn i have been brainstorming and have come up with a dilemma, i would like your input/ ideas. Thank you JTHW8 for your help thus far

If the Saturn gets lowered and i put some stuff in it or people i just know the rear is gonna sag. Stock springs will sag a bit in the rear with people in the back.

My solution was to add a helper air bag on each side in the rear. Trucks do so so help when they carry a load so why not i. Or is there an air strut i could put the spring onto and bump up air pressure when i have a load? Should a adapt a air shock from a factory car/truck? If this is the case then maybe make it so when they are deflated its in the normal range of suspension movement then inflated it would help provide lift?

Some might tell me "then dont lower it" and that is a valid comment HOWEVER this is not a lower it/ dont lower it thread. I would like to have the best of both worlds.

I have inclosed some pictures if that helps.

The bar in the middle is the sway bar so that hurts mounting a air bag a bit harder...

Lastly, some saturns had no rear sway bar so i guess i could remove it and run with out a rear bar. (still have front sway bar)

I'd just put in stiffer springs.

There are cheap helper airbags you can get, but they are designed to go inside a coil spring. I don't think they would work well if there was no coil around it to keep it in place.

They wont work with a McPherson strut.

no options?

CarKid1989 wrote: no options?

Sadly I've been looking at this from our offline conversations and I think we've exhausted all the options. There are options, just not great ones.

If it was my car and I was dead set on it then I'd just use the strut bags (that's what will be going on the front struts in the Wartburg)

On the cheap I still think you could use an auxiliary set of air shocks but you have to get creative with fabbing up the mounts.

Don't remove the rear sway bar if you plan on going over 60 mph. You'd be doing some work on the highway just to keep her straight. How about lower the front only. I have Eibach Pros in the front of my escort, stock rears, and plan on a larger sway bar. Overall, its impressed me. Fun to drive and hauls plenty of tools and/or guns.

I have seen some universal air strut kits, but IIRC they weren't cheap.

Mount a Bimba 3" air cylinder to each swaybar mount and to the carbody in a reinforced location. Install a tube to each side and a Schrader valve at the junction of the tubes.

Per side that gives you 7 lbs load carrying capacity per PSI of air. If a 3" cylinder doesn't fit, a 2" cylinder will give you around 3.14 lbs per PSI.

Ground Control Coilover conversion with stiffer springs.

The simplest solution is usually the best.

chaparral wrote: Mount a Bimba 3" air cylinder to each swaybar mount and to the carbody in a reinforced location. Install a tube to each side and a Schrader valve at the junction of the tubes. Per side that gives you 7 lbs load carrying capacity per PSI of air. If a 3" cylinder doesn't fit, a 2" cylinder will give you around 3.14 lbs per PSI.

Trying to see this but have no idea...

Sky_Render wrote: Ground Control Coilover conversion with stiffer springs. The simplest solution is usually the best.

But then i have a crap ride all the time. Mostly its just myself and passenger in the car so ride would be crap cause of the stiff springs.