A Body on Air - RideTech.com

Two versions of air ride for
the 1964-72 Chevelle
by Doc Frohmader
At one time I held an unofficial land
speed record. I was young and foolish,
there was a LOT less traffic, and I was
under the influence of testosterone poisoning. Nevertheless, in a borrowed 1964
Chevelle SS convertible powered by a 327, I
managed to hold my foot down longest and
achieve 110 mph. The road (un-named to
protect the innocent) was a beautiful stretch
of two-lane, flat as a board, straight as an
arrow, miles and miles long, through rural
country. You could wait hours between cars.
The biggest town (at one end of the road)
had a bar, a junk yard, and two churches
along with six houses. On a clear day you
could see for miles. My heart still hammers
a bit when I think about it. (Later I would be
clocked at 155 passing a well-concealed
State Patrol officer who had heard of our
escapades and set his mind on law enforcement - ending my amateur land speed
career.)
I loved that car and several other
early SS Chevelles I would play with. Remember these were NEW when I was
running wild. I ran them on the street, at the
drag strip, and even on dirt tracks. To say
they were and are a staple of American
performance and cornerstone of the American Dream is an understatement of epic
proportion. I still own a ‘70 SS big block
Chevelle.
A-Body
A-Body
on
on Air
Air
The Air Ride ShockWave front
suspension kit for one side. It is not
only a step up in performance and
handling, but the complication was
worked out in the engineering.
A less expensive wayto go and still
have the joy of air suspension is the
CoolRide kit. It’s a little more of a job
to install but very effective.
With the brakes and
spindles out of the way,
you want to mark out
the area to be trimmed
from the spring tower.
Air springs have a larger
diameter and need the
clearance.
Still, as everyone who’s owned and
loved vintage cars will attest, there are
always ways to enhance performance and
personalize any car. (Those of you who are
into points-perfect restos may want to stick
your fingers in your ears and loudly sing the
Barney theme while I continue.) More
power, better brakes, and suspension upgrades top my list.
Recognizing this, Air Ride Technologies’ Bret Voelkel dug up a pretty nice
Chevelle and set out to create both
CoolRide (conventional air spring/shock
setup) and ShockWave (a billet aluminum
air spring and 12-way adjustable race shock
combination unit) kits to fit the front of 196472 A-body GM cars. (Actually, Bret tried to
buy my Chevelle and when that didn’t work I
think he set out to build a better one just to
one-up me.) Although I’ve found ARTs
components and kits to be well designed,
skillfully fabricated, and functionally effective, the ART guys put a little extra into the
A-body kits - even including a new tube
lower A-arm in the ShockWave kit.
The lip around the
inside is also trimmed
for clearance as is the
spring location lip up
inside. Rodney takes
his time and makes it
look professional.
Check clearance with
the spring.
This kit uses both upper and lower stock A-arms. It’s
a good time to consider any bushing or ball-joint
replacement so you don’t double your work and get
the most from your investment.
To give you an idea of what these kits
look like, how to install them, and help you
decide which will suit you best, I went to
Jasper and worked with Rodney (Welding
Rod) Mason to install and photo both.
CoolRide Version
This kit contains a standard Firestone
air spring selected from some 700 variations
to suit the weight, suspension type, weight
distribution, and A-arm mechanical advantage to do the best job on these cars. The
original A-arms are used with an adapter
plate to support and locate the bottom
spring mount, At the top, a spacer and
mount adapter bolts between the spring and
the spring tower, using the original shock
mount location. For that reason, a shock
mount is required to relocate the shock from
inside the spring to behind the A-arm.
The shock mount is welded to the
frame and bolted to the A-arm. As is the
case with any suspension fabrication, whenever you have welding to do, make sure
either (A) you have the welding skills to
make sure you have good penetration, no
voids, and a proper joint or (B) you have
someone do it who has those skills. It also
requires a welding machine with sufficient
capacity to do the job. Use your head and
stay healthy.
The new springs are shorter but also
wider than the original GM parts. Because
of this, and the absolute need to allow
clearance for moving parts, there is a modification required to the original spring tower.
You’ll have to mark out and cut away a
portion of the outer lip of the spring tower.
This will not cause a problem with weakening the frame, but it will cause the resto
guys to get nervous. In reality, this is not a
conversion for those who intend to do a
points-perfect resto.
The air spring is bolted to the upper mount, air fitting
installed, and the mounting stud threaded in.
Lift the assembly up into the spring tower, pushing the
mount stud through the old shock mount hole, and
bolt it in place.
The lower mount plate fits down into the lower A-arm
but can be moved a bit. Center the holes in the plate
and arm used for the sway bar for correct location.
Then, drill the two 3/8 holes in the arm and bolt it
together.
On the other hand, if you do a neat
job of it, clean up the cut edges and repair
the paint, this is not something that looks
nasty or amateurish. Like most things we
do when playing with our toys, the end
quality is a direct result of quality work and
patience.
The lower spring adapter is a bolt-on,
but it requires drilling two holes. The plates
were designed to fit the shape and contour
of the GM arms and also to make location
easy. You’ll find the plates fall into place
fairly well. All you really need to do is align
the hole for the sway bar in the A-arm with
the hole in the plate, clamp the plates to
keep them tight while drilling, and punch the
two holes.
Probably the trickiest part of this
operation is removing the original springs.
They are long, you can’t get them out without a spring compressor, and if you aren’t
using your head you could get seriously
hurt. I suggest that you use a QUALITY
spring compressor (cheap junk can kill). I
also suggest you use a length of 5/16 to 3/8
chain to wrap around the spring and through
the lower A-arm, bolted to capture the spring
and prevent it from flying if something goes
wrong. As usual, a good floor jack and jack
stands MUST be used to get the car up
enough to work on safely.
Lift the A-arm up until it contacts the bottom of the
spring assembly and again check for clearance
problems.
The competed upgrade uses the
stock brakes (drum or disc), sway bar, Aarms, and spindles. From that perspective
the installation is straight-forward and does
not require any additional expenditure to get
what you want. However, I will recommend
that you repair or replace any of the stock
components such as ball joints, bushings,
etc. to avoid doubling your work and to get
the best from your new air suspension.
Good sources for replacements include
MOOG for stock replacements and PST for
high-performance rebuild kits. As long as it’s
apart...
The CoolRide ride quality is excellent,
the handling is smooth, and the car quite
stable. By adjusting air pressure you can
alter ride height quite a bit, getting the
stance just the way you want it for maximum
impact. In addition, the air pressure will
alter the stiffness of the suspension, so you
can determine what is optimum pressure for
ride, performance handling, or a combination that works best for you.
The spring is bolted
to the plate from the
bottom like this. It
uses a single 3/8
bolt, but it keeps the
spring from walking
side to side.
The original type sway bar mount is used. You may
have to shorten the spacer tube slightly on some
sway bars kits because of the extra thickness
including the mounting plate.
Halfway between
top and bottom on
that center line,
mark and drill the 1/
2 inch hole for the
lower shock mount
bolt. Install the
mount but just snug
it up for now.
The shock location is important but relatively simple
taken in steps. First, mark a line on the A-arm that is
aligned on the center of the brake hose mount. The
A-arm should be at about ride height.
ShockWave Version
The Air Ride ShockWaves are yet
another step up. Because the air spring and
shock are in the same compact unit, you will
not have to reposition the shock mount and
weld the brackets. The shocks are billet
aluminum race shocks fabricated by QA-1
and include a 12-way adjustable rate feature. This is NOT for looks, nor does it have
the limited function of some of the historic
adjustable shocks, but is a real tool that
works very well. Until you try it out, you will
never know just how much accurate shock
rate adjustment can alter the character of
the ride and handling.
The kit includes a new tubular lower
A-arm that cleans up the look, eliminates
bulk and unnecessary spring mount gear.
The combination is much lighter than the
original GM setup and that means less unsprung weight. In turn, less un-sprung
weight translates into a more nimble and
responsive suspension. Again, the stock
brakes, sway bar, and spindle or any aftermarket parts that fit stock locations are
compatible with the ShockWave upgrade.
Where the two kits are alike is the
process for tear-down and the required
modification to the spring tower for spring
clearance. The ShockWave and CoolRide
units are about the same diameter, so the
metal removed is identical. In both cases,
you should always check to make sure you
have clearance at all ride heights and wheel
positions.
With the A-arm at ride height (typically level side to
side), and the shock at midway in its travel (Rodney
has a dead shock he works with but you can check
the shock and use a ruler) he measures the
difference between the shock mount height and the
shock eye.
The mount is sawed
off to get the right
height. Measure
twice, cut once!
As you can see, the
first cut was a little
long. A pre-fit will tell
that and allow you to
do a final trim-cut.
When the right height
is established, the
mount is bolted to the
shock and the
assembly held down
on the frame rail to
make sure it is not
bound. Then, tack
weld the mount, step
back, and make sure
there’s no interference.
Then remove the
shock and weld the
mount solid.
The completed
installation - with
drum brakes, yet! but as you can see
all the stock parts
still fit like they’re
supposed to.
Back down to the
bare bones again,
but to do the
ShockWave
installation the lower
A-arm is also
removed by pulling
the two large bolts
on either side.
I find that the ShockWaves tend to be
a more sophisticated version of air ride. I
think you’ll find they will improve handling
noticeably. The adjustability is excellent and
fully functional, so if you are serious about
ride and handling you can really dial this
gear in and satisfy that itch. The units are
re-buildable and repairable should they ever
be damaged. This includes the shocks that,
like all quality race shocks, are designed for
modification, recalibration, and rebuilding.
Common Points
In both cases, you’ll need hardware
to power and control the air suspension. On
The ShockWave unit,
ready to go. The air
fitting and lower
mount donut are on
and the air line
inserted before the
unit is installed.
the simple side, you can opt for a basic
compressor, a small air storage tank, a
single (dual action) analogue gauge, and
two manual switches. From there you can
add a bewildering array of options to tailor
the system to do what you want.
Additional or bigger compressors will
allow faster and more repeated adjustment
to the ride height. That all makes sense,
because the amount of air available limits
the rate of change. The same goes for
additional or larger air storage. The more
you have the more often you can adjust the
pressure up and down.
Rodney slips the
ShockWave unit
up from the bottom
and adds the
upper urethane
donut, washer,
and nut. After
tightening, he’ll
add a lock nut.
Now you can install
the new tube A-arm.
It fits into the same
location and even
uses the original
hardware. It will be
snug, so don’t lose
patience.
Like the rest of the
parts, the new Aarm attaches using
the original ball
joint.
The ShockWave
attaches to the A-arm
with the long bolt
included. As you can
see, the arm is made
specifically for this
application.
The smaller the air pump and storage
the longer you may have to wait. However,
if you don’t plan to do a lot of playing
around, or if you can wait a couple of minutes for things to pump up again, this will
not be a major concern. All my air ride
equipped vehicles use the standard pump
and single tank.
The size of the valves and lines alter
the SPEED of altitude adjustment. More air
can flow through larger lines and valves at
the same pressure. So when dropping or
raising the car if the lines are bigger more
air can flow in or out and speed increases.
Keep in mind that this typically means you
will require a lot bigger pump and storage to
support the increased flow. ART has the
standard gear up to BigRed massive units
but because I’m not into bouncing contests,
I’ve stuck with standard 1/4 inch line and
valving.
Gauges are available in analogue
black or white face. A digital (fabricated
specially for ART by Dakota Digital) gauge
unit is also available. I’ve used both and
like them both. In one truck I have a Dakota
Digital dash and the digital air ride controls
are a perfect match. In another project, I
used AutoMeter white-faced Phantom
gauges and the white-faced analogues
match quite well. It’s a matter of taste.
The A-arm is designed to accept the
original sway bar mount as well.
Pretty slick, heh?
You can almost
see how much
lighter and more
responsive this kit
makes the A-body
suspension.
Controls are either manual or solenoid operated RidePro units. The manual
switches work well, but you’ll find a little
extra bulk in lines running to them and there
is a little more seepage common to them
than the solenoids. After sitting for a few
days you will have to add air. The RidePro
setup uses micro-switches and 1/8 inch
lines to the control unit, reducing the bulk.
The solenoids and pressure senders can be
located anywhere, so you can tuck them out
of the way. All said, I prefer the RidePro
units because I like the way they operate.
In both cases, proper installation is
essential for long, satisfying service. All
lines must be secured tightly and kept from
moving parts. You don’t want lines flopping
around or vibrating. Avoid placing lines and
controls where they can be damaged. Also,
proper bump stops, limiting the downward
travel to where if a catastrophic failure
should happen (an accident?, road debris?)
the car won’t drop to the ground and hang
up.
So there you have it. A lot of options
mean a lot of choices to make. I know I can
trust you to do what makes you happy.
Enjoy the ride and take care of those precious Chevelles.
A typical RidePro
solenoid-operated
style support
package. Tank,
pump, solenoids,
lines, fittings, and two
dual-dial gauges with
micro-switches are
needed and are now
the most common
selection for a fourwheel system.
Want basic? A pump,
tank, lines, fittings, and
single manual gauge
would do it. This
provides operation for
front only and does not
isolate side to side.
The digital gauge unit is made by
Dakota digital, so it will be a
match to their other products.
One gauge shows both fronts,
then switches to both rears by
pressing the small stud at the
lower right on the gauge
housing.
Prefer analogue? Air
Ride offers both white
and black-faced
gauges with dual
needles so one gauge
shows both sides
simultaneously.