Rear Air Bags for Dummies

[66-PMD-GMC]

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

with the ls motors its very eassy to do with just swapping the cam, heads,intake,throttle body,and fuel injectors!

OK ... I give up. what is easy to do??

[mikey882]

Not to side track your thread PMD, but the ls motors were much more of a GM motor than they were just a Chevy.

The lt1/ls1 f-body cars were a big shift away from the typical smogger Chevy small block in every thing with a bowtie. I understand that the days of true buick/olds/pontiac torque monsters are long gone, 35 years, and the Chevy small block/big block duo was the true GM survivor.........but the GM small block of today has been used in so many different platforms and applications.......that its hard to say its purely a Chevy piece. I would go out on a limb and say that there are decades and decades of hard-core tricks from buick, olds, pontiac, and several others built into the GM-wide small block.

It may be a Chevy.......but somewhere in that new age "heartbeat"........screams Pontiac.


Just my thoughts.....
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[66-PMD-GMC]

Originally Posted by mikey882

Not to side track your thread PMD, but the ls motors were much more of a GM motor than they were just a Chevy.
It may be a Chevy.......but somewhere in that new age "heartbeat"........screams Pontiac.
Just my thoughts.....
Posted via Mobile Device

I respect your opinion and I even like the potential of the LS motors.
And they do have lot's of potential.
When I run out of Pontiac Iron I will probably start building LS motors.
In my case, I have been restoring Pontiac for about 35 years.
That being the case, I can walk out and pull a set of big valve, small valve, high compression or low compression heads out of storage to put on anything from a 58 Pontiac engine pulled from a 58 GMC to a 455 pulled from a Bonneville wagon.
I have new pistons, cams, bearings, rings and whatever I need to bolt together a Pontiac motor together in a weekend.
Not side tracking the thread either but I can build myself a 400-600 hp Pontiac engine for less than a grand. I have collected many many cores, parts etc.. etc.. over the decades. My wife says WAY too many.
I don't hate Chevy.. I really don't. I hate it when people put Chevy motors in Classic 79 and older Pontiacs and make stupid excuses why they did it. I am a Pontiac purist so there is no excuse that is a valid excuse for that in my book.

The 63 that i am building for my wife is a Chevy. I toyed with the idea of an LS motor and I even have a VORTEC 350 that I could use.
But a Pontiac would be a bolt in, no modifications necessary and the vortec and LS would mean $$$$$ in mods. So for me it is more expensive to do anything but a Pontiac.
Since today is mama's day... no workie on the trucks or cars...

[firedog]

the advantage to airbags is the adjustable height and no payload loss . I dont know that i would go thru the exspense of installing air bags only on the rear of my truck on only a shrader valve for a truck to just get groceries in and not use as a "lowrider". You might want to consider just using a lowered spring that would not alter your payload but would do the same as the airbag and maintain a constant height. no air leaks, no airlines to rub holes in no worries if you need to air up the bags cuz it been sitting for a few weeks. Airbags in place of your springs isnt like installing air shocks on the back of a early 70s monte carlo. I might be out of place here but just my opinion, i do by the way own a bagged truck and love the ride but i think if i was doing it only for the ride it wouldnt be worth the exspense.

[66-PMD-GMC]

Originally Posted by firedog

I dont know that i would go thru the exspense of installing air bags only on the rear of my truck on only a shrader valve for a truck to just get groceries in and not use as a "lowrider".......... but i think if i was doing it only for the ride it wouldnt be worth the exspense.

I appreciate your input..
It all helps, thanks.
The truck I am building for the wife is her "toy", much more than a grocery getter by a long shot.
I used the grocery term because the first thing the first few people I talked to about the project mentioned was load capacity of the truck.
The truck is not going to be used as a "truck" was the point I was trying to make.
The aim here is to build a 1963 Chevrolet pick-up with a fixed ride height that rides like a Cadillac and handle like a Firebird.
The project may or may not work out but I have the chance to spend time designing and building a vehicle with my favorite person on the planet.
My lovely young bride.
I think that is worth whatever it costs to do it.
I will be using the schraders during the build and up to the point of getting this rig on the road. The "air" system will get some kind of control before it hits the pavement for good.
I am playing with a "control" system now. Since I couldn't find anything that wasn't over the top I decided to try and build it myself.
I am learning along the way and fitting this in with the million other things I got going on at the same time...

[LostMy65]

On the search now, myself.