I am kind of new to the suspension thing, but I wanted to put them in the rear my Chevelle. What is a good brand to use? I want high quality Air Shocks so I don't have to fill them up all the way to get my desired higth but have a bad ride. What hace you guys used or would reccomend.

While my car had air shocks on when I first bought it, they are not supposed to be a good idea - apparently prone to breaking the contact point at the upper shock mount location.

I would use the air bags in the coils instead, but not sure of the "look" you are seeking.

I also had HIJACKER air shocks in my chevelle years ago. It looked cool but road like a old truck over every bump.I replace them with old style coil over shocks the same. I have air bags now for about 10 years. They seam to work the best for me.

As another former user of "Hijackers", I agree with above. They can cause a stiff ride, lost traction and possible damage to the shock mounts. Go with airbags.

Are air bags adjustable? How much would a good pair cost me?

Yeah, they're adjustable. I just bought and installed mine. $67 from Summit

Thanks guys. I Looks like you saved me alot of trouble.

As another former user of "Hijackers", I agree with above. They can cause a stiff ride, lost traction and possible damage to the shock mounts. Go with airbags.


I took the body off the el camino I bought to replace the frame, the guy I got it from had used the air shock a lot to haul his motorcycles, beside driving the elco into a pole at some high speed, the carring of the motorcycles cause the air shocks to do most of the suspension work and the mounting point for the shocks were torn away, so when I was done with the frame I made it a priority to put the air lift in the springs of the new frame to put any load where it belongs along the spring supports, I have not changed out the shocks yet but it seems the front shocks are more of a priority then the rears. Just have too many priorities right know like cutting the windshild I just purchased for the broken chopped down windshield. Still intrested in the favorate choice of shocks for this proceedure for my 72 elco. Ed ke6bnl

Air shocks were just meant to level a sensible load. Overloading and compensating with the gas shocks will eventually tear the mounting points out. Raising the rear end of a car above stock levels just kills ride and handling. Wheel hop can become a real problem also if you are running much horsepower. Our '69 el Camino still has the valve stem and hard piping on the frame. We've found that KYB gas shocks do a good job at a reasonable price. They don't raise the vehicle but do control the bumps nicely.

OK, so what do you think I should go with? My 350 is right at about 400hp with posi. If I should not raise it above stock heighth, what can I do to make it work? Air bags with the right springs? Anything else?

The higher rear end just hurts your handling and CAN (not WILL) lead to wheel hop, all depends on how crazy you want to go.

Do what you want with the air bags and a good tire combo, see what happens.

Re: shocks, I use Bilstein and like them in conjunction with my Hotchkis setup, but the KYB's are also very popular here.

I don't want anything crazy I just want the back to be 3-4 inces higher than the back. It is stock height now, so I think it will be fine with a nice set of air bags. Thanks guys.