Taking these from my FAQ's that I have posted on other boards.

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Okay..you want to know about juice??? Well, here we go......

Cons
- First off, forget about being fast if you want to juice your ride. Why? Because hydraulics are heavy, and they weigh your car down quite a bit.
- Get ready to always have oil everywhere in your car. A really good installer can make it so that not alot of oil will spill out of the pumps, but no matter what, you WILL have some oil in your car.
- In Hydraulics, you have soleniods and batteries that heat up to extreme temps. If not careful, they can start a fire, and you're whole car could burn to the ground. (Seen it happen on way too many amateur installs)
- If not careful, you can bend your frame quite easily. (but that's just with extensive hopping, and dancing)
- Your ride quality will be a little bouncy, not smooth
- The switch boxes have a tendency to have a hair trigger effect. Meaning, it's very easy for the switches to move and the car will do something you may not want it to when your driving.

Pros
- Can lay your car right on the ground, literally
- Very cool effect to be able to juice the car up or pancake it to the ground when you pull into a parking lot or at a street light. (The girlies especially love it) wink1.gif
- It's Straight Up Gangsta G Old School...what's not to love about that

Good Companies To Use
- Porky's (expensive, but good)
- Red's (Been around for quite some time)
- Hi-Low (my main company. The owner's name is Armando Nunez. Learned everything and everything about suspensions from him. He is a God when it comes to making cars move around, and he owns the World Record in hopping his 64 Impala, "Chingon 64")
- Hijacker (new technology in hydraulic applications for the 21st century)
- C.C.E. (also has alot of new technology, and owners of many different dance and hopping events)

If you only want to do the moves that you stated above, then what you can do, is just get a single pump, wire in 3 batteries, and have only 3 switches running the setup. When you get the kit, they're going to ask what size cylinders you want. For a car that's only doing those moves...get either 6" or 8" for the front, and a 8" in the rear. This will give you ALOT of clearance to raise up over things. Also, they're gonna ask you for what size hopping coils you want. The hopping coils are what makes your car kind of bouncy. You also have to cut them way down. This is what makes your car lay real low. These are the ONLY type of coils that you can cut and it won't put you in harms way. There is a way though that you can get a decent ride quality. Get a 1/4 ton hopping coil for each corner, cut them way down to like 3 or 4 coils, and then purchase some good shocks. Install everything and you'll be good to go. Most people that have juice, have zero shocks in their ride. The only bad thing about having shocks in a Hydraulics application is that A) your car won't go up and down as fast, and B) youwon't get as high of a lift with the shocks in. So these are just some idea's to keep in mind. Another thing you want to purchase is a couple trickle charger. The batteries that you use in a Hydraulics are deep cycle marine ones. You CAN use other kinds like car batteries and all that, but the deep cycle marine ones last longer. With 3 batteries running to you pump, and with constant switch hitting, they'll last about a day and a half at the most. At night when you pull car in the garage, just hook up the chargers, and let them charge all night. You'll be ready to roll in the morning.

Also, when the batteries start to die, it's not like they just die all of the sudden, and your stranded. You will know when they start to get low, because the car won't react as fast when you hit the switches. When the car starts to slow down a little, then charge up the batteries again. Very simple. *lol*

There's things you can do to make it a very custom install job. Like for instance, build a custom battery rack that holds the batteries down. Also, you can install chrome hard lines install of the regular soft oil lines. You can get pumps in chrome, gold, or black. You can also paint the pumps to match your car.

And finally, as far as maintenance goes....it's important to keep the batteries charged as much as possible. If you let them get real low all the time, then you take a large chance of damaging the soleniods. If you blow one, then you can go to your local automotive store and pick up another for like 15 bux. Also, it's very important to change the oil in the pumps once a month. And you MUST use Hydraulic oil...not regular car oil. I knew of 2 kids that did their own install's (HACK jobs) and one used car oil, the other used anti-freeze (why..I have no idea...) Well, the car oil and the anti-freeze ate away at the rubber bushings that connect the oil lines to the cylinders. Both kids were in a parking lot showing off, they hit a switch, next thing ya know...oil and anti freeze EVERYWHERE!!!! Never laughed so hard in my life.

So, that's about it. If you have any other questions, give me a holler. OH..one other thing..as far as prices go...for just a simple set up like that...you can probably find shops to do it for between 1100 and 1800. That includes parts and labor/install. Good luck! wink.gif laugh.gif

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Here's all my knowledge when it comes down to Oil and wiring. I'll add more when I get home from work...Enjoy!

Oil
You must use NON-Detergent oil only. This is very important. Detergents in oil can eat up your "O" rings and other rubber parts. Also, do not use Hydraulic jack oil. You want to use a good 30 or 40 weight, which is good in all conditions. If you install or leave a filter on your pumps, there is no need to change the oil in the pumps unless a pump breaks, gears shatter, or the oil becomes contaminated in some other way. Just add oil as needed. A typical hydraulic pump will hold about 2 and 3/4 quarts of oil when the system is dumped. To check your oil level, make sure all your fittings are tight, then lift and dump your car a few times, and then check the tank level with the car dumped.

Wiring
One of the most hardest things to figure out in hydraulics is the wiring. Not only do you have the normal red (positive) and black (ground) wires to work with, but you will also have blue, green, yellow, orange, white, and others. And that's JUST for the switches. You also need to wire up the batteries.

There are 2 circuits in all hydraulic systems. Primary and secondary circuits. Primary circuits are high voltage lines which power the pumps. A minimum of 4 gauge cable rated at 600 volts is recommended for this circuit. It is very important to find a good frame ground for the primary circuit for safety issues. It also allows teh batteries to deliver really good power. The battery rack is a good ground since it should be welded to the vehicles frame anyway.

It's very important that the primary circuit has an "Emergency Disconnect" of some kind so that the power can be quickly interupted if a short or fire develops in the setup. The OLD SCHOOL way is to put an alligator clamp on the end of the ground wire...but a welders quick disconnect is teh best thing. You can also purchase single or double in line cable disconnects from different companies. It's also a good idea to carry around a fire extinguisher for emergencies.

Secondary circuits control the functions of the system through terminal blocks. The diagrams that come with the hydraulic kits outline various electrical wiring circuits required for different systems. I'll just discuss teh components for now.

The switches tell the system what to do through the secondary electrical circuits. They can be a real source of confusion if they are wired wrong. Troubleshooting will point out any possible problems that might occur with improperly routed electrical wiring. Most systems use "momentary on" type of switches in 12 prong, 6 prong, and 3 prong configurations. You can also purchase different kinds of switch boxes or mounting plates. Always use at least 18 gauge thickly insulated 10 conductor wire with crimped terminal ends for the secondary circuits. This wil lhelp with good electrical flow through the circuit and avoid possible wiring failures.

New prestolite black solenoids (what I use) switch battery power to pump motors and require 12 volts minimum for operation. I suggest wiring in 24 volts to soleniods so that they'll always work for ya, even under low battery power. wink1.gif This won't burn out the solenoids because they are on;y "on" for a few seconds ata time. Soleniods can be bridged together for motors requiring more voltage. People in the competition world wire motors with up to 72 volts for high volume delivery. A 72 volt pump will take 3 12-volt solenoids to operate and is the preferred wiring or hopping or dancing. But you also have to understand that higher voltage will burn out a motor alot quicker. On a regular street system....it's more practical to wire in for 24 volts to keep the pump motors running good.

Deep Cycle group 31 batteries are the best type to power your pumps. The main need is dor it to be a TRUE deep cycle battery. This is very important because the battery is going to be under discharge states most of the time. Deep cycle batteries are designed to withstand constant discharging and recharging. Alot of the major brands offer these kinds of batteries for ya.





Well, ever lifted a battery? Now imagine 3-4 of them in the back of your car. Now take 15 pound pumps, fill them with 2 and 3/4 quarts of oil. Now take a 30-50 pound steel battery rack that holds the battery in place. Not take 4 hydraulic cylinders that are filled with oil that weigh about 3-4 times more than an average shock. As you can see...it gets pretty heavy. And lets not forget all the soleniods, the hoses or hard lines, wiring, etc, etc. It's all little, but it does add up.

As far as adding shocks..yeah..you can add shocks, but like I said above:



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