Author Topic: '78 Westfalia Air Ride  (Read 3115 times)

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Offline FunkyDrummer

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'78 Westfalia Air Ride
« on: December 23, 2014, 07:06:44 PM »


Ordered the complete air management kit (minus shocks) from Ridetech.

http://www.ridetech.com/store/ridepro-standard-analog-4-way-system.html

Installation took a little longer than anticipated as I got all fancy with the cabinet and there were a number of challenges along the way!

Running Gabriel Highjackers (49230) on all four corners. May upgrade to Shockwaves in the new year as the Gabriels are too close to bottoming out on the front.

Huge thanks to Geoff for all the outstanding help with the beam and the build. Geoff, I pledge to you a lifetime supply of various fruit items for your beloved Birdbrain. Also, a massive thanks to Johnnie @ 317 for the help on the beam install and all the fun tweaks. May the Force be with you, JB.


Annnnnd...... here we go!!


I think I found a spot to hide everything!                                                                                                           



Cabinets are out and it's time to figure out where to put all the bits.



Tried to fit everything along this wall but ran out of room. Compressor had to go in the spare tire well below the cabinet.



Needed to add support to the wall as the valve block is mighty heavy!



Keeping everything clean looking - even though you'll never see it.



Air tank mounted.



Sizing up where to mount the compressor.



This is when I started getting crazy ideas like making a false back and bottom in order to continue to have functional storage space.



Not sure it needed them but I made little brackets to help take the weight of the valve block.



Valve block in place.



Gauges mounted. Time to finish putting the dash back together.



This was my office for more days than I care to admit.



This is the part where I got to play, "Let's see how many lines we can stuff through these stock grommets". Good news is - I won!



Running air lines and wires and such. Didn't take any pictures of the air line installation along the underside of the bus. Let's just say it wasn't fun.



Mock-up for the back and bottom. Had to make sure these pieces could be removed once the cabinet is installed.



Revisiting my old wood working days. Had to make a change to where the bottom folded. And that's why we make mock-ups!



False bottom complete with rubber mat material to help contain the sound of the compressor.



Decided the compressor may want to breathe so I installed a vent which just happened to sit directly above the compressor - by design!



Took a little while but everything's coming together.



Installed!



Here's the final product - keeping in mind there's a back piece to the cabinet that interferes with removal of the pieces. That was a bit of an oops. Easy fix luckily!



Installed magnets to hold the back in place.



Having a go at getting things running. Had one minor glitch that was anticipated - the aux. battery doesn't put out enough volts to run the compressor. Had the same issue with my sub amp.



Here's one shot of the underside. Had to step down 1/4" line from the valves to 1/8" line to the shocks. This ate up several hours while trying to source parts!



Van goes up - van goes down! Getting around 4" of lift.



There have been a number of challenges & modifications along the way so if anyone checking out this build thread is thinking of going this route - feel free to drop me a line with any questions you may have.

And.... a huge thanks to all the good folk that helped me out with this project! Couldn't have done it without ya!!





For some more awesome pics of the old bus just head over to Ultra VW Magazine and get yourself a December copy!

http://www.ultravw.com/

Huge thanks to Stephan Szantai for the time and effort on this shoot and thanks to everyone at Ultra VW for the sweet 6 page spread!



« Last Edit: December 23, 2014, 08:07:19 PM by FunkyDrummer »

Offline silas

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Re: '78 Westfalia Air Ride
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2014, 10:17:06 PM »
great job shawn (and helpers) on a cool & clean install!

and congrats on the ultravw spread. thats rad!!

Stephan Schmidt

Re: '78 Westfalia Air Ride
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2014, 09:05:09 AM »
Thats one clean install & bay window!  Looks great!

Offline bwaz

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Re: '78 Westfalia Air Ride
« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2014, 09:40:58 AM »
Lookin great!
brian waz

Offline buddy boy

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Re: '78 Westfalia Air Ride
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2014, 02:45:41 PM »
I had the pleasure of cruising in this sweet ride this past summer !.. Love it .. Love that last pic too :72:

"only dead fish swim with the stream"

Offline westcoast-paul

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Re: '78 Westfalia Air Ride
« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2015, 11:27:22 AM »


Hey Shawn - if you want more speed up and down - you can attach the 1/4" line direct to the air shock with a PTC fitting.

i ran 1/8" lines in my speedster for a while and when i upgraded to 1/4" the speed difference was substantial.

in fact, the next winter, i upgraded to 1/2 lines to the rear air bags just to get more speed.

food for thought.  you could probably do the upgrade for $20-30.
(fittings and more 1/4" line)

also - i can't remember - you running adjustable spring plates in the rear?

Offline mitchy965

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Re: '78 Westfalia Air Ride
« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2015, 05:31:06 PM »
so whats the ride like?? has the handling changed much?better?
1991 964 turbo- 1967 2007cc beetle-01 95" wideglide-2276cc turbo drag bug

Offline FunkyDrummer

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Re: '78 Westfalia Air Ride
« Reply #7 on: August 05, 2015, 06:22:25 PM »
Thanks for the great info, Paul! Yup, adjustable spring plates in the back (Franklin's) and 4" narrowed adjustable beam in the front with 3.5" drop spindles (Airspeed).

I'm rethinking a different setup in the coming year or so - not so sure I'm happy with the feeling of a narrowed beam in a heavy Type 4 Westy. Not with the way I drive it.....

So far as the question regarding handling: the air ride was done out of necessity as I wanted a low ride but I also carry a great deal of weight around when road tripping. The stance without the air shocks was great and running polyurethane bushings in the beam and KYB's on all 4 corners gave me a nice "stiff" ride. The problem was that as soon as I added a passenger I was scrubbing all over the place.

The ride feels somewhat stock now with the needle bearings in the beam and the air shocks at around 25 psi front and back. I run very low pressure in the shocks when it's just me cruising around town but as soon as I have a passenger I need to air up a bit. This does change the ride a little but nothing too crazy.

Thanks for your interest and I hope this helps!

- Shawn

Offline Jeremy

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Re: '78 Westfalia Air Ride
« Reply #8 on: August 05, 2015, 06:33:59 PM »
I've seen your van around the lower mainland. Catches my eye right away. Tastefully done.
'59 Beetle
'59 Single Cab

Offline FunkyDrummer

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Re: '78 Westfalia Air Ride
« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2015, 01:28:32 PM »
Thanks Jeremy! It's been a ton of fun cruising around in the old bus and getting to meet so many interesting people that just love the old VW's.