Front End Lift Kit Options? (TKO, etc)

Hall had this kit listed in the 92-3 catalog for $250. How does it wind up now for $6000?

quote:

Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
Hall had this kit listed in the 92-3 catalog for $250. How does it wind up now for $6000?

Not sure, inflation maybe, ha ha. These guys custom build them, and it has a good height increase to them. Now that I saw them in person, just starting to look around to see what is available out there for such options. I like the 5S to sit low, but without a good elevation, that is just bad news on the front chin.

Ya, $6000.00 is a bit much!

Check out our offering...

http://www.saccrestorations.ne...irride-front-shocks/

quote:

Originally posted by ZR1 Pantera:
Ya, $6000.00 is a bit much!

Check out our offering...

http://www.saccrestorations.ne...irride-front-shocks/

Looks, kool. Do you have any that operate with hydrolic fluid rather than air? I have Airide on my black 5S, which isn't bad either.

Jan, going back a decade or so, Hall Pantera offered an air-operated clearance-maker that mounted small air cylinders on the front a-arms powered by an on-board 12v compressor. They lifted the low running front air dams of GT-5 & GT5-S cars some 4" without markedly altering handling. Only problem was, you usually had to turn the compressor on ahead of the intended use due to air leaking out of the holding tank or thru the poly lines. So there was often a couple of minutes delay if you didn't plan ahead.

Here are a couple of alternatives:

http://www.ramliftpro.com/

http://www.kw-suspension.com/us/kw_hls.php

A new hydraulic ride height adjustable coilover shocks system from jrishocks.com debuted at SEMA a year or so ago. Nice if you are also in the market for new coilovers. I like KW Supension's HLS system although it's very pricey but will work with your aftermarket coilover kit with 2.5" ID coils.

I wonder if someone could make a front lift that actuates off of the front sway bar. I imagine it would clamp to the middle of the sway bar and have an electric linear actuator that would apply a force to rotate it.

There would have to be a some kind of slip joint where the actuator meets the swaybar linkage so the swaybar would act normally under road use, but when the actuator was extended, the swaybar would rotate to apply force the the control arms to lift the front of the car.

Interesting idea! There may be some pretty high forces involved, depending on how high you want/need to raise the car. I did a little searching to get a ball park estimate and found this on Ted Mitchell's site:
SUSPENSION GEOMETRY
NEWLY REVISED
http://web1.wavelinx.net/tmitch/tech.htm

Lots of data there! It shows that the total sprung mass of the front is 1105lbs, so if you wanted to lift the front to the max height you'd need a force of that (times a multiplying factor) from your linear motor. The multiplying factor is the effective length of the sway bar arms/length of your attachment arm. The sway bar arm effective length is about 7.5". If your attached arm is in the position shown, it can only be 3" or so long or it will stick out below the bottom rails and start hitting stuff. If your linear motor were mounted vertically just in front of the front trunk, the arm might be 5' to 6". In either case you looking at significant forces or not as much lift. Since the springs are pretty linear 1/2 the force would give you 1/2 the lift.

I have the air ride in mine. I run a simple valve on the dash which either adds air from the tank or drains it from the tank. I run a pump and a tank although a pump alone would probably be fine. I have a gauge on the dash with shock pressure and tank pressure.







You can see the pump mounted on a plate between the frame rails barely sticking up:



Here is Hall's car with the same shocks both high and low:





I also run a quick fill valve so if the car is low on air I can charge it up before starting the car.

nice Job on the Airide set up. Yes that Hall car is just like my black car. I really like the height ability, but the only downside is that the ride feel is quite different at various heights, whereas the TKO guys said you don't get that extreme with their system. Plus with their system you get about 6"height change, which is more than others that I have seen. Airide is nice though, and a couple inches off the ground does feel excellent. I had a switch fail me once, but they said that I needed a relay to prevent that again. But you may want to keep a spare switch with you just in case. But anyway, I am still intrigued by this hydraulic system. One of those vendors mentioned above that seems to do Porsche is close to me, so I may check them out to chat about it.

What about use the normal suspention, add some small extra air cylinder one on each side in the front just to raise the car 50-60mm when there are some street bump or parking the car.
I think it is possible to make a system like this.

Just have to find out the dimention, cappasity and where to place/conect the small cylinder.

For this solution you need a pump and a airtank.

If my idear Works. there are no pressure on the small air cylinder when driving the car it is only when you wont too raise the car there are pressure on the air cylinder (the piston goes out and raise the car) it will only take 2-3 sekund depend on the type off air cylinder.
after the street bump just let the air out Again, the car is back in normal hight.

Dont know if anybody has tryied this.

kjeld

I think this would be the cats meow Jan....pricey and no hydraulic fluid to Leak.
Mag Ride

quote:

Originally posted by OSOFAST:
I think this would be the cats meow Jan....pricey and no hydraulic fluid to Leak.
Mag Ride

These "Magneto-Rheological" based shocks use a hydraulic fluid that is spiked with micron sized iron particles. They don't have the capability of lifting the car.
http://www.magneshocks.com/techinfo.htm
http://www.magneshocks.com/Doc...ckSYSTEMoverview.pdf

I've mentioned them before:
http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/...181048156#1181048156
but nobody seemed much interested. Dick Koch, who has them on his Pantera (and is a friend of the owner of the company) discussed them in a 2009 post:
http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/...=968105973#968105973

The current cost of the system is $7600. I am seriously considering in my current resto project on Zonkey.

I am interested in your set up how about details model numbers, from air ride for the shocks. compressor and pump. Your car as I am sure you have heard many times is beautiful! thanks

quote:

Originally posted by comp2:
I have the air ride in mine. I run a simple valve on the dash which either adds air from the tank or drains it from the tank. I run a pump and a tank although a pump alone would probably be fine. I have a gauge on the dash with shock pressure and tank pressure.







You can see the pump mounted on a plate between the frame rails barely sticking up:



Here is Hall's car with the same shocks both high and low:





I also run a quick fill valve so if the car is low on air I can charge it up before starting the car.

quote:

Originally posted by Kjeld Pedersen:
What about use the normal suspention, add some small extra air cylinder one on each side in the front just to raise the car 50-60mm when there are some street bump or parking the car.
I think it is possible to make a system like this.

Just have to find out the dimention, cappasity and where to place/conect the small cylinder.

For this solution you need a pump and a airtank.

If my idear Works. there are no pressure on the small air cylinder when driving the car it is only when you wont too raise the car there are pressure on the air cylinder (the piston goes out and raise the car) it will only take 2-3 sekund depend on the type off air cylinder.
after the street bump just let the air out Again, the car is back in normal hight.

Dont know if anybody has tryied this.

kjeld

Yes, that idea is similar to my red GT5S front end set up shown below with the independent white raiser shocks to raise the car. But I want to get he front end even lower when driving or sitting, so I am just looking at various options. I suppose I can keep what I have on the red car and just cut the springs on the front slightly to get it a little lower, and continue to use the white raiser shocks as needed to raise it to get over stuff. The front coil shocks are already adjusted as low as they go, so would need to cut a little. For some reason I just like more rake on the Panteras. Looking at my MBZ SL65 and 600, they appear to have more rake and almost appear more sporty to me at times, and those are just Mercedes (although I do have lowering kits on them).


Pantera GT5S - Shocks To Raise The Front by WIKD Cars & Such, on Flickr