TECH: Installing Air Lift on the 'Double Down' Mustang RTR

When Vaughn Gittin Jr. approached Air Lift earlier in the year with an upcoming project car, we were more than happy to oblige given his performance background and reputation as one of the world’s best drifters! But Vaughn didn’t just want to achieve the lows associated with air suspension; he wanted PROPER performance that can be used competitively on the road and track. Introducing the ‘Double Down’ Mustang RTR, a project built for SEMA that features dual personalities – aggressive looks when slammed on the ground and superb all-round driving when on the move.

Instead of just fit the kit and unveil the car at SEMA, we wanted Vaughn and the team to get a true feel for Air Lift suspension including just how easy it is to install and setup. Keith Charvonia from Speedhunters.com would be performing and documenting the install process, so Air Lift’s Brian Vinson headed over to give a helping hand and setup the Mustang perfectly for its intended use.

Using our threaded-body performance kit complete with adjustable top mounts (front), Keith was surprised at just how straightforward the installation was – a huge compliment given his previous experience with older, less-sophisticated air setups of the past. In fact, the only addition needed up front was to choose of a suitable area to run the air lines though, in this case opting for the Mustang’s firewall.

‘As I worked on the installation I realized that these were basically coilovers with air springs instead of coils!’ explained Keith. ‘Brian showed me how to use the shock tool to adjust the damping from soft to hard. You get 30 clicks of adjustment with this kit: plenty to tune with.’