Air Bar

[Nova73]

Ok so the masterminds over at ridetech dont make a airbar rear suspension yet for a 2nd generation nova, they do however make them for a 1st generation camaro. I would really love to remove my leafspring suspension and use the airbar setup on my 73 nova, and as far as i was alway informed, the first generation and second generation novas were on the same platform. So i did a little investigating and i found that the distance between the inboard rail on the rear of the rear stub in 1/4" different from the nova and camaro, the center to center of the fron rails on the rear stub are 5/16" different and the front to rear opposite corner measurement is also 5/16" differnce. Is this to much of a difference to use this kit? does anyone have a nova this generation with air ride on the rear? what does everyone think? will it work or no?

[kennyd]

i just did a 67 camaro , it was a easy install . with a little modifying i bet you can make it fit without any problems .

[Nova73]

i just called them and they told me there was no way no how it would fit, thats a little unreal if you ask me, but they did inform me that they have the airbar in the works for the second generation nova and it will be out in the fall, now that i think about it, im guessing the bars would pry fit, just the bags would need to be a different load weight due to weight differences in the rear of a nova vs camaro.

[bret]

The reality is that we just don't know if the 1st gen Camaro Airbar will fit the 2nd gen Nova because we haven't tried it yet. Probably the reason you got the "no way it will fit" answer is that we've gotten our asses burned in years past by "therorizing" about what may or may not fit without actually trying it on an actual car. We'll have a 2nd gen Nova in the shop shortly and we'll either find out the Camaro system works or we'll design a specific system for the Nova. In my OPINION [having done no investigation yet]...if the Camaro system interchanges with the Nova it will be a miracle...I just don't have that good of luck!

[dhardison]

I've called ridetech 3-4 times over the past couple years and inquired about the AirBar for my '70, no luck so far. In my opinion there's quite a large market for that gen Nova. Heck, I know of 5-6 people that would buy it now. The '68-'74 Nova rear subframes are similar to the '67-'69 Camaros but not exactly the same, so I'd also be surprised if it would be a direct fit.

BTW, 2nd gen Novas are the '66-'67 years, not '68-'74. Here's how it breaks down:

'62-'65 = 1st gen
'66-'67 = 2nd gen
'68-'74 = 3rd gen
'75-'79 = 4th gen
'80-'?? = FWD worthless pieces of crap gen

[Tony@AirRideTech]

you guys need to keep in mind that for it to fit.... the Nova and the Camaro will have to share nearly identical floor pans in the rear as well as the geometry and mounting points being the same........fortunate for those installing them but unfortunate for some like yourselves... they are not "universal"....