Air Ride Installed On My 67 Pontiac

[JT_67Tempest]

I recently finished installing Air Ride on my 67 Pontiac Tempest. I went with the upper and lower strong arms using the shockwaves. Tapered air bags in the rear replacing the Monroe shocks that come with the kit with some Varishocks. Also went with the 5 gallon Air Pod with dual compressors. Going to round things out by adding the front and rear sway bars along with the strong arm kit for the rear as well.

Here's some pictures I took this past weekend.

Johnny

Picture of car at ride height
https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/vbpgimage.php?do=full&p=4303

Picture of car lowered
https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/vbpgimage.php?do=full&p=4304

Picture lowered from rear
https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/vbpgimage.php?do=full&p=4305

Picture of 455
https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/vbpgimage.php?do=full&p=4306

[r.a.w.rods]

hey man the car looks great, were working on dads 67 lemans convertable right now. Care if I ask what your wheel and tire specs are? Offsets and stuff. Thats the one thing we have left to do on ours. Man that looks good!!!

[JT_67Tempest]

Here are the specs on my wheel/tire combo.

Wheels are Rushforth Strutters

Front are 19x8 with a 4 7/8" backspace
Rear are 20x10 with a 6.25" backspace
Front tires are 245/35/19
Rear tires are 285/30/20

Thanks for the compliments!

Johnny

[BMF Machine]

SMootH man, real SmoooootH!

[gearheads78]

Looking even better


-Richard

[1969CamaroRS]

Love the wheels.

[67SSDan]

Holy crap, that's a good look'n poncho. Nice work.

Dan

[Code Red]

awesome 67

[T_Raven]

looks great, i like those wheels

[1offwizard]

That looks AWESOME!!! So with it down all the way, do the tires touch anywhere? I have a '66 chevelle vert and I plan on air ride for it but I want ride height to be close to where your car is all the way down. Again, your car looks awesome!!!

[KnightMare]

now thats sexy

[LMDGUY]

VERY NICE! my buddy just got his grandmas Lemans.. i will have to send him these pics to get him moving on air bagging the car

[JT_67Tempest]

So with it down all the way, do the tires touch anywhere? I have a '66 chevelle vert and I plan on air ride for it but I want ride height to be close to where your car is all the way down. Again, your car looks awesome!!!

In the front, yes the tire is touching the inner fender well at the outer side (closest towards fender). From looking at the inner fender well, it slopes down pretty quickly. My plan is to cut away some of the inner fender well and fab up a piece that allows the tire to tuck and not rub.

In the rear, I had to trim away some of the inner fender well (side closest to the quarter panel). It's hard to explain, but the inner fender well has this step up to it. Meaning at the fender lip it goes up about 2 or so inches and then steps in towards the wheel/tire about 1 inch and then curves around towards the trunk. I cut out this section that had the step to it. Now I just need to fab a new piece to replace what I cut out. With this piece cut out though I can dump the rear as far as the Air Ride bag will let it go and it will not rub at all.

Sorry for the long explanation, but it's hard to describe unless you can actually see what I'm describing.

Johnny

[JT_67Tempest]

So with it down all the way, do the tires touch anywhere? I have a '66 chevelle vert and I plan on air ride for it but I want ride height to be close to where your car is all the way down. Again, your car looks awesome!!!

In the front, yes the tire is touching the inner fender well at the outer side (closest towards fender). From looking at the inner fender well, it slopes down pretty quickly. My plan is to cut away some of the inner fender well and fab up a piece that allows the tire to tuck and not rub.

In the rear, I had to trim away some of the inner fender well (side closest to the quarter panel). It's hard to explain, but the inner fender well has this step up to it. Meaning at the fender lip the inner fender well goes up about 2 or so inches and then steps in towards the wheel/tire about another inch and then curves around towards the trunk. I cut out this section that had the step to it. Now I just need to fab a new piece to replace what I cut out. With this piece cut out though I can dump the rear as far as the Air Ride bag will let it go and it will not rub at all.

Sorry for the long explanation, but it's hard to describe unless you can actually see what I'm describing.

Johnny

[darren@ridetech]

Lookin good Johnny!

[1offwizard]

Perfect explaination Johnny! Good deal, as I aam going to fabricate front inner fenders anyway and mini-tub the back. I was wanting to get a general feel of how much I needed to go up from factory in the rear. Mine will be real tight since it is a vert. Again, beautiful car. It is now my backdrop. Thanks.

[JT_67Tempest]

Perfect explaination Johnny! Good deal, as I aam going to fabricate front inner fenders anyway and mini-tub the back. I was wanting to get a general feel of how much I needed to go up from factory in the rear. Mine will be real tight since it is a vert. Again, beautiful car. It is now my backdrop. Thanks.

No problem Jason, glad to help out. Make sure to post up some pictures as you get further into your project. I'm always looking for new ideas and ways of doing things.

Johnny

[Vegas69]

Looking hot

[41565 chevelle]

Nailed it!

[PleaseNoSteve]

Nasty - My uncle just picked up a 67 from the big show in Hershey, PA. I need to sell him on the air ride set up.

[XTRMEASURES]

i love the car and color

[Lenie]

Great looking car, love the stance when she's down.

[qnitro]

Love it.... Im getting ready to slam my Lemans.. Im dropping in a 468 BBC and the t400 right now.. But I just might throw in a t56.. Also, since no one makes a covan type dash, I bought a old 66/67 dash from ebay and am going to build my own autometer set up..I bought one of those fo-woodgrain as a template and am going to get a sheet metal insert built. a I will let you know how it goes...

[brownz]

:eek: VERY VERY nice love the wheels on that car...

[muthstryker]

Wow, was gone for awhile and came back to this. Very cool johnny!! Hows the ride difference from befor with the drop springs and now with the air ride? I still dont know if I want to go with air ride of not. once again cool car man!

[LMDGUY]

did you have any clearance problems with the driveline and the tunnel?

[KnightMare]

Did you use the cool ride on the rear? Been looking at that kit for my 67 Lemans Convertible.

[JT_67Tempest]

Wow, was gone for awhile and came back to this. Very cool johnny!! Hows the ride difference from befor with the drop springs and now with the air ride? I still dont know if I want to go with air ride of not. once again cool car man!

Well the ride difference is much better with the Air Ride setup versus the drop springs. Actually in my case the drop springs never worked out. They brought my car down too low for normal driving. It was rubbing way too much. With the Air Ride I'm able to adjust it for normal driving by raising it up and when I'm cruising nice and slow I can bring it down low.

But there is a noticeable difference in handling. With the stock springs the car would sway heavily when cornering. With the Air Ride I've stiffened the adjustment on the shocks both front and rear and the now the car stays fairly flat during hard cornering. Very much improved in my opinion!

Johnny

[JT_67Tempest]

did you have any clearance problems with the driveline and the tunnel?

I have not had any clearance issues with the driveline and/or tunnel. Since the Air Ride setup I purchased is especially set up for the A-Body, I think all these issues have been worked through.

Johnny

[JT_67Tempest]

Did you use the cool ride on the rear? Been looking at that kit for my 67 Lemans Convertible.

Yes, I am using the Cool Ride in the rear and it works extremely well. My future plans are to upgrade to the Air Ride rear links and rear sway bar to enhance the suspension even more.

Johnny

[BritishGreen68]

love it!

[gionni]

looks really hot!! ;-)