I would like to get Air Ride / Air Bags on my 1971 Chevy Nova. Any suggestions?

[Larrykidluv]

Don't get it from airbagit, I wish I did some research before I order mine. 1997 Grand Prix kit, one of the front strut went bad and they wouldn't replace cause they claim I install it wrong. From the I install it on my car I had problems with it.

[Soccerballzs]

Hey check out Jegs High Performance they have air bag kits for older rods. And free shipping! They have almost everything for the older rides. Love them!!! They are on the Web! Is it a A Body?

http://www.jegs.com/ecatalog/full.asp?page=273

[Pioneerchuck]

You could always go with a high quality 4 link set up and then just weld on some bag brackets to the ass end and into the control arms up front and do a basic air suspension that way. Itll be in all reality the most basic way of doing things. Itll give you the air ride quality while maintaining the factory steering components and upgrading the rear end.

[White Lightning]

Ok, I'm looking for a Air Ride Suspension for my 1971 Chevy Nova.

Pics of this ride would be nice ...

[cupkicker]

The basics of what you'll need are bags, suspension mods, valves, switches, gauges, compressor, air tank, pressure switch, air line, and a bunch of various fittings. there are a lot more things you could add to make a more advanced setup, but these are the basics of what i would start out with to make a functional setup.

Bags:

for bags, the bigger the better. for a given amount of weight, a small bag will require more psi to lift the weight than a bigger bag will. because the psi will be higher for a smaller bag, the ride will be worse(depending on the size and weight of your engine your car might ride like a brick). the draw back of a bigger bag is that they are harder to fit in as space is usually limited.

Suspension Mods:

The front of your car is probably a double a arm with a coil spring. usually you can just enlarge the spring pocket and plate the lower arm and swap the bag for the spring. the only other issue is that usually the shock runs inside the coil spring. since the bag is solid, you will need to make a new mount and locate the shock somewhere else.

I don't know what the rear setup on your car is, if its coil springs on the rear you can just take the coils out, make some mounting plates and put the bags in their place. if you car has leaf springs, then you will need to replace the leafs with a link system and add some bag mounts.

Valves:

valves are straight forward. you will need 2 for every line you run, one to let air into the line and one to let air out of the line. so if you run an individual air line to each bag, you will need a total of 8 valves. if you run one line to both front bags and one to both rear bags, you will only need 4 valves. the second set-up saves you a couple of valves, but it leads to more body roll because the air can pass back and forth between two different bags. the size of the valve will affect how fast your suspension will move up and down. I like 3/8" valves because they give you a good speed when raising up and lowering. 1/4" is pretty slow, and 1/2" is getting pretty fast. a friend of mine has 1/2" valves on her bagged cavy and it sometimes seems like the rear end is gonna come off the ground when she lifts it up. depends on what you are going for.

Switches:

need some switches to control the valves. you can either get a pre made switch box, or just buy yourself some 3 way switches(spring loaded to return to center/off position) and mount them yourself. lots of options on how many switches you want and ways to wire them.

Gauges:

Gonna need gauges so you can see whats going on. should have a gauge for the air tank so you know what pressure is in your tank. its nice to have a gauge for each air line too, that way you can see what pressure is in each bag. i have a single needle gauge for my air tank and double needle gauges for the bags.

Compressor:

This is a good place to spend some money and get a quality compressor/s. nothing sucks worse than sitting and waiting for you system to build up pressure. most compressors will give specs on their cfm and duty cycle. running multiple compressors is always a good option, you just have to be carful because some compressors have large power demands and running multiple compressor might require upgrading your electrical system. if your compressor doesn't come with them, you will want to get a braided leader hose and check valve to plumb the compressor into the tank. the air coming out of the compressor will be hot and can damage normal air line. the check valve will keep the pressure from the air tank from bleeding back through the compressor.

Air Tank:

Gotta have a storage tank for your air system. the size of tank you get kind of depends on the compressor/s you will be running. a bigger tank will obviously take longer to fill, but when filled will have more air on demand. 5 gallon is a pretty standard size, just make sure you get one with enough ports for your setup. I like aluminum tanks because they wont rust and i like to look of them.

Pressure Switch:

A pressure switch that mounts on your tank and turns your compressor on and off based on the pressure inside. you can get pressure switches that are preset to a specific on and off pressures, or you can get adjustable switches that you can tune yourself.

Air Line:

Like the valves, the size of the air line can affect the speed of your set up. if you get a small line your system will become slow. you cant really go to big here because your valves will eventually limit how fast your system will act. i use 1/2" air line with 3/8" valves for all the bags, and 1/4" air line for the gauges on my suburban. make sure you get d.o.t. air line, don't try to use just any air line to plum you system.

Fittings:

Again, use d.o.t. fittings, not the stuff you can get from lowes/home depot. there are a couple of different styles of fittings you can use, each with advantages and disadvantages. i use compression fittings because I've had good luck with them sealing and having very little to no leaks. only down side is that most times you have to replace the inserts if you disassemble the line. a lot of people like the push in style because of they make installing the air line quick and easy. the amount and types of fittings you'll need will depend on your setup and layout.

when installing your fittings, i would stay away from Teflon tape. its easy to install, but it doesn't seem to hold up to the pressure and seems to leak a lot. plus if you every have to disassemble your fittings it becomes a mess with all the little chunks of tape. if any of the crap gets into your air lines and finds its way to your valves it will become a big pain in the butt.

[Mtnbikecrazy55]

Nice reply dawg ^^