Has anyone ever put air bag suspension on a thirdgen? Does anyone make a kit, or parts to do it? I would like to drop my car really low, but raise it up for the highway.

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1983 Firebird
TH700R4 Auto
Small Block 400
LG4 ECM, Intake, Carb, Distributor, etc.
Soon to be non-computer.
Clarion Head Unit 45X4
2 Pioneer 400W 12" Subs
Third Gen Performance
"A four cylinder is half an engine."

 

i run them on my drag car. i use around 25 pounds in the right and 5 or 10 in the left. air lift makes the ones i have.

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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond 538 F&AM

 

I think he's talking about a total air bag system that replaces the factory springs.

No. There is no kits available for such a thing.

The air bags that ede and I use fit inside the rear springs. They're more of an overload spring. You pump them up to change the ride height but you still need regular coil springs.

I put 15 psi in the passenger side and 5 psi in the drivers side. This helps keep the passenger tire from coming off the ground. When properly tuned you can even get an open diff to hook up like a posi.

As for using them to drop the car's frame onto the ground, they won't work. You'll need to design and build your own system to do that. The f-body chassis design isn't designed properly to be able to do it anyway. The floor is too low or the rear axle sits up too high depending on how you look at it..

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What want to be able to do is have my car sit as low as possible with 17 or 18 inch wheels, bt be able to raise it up to stock height if possible so i can actually drive it. I found a set of strut/airbag combinations which are sold by AIM. The downside is they are $499 a pair. The yalso make shock/airbag combinations but they are just as expensive. I was wondering what would happen if I replaced the front springs with Firestone bellow style airbags and used the air shocks like you and ede run in the back. I dont know alot about suspension, so would that work at all for what I want? BTW, i want stiff suspension to stick to the ground good.

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1983 Firebird
TH700R4 Auto
Small Block 400
LG4 ECM, Intake, Carb, Distributor, etc.
Soon to be non-computer.
Clarion Head Unit 45X4
2 Pioneer 400W 12" Subs
Third Gen Performance
"A four cylinder is half an engine."

 

We don't use air shocks in the rear. I have drag shocks. We use air bags inside the rear springs from Airlift (Slamair). They're basically an overload air bag. If you throw too much stuff in the back of the car you just pump up the bags so it sits level again. Racers use them to help preload the suspension. It takes more force to compress an air bag than it does a coil spring so the tires will plant harder.

What you want to do isn't going to be cheap no mater how you plan it. Third gen suspension just isn't designed to be changed like that. There's too much steering and driveline geometry that will change.

 

I emailed a big airbag kit company and they didn't even get back to me.

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-Tas
'89 Formula WS-6

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