The Ami is just such a cool car to see lowered, just exentuates its gorgeous lines
Anyway, I promised some details on the build so here goes
Picked this lady up from just south of Paris in December 2013. My lack of french made the paperwork a little complicated to understand, I could've signed anything. Unfortunately I couldn't rely on google translate as I had done when conversing with the seller.
So here she is all loaded up ready to come home
After a long day of going to get it (I'd already decided by that point that it looked good from the videos and photos received from the seller) that I'd be bringing it home. The worst that could happen would be that I'd end up breaking it!
Thankfully 'Blue" was good and solid, couple of photos in the cold light of day, no real horrors to report. Although there was obviously a fair amount of work to do to get ready for MOT
Those jobs included bolting the engine in (it had one driveshaft that was too long that prevented the engine sitting square) and deciphering a french wiring diagram (who knew mauve was brown
)Anyway the MOT was eventually obtained with no issues at all. Then the modifying could begin
This was before the MOT
After a lot of late nights thinking about how best to achieve the airbag setup in a way that maintained as much of the original suspension without the airbag working backwards (i.e to lower the bags have to deflate). An order was placed through various suppliers to get the best price overall for the bags, tank, and management system including the compressor.
First up was to tackle the tank and compressor and decide where they would live
Next up was the gauges and manual paddle switches
Following this the spring cans were removed and ditched never to return
The threaded tubes and tie rods were retained. The threaded tubes were then modified with a base welded to them for the airbags to mount to
The chassis and body were clearanced to allow the bags to work and fit without rubbing or touching on anything
All bump stops were removed, the rear silencer was removed and the brake pipes relocated under the rear arms so I get could the Ami as low as possible, the front chassis and exhaust sit on the ground
Workshop shots
1st show and it got an award
My bus and the Ami together
