# CiDirkona's Golf R air ride thread



## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Hello Vortex,










I'm just beginning my air ride project for my Golf R. I've got Air Lift Slam XL fronts, Air Lift double bellow Golf R (they're slightly different) rears, Air Lift Slam rear shocks, a 3/8 Air Lift Autopilot V2, a plethora of various tanks, a 400c, and a metric crapton of various other air ride parts (manual management, analog mangement, manifolds, valves, etc etc.)

The general gist with this project is to make everything as hidden as possible, and a stock-height rear floor (which has proven to be a challenge so far given the already raised height of the rear floor due to Haldex.) I'll post up a few pics momentarily.

My last air ride project: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5514470-Bagging-the-Brick

This project may take some time as I promised the wife that I'd build her a pantry BEFORE installing anything, so there's that...


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## Domokun (Apr 5, 2009)

Nice! It is good to see you back in a VW again. I remember you had that MKV awhile ago.


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## fasttt600 (Apr 12, 2007)

:thumbup::thumbup:


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

I think I may have vastly undersized my air tank... 










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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Has anyone ever tried making an compressor intake muffler? I'm not sure I'll have quite enough room to use the Airlift / Viaair isolator kit, and may have to resort to getting creative.


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## APURPLEKING (May 23, 2007)

CiDirkona said:


> I think I may have vastly undersized my air tank...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Best pic ever...


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## Vee-DubbVR6 (Jul 31, 2007)

:laugh:


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## MechEngg (Jan 13, 2009)

CiDirkona said:


> Has anyone ever tried making an compressor intake muffler? I'm not sure I'll have quite enough room to use the Airlift / Viaair isolator kit, and may have to resort to getting creative.


As in the air filter? Or as in the compressor vibration isolator/silencers?


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## mark6kevin (Jun 23, 2012)

opcorn:


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## fasttt600 (Apr 12, 2007)

If money's not an issue. look to buy the battery tray for the trunk and then set the compressor(with the isolator kit) in there, it is perfect for your set up. and you will not even hear the compressor. :thumbup:


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

I looked into it, and it was over $300 for the kit -- not sure how much just the battery bucket alone would be. Anybody got a source for part numbers for that battery bucket?

Edit:
Found it, here: http://www.jimellisvwparts.com/showAssembly.aspx?ukey_product=5353156&ukey_assembly=737948

Bucket $157 1K6801287
Cover $35 1K6803595 ; 1K6803592 -- same one as the stock one that comes with the car?

Anyone have a better/faster/cheaper source for this? How likely is this to be stocked in the US? A3 3.2 parts maybe?


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

MechEngg said:


> As in the air filter? Or as in the compressor vibration isolator/silencers?


As in the air filter.

I'm not sure vibration isolators would work well sideways like that under very tight vertical space, unfortunately. I don't think they'd hold up well to being mounted sideways -- too much torque from the weight of the compressor.


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## fasttt600 (Apr 12, 2007)

CiDirkona said:


> I looked into it, and it was over $300 for the kit -- not sure how much just the battery bucket alone would be. Anybody got a source for part numbers for that battery bucket?
> 
> Edit:
> Found it, here: http://www.jimellisvwparts.com/showAssembly.aspx?ukey_product=5353156&ukey_assembly=737948
> ...


http://www.1stvwparts.com/partscat.html


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Anyone have any suggestions for these:

Routing the rear air lines: Is there a favorite place to get lines into the rear subframe? Seems like everything under the rear end has pretty close quarters.

Rolling the front fenders: cut the tab off or fold it up?

Fender liners: remove them all together, cut the tops out, something different?

Thanks in advance!


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

First attempt at under car pump mount brackets. Appears to be too low, could go up about an inch.


Also, if anyone is considering trying to use the AirLift isolator brackets with a sideways mounted pump, it looks like the compressor head will hit the solid mount portion: 











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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

(not the final manifold destination)




















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## MechEngg (Jan 13, 2009)

Why didn't you just flip the metal interconnecting piece? The mounts have been designed so that it keeps the exact same bolt pattern as a standard compressor. You just mount both plates so that the springs and rubber are offset towards the wires instead of offsetting one towards the wires and one towards the head. 
Just a thought if that would help your clearance issues


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

A few reasons why I did that:

My biggest constraint is height, not length. I could play with different positions of the brackets, and as long as the pump was sideways, it would not hang out below the bumper cover.

When I put the head-end black bracket towards the wires, there was too little lateral clearance for the spool-shaped part of the isolator, and it hit the back of the compressor head crank case thing. I'd have to notch the bracket holes in order to slide it further towards the wires, and I'd lose quite a bit of mating surface between the brackets to keep the torque from tearing them apart.

The compressor side mount being towards the motor also puts almost all of the weight on those two springs, versus spreading the weight out between all four.

I would still have to space out black and chrome brackets to keep the spool part of the isolator from hitting the motor body. The bottom half is the isolator is much larger than the top half, and this kit was meant for the compressor to be mounted upright, not upside down.

The distance between the bolt holes on the battery box is about 10.75"apart, so this configuration allows me to use those to make straps for. It's only about 5.25" between the middle and end holes, which is a tougher mount to have to make. 

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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Friend stopped by to update her check valve and drain setup:










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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

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## boradie sucht (Aug 12, 2012)

really cool looking setup


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Very minimal progress last night - improved the trap and check mount.

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## Huynh (Dec 5, 2013)

Nice work on the compressor mount. I wanted to put mine under the car too and this is a easier solution than what I was planning on doing.


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Thanks! I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I'm hoping it works as good as I planned.

If anyone else is considering a similar setup, here's an idea I didn't consider until I had my mind set otherwise:










Look closer:









Also, if anyone is interested, this is where you can get a correct source for Autopilot V2 ignition source, 2012 kessy Golf R. I used the fuse adder clip that I got with the V2 kit, but I've got an add-a-circuit inbound for mini blade fuses. The top row of fuses are the only fuses that are ignition on without cutting out with the starter. The fuses under the hood are either key on / delayed off after ignition off, or constant on. 










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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

The white GLI is my wife's.

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## Huynh (Dec 5, 2013)

How tucked is that compressor? You worry about stuff getting kicked up under there?


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

It's about 3" higher that the bottom edge of the bumper, about 4" higher than the bottom of the muffler. No, I'm not worried about it at all. It's right behind the rear subframe and right transferse arm, so it's pretty well sheilded from rocks.

Editted to add:

Using the same compressor mounting points to mount the compressor upside down versus sideways, the top of the compressor was just barely peeking out from the bottom of the bumper, and that I wasn't comfortable with -- thus the sideways configuration.


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

I'm loving being bagged. I should have done this a long time ago. Also, the V2 is awesome. Going right to presets is so much more convenient than tapping buttons.










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## davespence20 (Apr 21, 2013)

Good job man! Love how you mounted the compressor. If I wasn't so worried about the salt and corrosion I'd probably try that out


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Thanks! 

Had a buddy of mine take a few shots.




























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## Clewley8 (May 21, 2008)

I'm in the process of bagging my R, glad I found this thread!


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## MechEngg (Jan 13, 2009)

Looks great man! :thumbup::thumbup:


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Clewley8 said:


> I'm in the process of bagging my R, glad I found this thread!


Let me know if you have any questions -- I might be able to help. :thumbup:



MechEngg said:


> Looks great man! :thumbup::thumbup:


Thanks!


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## vwitalianman (Dec 7, 2005)

are you notched ?


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

No. Front right axle hits, but getting it notched would only maybe get down another 1/4-1/2 on that side. It's a hardly noticable difference, so I haven't bothered (yet.)

I expected the rear axles to hit as i was getting axle/frame scraping on coilovers, but the bags' internal jounce bumpers bottom out before the axles actually.


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## soulrack (Apr 3, 2011)

Awesome setup


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Just realized I never put up pictures of my trunk finished...


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## dub-Nation (Jan 31, 2001)

Saw this car in person at Wuste! Dope car! :thumbup:


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Thanks!

Probably my favorite shot from Wuste:










(c) http://venezia-photography.com/wuste-2014-photos


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## CiDirkona (May 1, 2007)

Put in some Solowerks front end links to give a little more room between the LCA and sway bar.

Before (with dirbritz brackets all the way up against the leader lines):



















After:









These were such an improvement that the sway bar is now touching the axle when aired out, so I'll need to lower the bracket by a half to full inch compared to having them maxed out upwards.

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## Clewley8 (May 21, 2008)

Did you modify the rear bag mounts or anything? I have the double bellows for the R as well and mine doesn't seem to go as low in the rear as your does........


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## President Lincoln (Jun 27, 2005)

Very nice :thumbup:


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