We installed the Shockwave/AirBar system on our g-28 Project 2nd gen

[Steve1968LS2]

Well, Like the title says.. normally I have to be all hush hush about these things till the article comes out but I can give you a couple of brief tidbits.

1. System was pretty easy to install. Only welding was to affix gussets to the axle tube for the upper links of the 4-link. Only cutting required was to take out part of the front frame to clear the bags. All the rest was a bolt in deal. We installed the complete shockwave front and rear system with thier Strong-Arm front upper and lower control arms and double adjustable shocks. Oh, and a hollow front sway bar that they sell with the system(not sure if the one that came off was hollow or not). Only thing we have to still have to work on is reworking the e-brake cable on the passengers side.


2. Car weighed 3510 before and about 3420 after so we knocked about 80lbs off the cars weight. About half of this was off the front. Weight was without driver.

3. Car rides much better now on the highway as measured by the ass-o-meter.

4. Car performed equal to if not slightly better than it did with the old system. The old system was tested with the Nitto NT01 R-compound tires and that is what was run on this system as well so we have an apples to apples comparo of the before and after. I don't have the exact final #'s since I have to calculate them but the 200ft skippad yielded about .94g's and the cone speed was about 46mph.

5. It is nice being able to dial in the ride height to get the right stance. Also nice to raise the car up for crappy roads and driveways.

6. I am now a believer.. We lost weight off the car, gained drivability and the ability to adjust ride heigth. We kept the same performance at the expense of some trunk space (for the tank and equipment). I think with some screwing around with shock settings we might be able to squeeze a bit more out of system, keep in mind we finished the install Wednesday morning and hit the track 2 hours later. We also might try installing the rear sway bar and testing "just to see" but the car felt good in the tests.

7. The guys from Air Ride (Bret and Rod) are great guys and were a pleasure to work with. As a bonus they are "car guys" that know thier stuff.

Epilog: Is this the perfect system for a pure track whore or race car? Probley not but for the 99% of the guys out there that want a good handling street car that can have fun on the track it is a hell of a system with a lot of flexability. Plus you can "lay frame" at the car show

Story should be out in a couple months with the exact performance data and a full review of the install and testing.. I just wanted to give you guys something since this has been a hot topic recently.