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air jacks

Joined
8 March 2006
Messages
16,594
Location
Boston
these sure are handy. Can anyone shed light on what is required to install them? Ksport jacks are 300 each. Only need 3 for an NSX. I already have an airtank used for my Variable ride height system.

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you should talk to f1racr here in New Zealand (Down Under track day NSX) Fraser has them installed on his build and could give you any info on the pros and cons. His is a dedicated track car tho unlike yours so he had a heap of room to accomodate them, must admit very impressive setup for when you want to alter anything
 
Dave .......you really want a race car.btw your "tank" will not generate the pressure needed to lift your car off the ground.
 
I like to maximize the use of stuff I put into the car, if there's an air tank and compressor there, I shouldn't need a second one to air my spare. Or air my tires at the track. So it's there.... And I figured its worth at least asking the question, doesn't mean I will put in air jacks but if it turns out to be a reasonable install why not.

I contacted Fraser. I think kips car had them too. Probably not practical on a street car but I'm still going to make sure. What sort of pressure are we talking about anyway?
 
it is my recollection that the air supply for the race cars you see on tv is external to the car.They connect a high pressure hose to a coupler.
 
I see. Well in that case then it truly is not that practical but I thought Fraser had that on board. I mean it would be really nice to hit a button and have all 4 wheels come off the ground, so a wheel/tire change it brake pad change. Sounds like it requires more pressure than I would have in my tank. I, being told by one person it's 200-250 psi.
 
An external, high-pressure air source would be necessary -- and you would not have the room required in a street car to install them. Besides, they only lift the car high enough to change the tires.
 
We had a system a while back that we used a nitrogen tank to pressurize the system. You can get high pressure nitrogen from a welding supply place very inexpensively. Get a good regulator... and you should be able to get quite a few lifts from one tank full.

It's nice to have 4 airjacks. The car is a lot more stable and goes up "square".
 
I really dont think its practical on a street car, but damn its impressive at the track.
Fraser had his car up on jacks and altering setup and i was till getting out of mine to wheel my trolley jack around to start
 
Ksport jacks are $400 each. They support $1200 pounds a piece. 3x12=3600 pounds.
 
I'd thought about the ideal least-effort track-day setup a while ago:

Small tire trailer outfitted with:
  • track tires
  • small toolbox
  • miniature gas generator (if venturing to a track sans power hookups)
  • a pancake compressor for tire air, to run an impact gun or other air tools
  • a nitrogen tank for air jacks (only if the compressor couldn't push enough air).

Couple that with air jacks on the car and you'd have a pretty friendly setup short of an enclosed trailer with the car in it.
 
I know this is a really old thread, but just stumbled across it when I was looking for something else.

Bit of info that might be helpful......... Even if you did try to use 3, you wouldn't want to as you could get to the two on the rear easy enough, but it would be dangerous to get to the middle one on the front to put the safety stands in place which are critical if you want to do anything under the car as if the line blows it'll drop straight on you pretty easily. If you use 4 it's easier to just reach in from the side and put the safety stands in.

Second thing is regarding pressure. Obviously, most of the time you would use an external supply with either air or nitrogen as others have said, but we chose to have the ability to do both as we can plumb in external supply, but most of the time I use the on board supply which is a small dive bottle (3000psi) regulated down to 325psi. Ideally I would prefer something like 400psi, but the electronic manifolds / valves that I use don't like working over 325psi so it still works, just goes up a bit slower...... but only like 10 seconds instead of say 3-4 seconds with higher pressure.

Basic science says the size of the airjacks and the weight being lifted will tell you what pressure you need, so there's no point saying that you'll only need 325psi to lift your car etc etc since yours will probably be heavier than ours for instance and also your airjacks might be smaller diameter or larger diameter so the pressure needed will be different, but I would suggest that you would usually need at least 300psi at worst. I was told initially I would be able to use 200psi etc so I never bothered to check the numbers, but the reality is it was not even close.......

I get approx 7 lifts from a small bottle, so I have two and just swap them over which is pretty quick and easy.

I'm not allowed to run the bottle for sanctioned motorsport events, but for normal track days it's fine so makes life super easy to work on.

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I've got them on my NSX too, Best thing i've fitted. Makes life so much easier.

Bought second hand for $200 made all the mounts.

I use external bottle of nitrogen $79(AUD) gets me about 30 lifts.

Rears are mounted from the tie down positions same as Fraser's car.
 

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