Twisted Images Invitational Show 'n Shine

Last weekend we set up a room inside the Sacramento International Auto Show to display a fun mix of custom rides built by local shops and enthusiasts. With space limited, we made this an "invitational" show, so each of the cars and trucks in here were picked because they represent a slice of the local custom scene. There was something for just about everybody- check out the photos!

Building 4 at Cal Expo became our home for the weekend.

Looks big until you start filling it with cars and trucks!

Aaron's Lexus LS430 sits on Work wheels, with an aftermarket controller on the factory air suspension. The interior is full of LED lighting and TVs.

Aaron also brought out a pair of Acura NSXes - always a crowd pleaser! Both of these have Comptech superchargers and a host of other go-fast bits.

Chad from Severed Ties brought this monster in - he calls it the "Silver Baller" It's on custom links with air suspension, and sits on 24" American Force wheels.

Chad also rolled his bodydropped Toyota pickup to display.

Brad's Porsche Cayman S had a bunch of nice custom touches- after this weekend he's thinking about air suspension!

This BMW 2002 is packing a full Honda S2000 drivetrain- down to the gauge cluster in the dash! The interior is fully custom as well, with lots of ostrich covering the dash and door panels.

Eric's Scion xB was a huge hit with everyone that came through the room. The custom plexiglas hatch with a 40" TV and a booming sound system kept the room rocking all weekend!

This MK6 Volkswagen Jetta sits perfectly on Rotiform wheels and Air Lift Performance suspension. He's got plans for some upgrades for next year, too!

Another Volkswagen that was a big attention-grabber was Mike's Harlequin Golf. This rare factory color option had a lot of people scratching their heads, and the turbo'ed VR6 under the hood is definitely impressive!

Juergen's 'bagged Mini Cooper S has a TON of nice custom touches, and sits down perfectly with the splitter touching the ground.

I brought the 510 out to the show, of course. It's just about ready for SEMA next week- still a few things to button up, but it still got plenty of attention at the show!

Miles brought a few rides out this weekend, and of course they ALL caught the spectators' eyes! The mini truck on the deck is a chopped, doored, bobbed, turbo'ed Toyota pickup with custom front and rear ends- it'll need its own blog post to go over it all!
The hauler (the "Baller Hauler" as he calls it) is a heavily modified Isuzu NPR, sitting on air suspension and semi truck wheels. More on both of these rides soon!

Miles' other ride at the show was his "Ridiculous" Isuzu Rodeo. Again, too many mods to list here! It was fun watching people walk by and try to figure out what it used to be in its former life!

Victor brought out his '68 Datsun 510 wagon to display. It sits on a rare set of Walter Wolf Racing wheels, and has a mean-sounding 2.3L engine under the hood. It's getting rare to see clean 510s these days!

If you follow my Instagram page, you've probably seen my 510 being towed by this monster! It's a '49 Chevy pickup with a Cummins 12 valve diesel under the hood. Sitting on air suspension, of course! This thing is absolutely a work truck, hauling projects all over the place!

Riley parked his beautiful '86 BMW e28 on the trailer for the show. Sporting an M60 V8 under the hood from a later model 5-series, this thing sounds as mean as it looks!

Scott from Clean Concepts brought out his Silverado, which lays down over 28" wheels. This one got a bunch of "how do you drive that thing?" comments this weekend!

Scott also brought out the 'bagged cop car. With the lights flashing for most of the show, it was a hit!

Spencer's '72 C10, with a forward-tilt hood and a bunch of custom frame work exposed in the bed, probably gave other customizers some ideas for their rides!

The car with the most traffic around it by far was Jeff's 1960 Cadillac convertible. This car JUST got finished up last week, and this was its debut show. Fresh and flawless black paint, beautiful red leather interior, and blinding chrome combined to command attention all weekend long! We actually had to put stanchions around this one to keep people from touching it- it almost looked to good to be real!

Overall, we had a blast, and I got to meet a bunch of new people and discuss their custom projects. We'll be back again next year, and we hope you'll come check us out!

Scrape and Scare 2016

This weekend we dragged the Datsun 510 up to Plymouth, California to check out No Limits Car Club's Scrape and Scare show. The rain kept some people away, but those that came through had an incredible time! Lots of clean custom rides, and lots to do- burnout contest, limbo, and the attending clubs even got in on some tug of war and "water" pong games as well!

They'll be holding this show again next year on October 20th through 22nd- if you can make it I'd highly recommend this show!

Pictures:

Ride Height Control Systems - Which One is Best?

The most expensive part of your STAGE 3 air ride system is the height controller package. So before you drop a bunch of money on it, let's run through the basics so you know which one will be right for you!

Digital height controllers have been on the market since the early 2000s, but it's only been in the past 5 or 6 years that the technology has really caught up with the dream. Now you've got your choice of several brand-name solutions that all do a great job of making your life easier!

We’ve been a dealer for Accuair, Air Lift Performance, Dakota Digital, and RideTech over the years, and prefer to offer our air management packages with a choice of Accuair eLevel and the Air Lift 3P/3H.

Air Lift Performance’s 3P digital height control system uses sensors to monitor the air pressure in each corner of your vehicle, as well as the air tank, to control your vehicle's air suspension system. With the 3P, all of these sensors and the system's ECU are built directly into the valve manifold, so this system is extremely easy to install- one air line from your air tank, four air lines out to your airbags, and a total of five wire connections are all you need to have this system up and running! This system also has a Bluetooth wireless receiver built in, so your iPhone or Android device can be used to control your car remotely! The included handheld control pad has a nice full-color display to navigate the various menus for setting tank pressure, airbag pressures, and lots more- it's a very nice overall package.

HOWEVER, because this systems uses air pressure to control your vehicle, it falls victim to the same drawbacks as mentioned in our previous blog post about air gauges- air pressure doesn't equal vehicle height, so these systems can sometimes lead you astray! To remedy this, Air Lift offers systems with physical height sensors that attach to your vehicle’s suspension, which is what Accuair’s eLevel system uses as well.

Accuair's eLevel system doesn't have a problem with pressure readings- in fact, it doesn’t bother reading your airbag pressures at all! It includes actual height sensors that install at each corner of your vehicle, and it monitors the height of your suspension rather than the pressure in the airbags. Because of this, your car or truck will always go back to the precise height it was programmed for when you hit that button! Accuair's handheld controller is a work of art- about the size and shape of an early iPhone, with a nickel-plated housing and nice touch-sensitive buttons; you can definitely feel the quality when you pick it up.

Alright, so are the eLevel and 3H with height sensors are better than the 3P? Well, yes and no. They’re definitely better at maintaining a precise ride height- I don't think anyone would debate that fact. However, that precision comes at a cost... about 500 bucks, for starters! Aside from the monetary cost, though, is the added complexity of the system. There is a LOT more work to be done to set up height sensors, and it can be outside of some people's skill set, which leads to higher labor costs for installation.

So, which system is right for you? Well, if money is no object, and/or you have infinite automotive skills and tools to match, the eLevel or 3H are truly awesome systems to use. But if you're looking for a solid and reliable package that won't break your bank, or if you just want to avoid the extra wiring and clutter of a larger installation, then the 3P may be the wiser choice.

I hope that helps you decide on your build- if you still have questions feel free to use the "Contact Us" link at the top of the page!

What About Gauges?

So, what's up with gauges? If you've been to a show and looked inside the cars with air suspension, you've probably seen a bunch of different combinations of switches, gauges, and other accessories- it can all be a bit confusing, can't it? Well, here's MY opinion on the matter, for what it's worth. And even though it's my job to sell you stuff, you might be surprised by my take on gauges!

Starting from the top, let's look at what a pressure gauge does in an air suspension system. Well DUH- it measures the pressure in something, right? Yep- in most cases you'll use a gauge to measure the pressure in each airbag, and possibly your air tank as well. Analog gauge packages use either single- or dual-needle gauges with air lines running from the back of the gauge out to your valve assemblies, where they're teed into your system to read pressure. Electric gauge packages use sending units to read the pressures in your system, so there will only be wires running from your valves to your gauge readout. Add air to your airbags, and the gauge will read a higher pressure- that should make it easy to set your ride height reliably, right?

Well, the answer isn't that simple, unfortunately. Air pressure and ride height aren't directly related! Think of it this way: Pretend you have your vehicle sitting level at all four corners, and your gauges are reading 80 psi in both front airbags and 50 psi in both rears (the rear is almost always a lower pressure since there usually isn't an engine back there!). Now, your friend- let's call him Big Dave- gets into the passenger seat to cruise with you to the Dairy Queen for a Blizzard. Suddenly his 400 pound butt is making your car sit lower on the passenger side, but the pressure went UP! If you even out the pressure in your system, you'll be sitting even lower on the passenger side... see how this can be a problem?

This phenomenon isn't limited to those of us with friends named Big Dave, either. If your gas tank is on one side of your vehicle, if you try to set your ride height on unlevel pavement, or if you carry items in your trunk or bed, all of these factors make air pressure kind of unreliable for setting a proper ride height.

Does this mean that gauges are no good? Absolutely not. But we don't include them in our electric air management systems to prevent new users from using them as a "crutch" while they learn their vehicle's new ride characteristics. In my opinion, it's better to install your system without gauges at first, and drive it for a few days or weeks to learn how it feels when you're at different heights. After you can dial in your ride height simply by feel, gauges can be a helpful monitoring tool in addition to your finely calibrated butt! Or, you may simply decide that you don't need 'em at all...

The great thing about selling our systems this way is that adding gauges is super easy after the fact. The Accuair valve manifold included with our electric control systems has four plugs in it that can simply be removed and replaced with fittings to run to your air lines for analog gauges or sending units for your electric ones.

If you've read this far, thanks! I hope you learned something new today. And if you skipped to the end for a summary, here's the "TL;DR" version: Gauges can lie to you, and they can make it harder for people new to air suspension to learn their system. I hope that helps you make an educated decision while you shop for your air suspension parts!

1972 Datsun 510 2 Door Sedan

This is my personal project. It's a bit rough around the edges, but it sits flat on the ground and it'll be noisy and fast!

You can see the entire build history for this rusty Datsun over at ratsun.net