here are some pictures if anyone is interested. sorry for the bad quality, these were taken with a disposable camera.
some of you guys will know why. anyway, none of these pictures were photoshopped or anything. i just cropped
and corrected the contrast a little, that's it. check it out...
Where did you get the XM radio antenna. Is that from the dealer?
randode
08-13-2003, 07:01 PM
Eric, let me know when you really want to get it low. Check out the work we did on my Dad's Merc.
http://home.earthlink.net/~compak/Mvc00087.jpg
laying plate
that looks good eric. 18's will let you get lower and more travel to get lower.
eric_m
08-13-2003, 08:49 PM
wow, that's awesome. i bet that was a fun project!
but it's easy to get that mercury that low, since you have so much fender clearance. in fact, i think i could get the front at least 2-3 inches lower from the looks of that last picture. anyway, putting 19s on my little car makes it almost impossible to get the body to touch the ground. i could weld the rear doors shut, cut apart the fenderwells and basically weld an enclosure around the tire, but then the back of my car would not be functional, and it would take forever. the front would be even harder, since there is an engine to deal with. trust me, if i could have gone any lower, i would.
and in fact, i will get the car to touch the ground someday. but for now i think it looks pretty cool with the 19s. try doing what i did and you'll see that it's not as easy as it looks.
my xm antenna is a terk unit, and is available everywhere. all xm antennas are ugly, and i almost went with the little bump one, but i thought the black dome on the white roof would look terrible. so i put that ugly plastic thing on the side. i guess it's not too bad once you get used to it, although some people have given me a hard time about it. whatever, i have so many radio stations now, it's awesome. you guys have to get XM. totally worth it.
randode
08-13-2003, 08:56 PM
but it's easy to get that mercury that low, since you have so much fender clearance. .
the front was easy. The back was a different story. We had to cut out the entire floor from the back of the front seat to the trunk lid. We installed a 4-link and had to put a huge notch in the frame. It turned out sweet though.
eric_m
08-13-2003, 08:57 PM
yeah, looks awesome. good job.
Scionic
08-13-2003, 09:04 PM
Eric, let me know when you really want to get it low. Check out the work we did on my Dad's Merc.
Damn that's some goodstuff. Yeah I think 18's would you get you lower then now Eric. But the 19's will always look better. Damn fenders.
bB_monkey
08-13-2003, 09:44 PM
http://home.earthlink.net/~compak/DSC00160.jpg
Looks like you need some more offset on them wheels...hahahaha j/k.
randode
08-13-2003, 09:49 PM
the offset is stock. But it does tuck like a motorhome. :lol:
ScionVan
08-13-2003, 09:53 PM
Rand: you got any more pics of that merc? I'm really digging what you've posted so far... who did the pinstriping on it??
Eric: the hub mounting brackets on the rear suspension arm are pretty simple pieces... just a flat piece with 4 mounting holes and a big center bore in it. So you might want to explore some possibilities to push the rear wheels a back a little (in effect, lengthening your wheelbase) to give you that added clearance when you sliggity slam. The whole rear beam is actually simple enough that you guys might want to fabricate a whole new beam... and that way you can build custom mounts to run a different rear air bag (actually, do you have any probs with running the double convoluted bags in the rear?).
randode
08-13-2003, 10:00 PM
more pics here
http://home.earthlink.net/~compak/
a friend of my dad's striped it. I also used to do striping.
eric_m
08-13-2003, 10:15 PM
van: double convoluted bags are working just fine. perfect replacements for the stock coils. i just had to make a custom lower plate and cup for the top of the bag to hold it firmly in place for safely. i have looked into modifying the rear axle to give more clearance, but it would only give me 1/2-1" at most with the wheels i have. it's not just hitting in the front. it's hitting on top as well. it's kind of a big problem if i want to go any lower, and not something i want to modify my nicely designed rear suspension for, since i am using this thing as a daily driver.
randode
08-13-2003, 10:24 PM
and it can be a little scary cutting up a brand new car. :D
eric_m
08-13-2003, 10:31 PM
tell me about it. i already screwed up some of my paint and put a little crease in one of my fenders trying to make it fit with my front wheels. but i don't want to spend the money to replace a fender right now so i guess i'll live with it since it's not too bad. oh well. it's just a car. but now i feel like i shouldn't be cutting up my car so much since i'm hearing things like the xB is hard to get now and they might discontinue it in a few years. if they do, i am literally going to buy 2 new xBs and put them in storage or something. it's going to be hard for anyone to come up with a cooler car than the scion xB, in my opinion.
aznr1c3bo1
08-14-2003, 06:39 AM
discontinued?? wow that really sucks. lucky i got my car already.
oh yea eric m. your car looks really good! i wish i had the time/money/skill to do all of that work. congrats.
laXb
08-15-2003, 11:04 AM
eric:
hello. great looking ride. did you make the air ride yourself? where did you get the hardware?
i went to master image customs for a new install, and the quoted me $4300 for rear bags, front cylinders and all hardware. very expensive. need more info, please.
eric_m
08-15-2003, 08:39 PM
eric: hello. great looking ride. did you make the air ride yourself? where did you get the hardware?
i went to master image customs for a new install, and the quoted me $4300 for rear bags, front cylinders and all hardware. very expensive. need more info, please.
$3500-$4500 is normal for the kind of setup i have. that is why my friend and i want to help some of you guys out who have scions. we use only the top of the line parts and we can do a full install including all parts for under $2500. PM me if you really want to have this done and we can do it for you. it will only take a few days to complete the job. MIC will probably need to keep your car for at least 3 weeks, especially since they've never done a scion before. but i have, so it will be easy. master image does good work, don't get me wrong, but we can do a professional job for less money in less time, and we guarantee our work. so let me know if you're interested. i've already gotten emails and PMs from a few people, which is good. i've had my air few a couple weeks now and i love it. i know you guys will too.
we get all the hardware from industrial air suppliers, not shady automotive supply places. it's all stuff that is used in heavy duty applications in automation and such. i have a degree in automated manufacturing and i used to build industrial robotics before i got into lasers, and SMC is the best quality stuff that i know of for valves and cylinders. it's all made in japan and lasts longer than any other brand i've heard of. my friend nick, who i will be doing the installs with, has done over 100 custom airbag/cylinder setups. if you've seen a truck video with cars/trucks on bags, he has done some of them. there aren't very many people in the country who specialize in doing air, so this is a good opportuninty for you guys who are interested. even though nick isn't building air systems professionally anymore since he is into performance now, he needs money to finish his project car and this is a great way to get some extra cash and also help out all the scion people.
if you have any more questions, please let me know. we don't want to force this kind of setup on anyone, because air is not for everyone. but if it's something you want or have been wanting, this is your chance to get a quality air setup at a good price.
bob
08-15-2003, 09:23 PM
Eric,
I may be interested in just the brackets, did you say they are bolt in? Also, can you give me the SMC part # for the cylinders you used? I have a source for SMC parts wholsale in my area so it would be easy to just get the brackets from you and the parts up here.
Thanks,
Bob
eric_m
08-15-2003, 09:35 PM
sure bob, i will get back to you with the part numbers. when we get some brackets made up, i'll let you know. we are designing them right now.
BlueBox
08-15-2003, 09:39 PM
Sick man... it's just sick.
Love ur dope ___ airbag system..i'm too poor for that. i'll just envy ur ride instead.
u should seriously request an import magazine to do an article on u and the car...who knows..ur xB will be on the next cover of subcompact performance...or import tuners...
it's an awesome ride and love ur dubs...who makes them?
eric_m
08-15-2003, 11:28 PM
my wheels are 19" axis mesh 2. you can see them on the axis website. there is a picture of my car there, as well. i ordered them from www.scioned.com. they have really good prices and are really cool to deal with. i highly recommend them.
hopefully i can get into "box" magazine or something one day. i really need to enter some shows or it will never happen though.
laXb
08-18-2003, 09:28 AM
those 19" look awesome, and are really tucked. however, i believe 17" with proper rubbers will have the car sit lower. any reason why you chose the 19"? what about turning radius?
eric_m
08-18-2003, 06:57 PM
i chose 19" before i decided to put the car on air. but i am selling my 19s and i am going to try other options for now. although i looks awesome on those big wheels. turning radius is like stock.
bob
08-18-2003, 10:11 PM
Eric,
Did you get a chance to look at the part numbers for the SMC cylinders? Also please let me know when you have pricing on the brackets.
Thanks!
BLKTOYBOX
10-01-2003, 12:45 AM
Eric the XB on bags looks sick. Have always thought about airbags on a ride... Whats the maintence hours to keep everything running correctly so your front end doesn't drop right into the ground while your driving??? Let me know I'm hightly interested.