Slow day today, so no paying work. I decided to jack up the Camaro and replace the old shocks in the back. These old Monroe air shocks have been under the car for 35 years, and were still working! The lines leaked down slowly, and over a couple months they would get down enough to require a refill.
I know some people don't like air shocks, but I installed these back in the '70's when I was racing the Camaro, and needed to be able to adjust the preload on the rear so the right rear could have more air and keep the car from twisting on launch.
I ran dual lines back then to be able to prelaod individually, but when I stopped racing the Camaro I switched to a single fill line. I decided to go back to individual fill lines with the new shocks, so I bought a dual fill kit.
Didn't take long to install the shocks; took longer to jack it up and remove the rear tires! Once I got everything installed and plumbed with new lines and fittings, I dropped it down and adjusted the ride height. I put about 15-20 lbs. more in the right rear, and it still sat level, so I figured I'd stick there.
Took it for a test drive, and it does help get traction to the ground much better than before, but here's the weird part....it actually handles much better through the curves too. I actually think the shocks being Tee'd together with a common line allowed the air to travel between shocks, so when the car was cornering and trying to lean it put pressure on one side, which moved air to the opposite side, which also caused the car to lean even more! By separating the lines it isolated this issue, which not only allows the car to stay level, but also aids in traction as it doesn't try to do the same thing when the left front comes up on launch.
Not sure why I didn't remember this from long ago, but I guess I wasn't cutting a lot of backroad corners thenm. Most of my driving was straight down the 1/4 mile.

 

That is interesting, and it makes total sense. The tires look awesome too btw.

 

Thanks ATM! It's supposed to turn really nice here tommorrow through thw eekend, so I'm planning to take a little trip this weekend with the Camaro. That will really test out the car and let me know how everything works. Might even get the street bike out for some quality time too!

 

I miss my motorcycle, I never really got to ride it though, I was in College at the time and all it did was sit. Someday when the kids are older and don't want to hang with their parents maybe I'll get another one.

 

Yeah,i guess if i quit looking at the stupid little pictues they show on the installation paper,and just installed mine i would have known that haha,the paper showed them coming out the sides,but mine do actually come out the back the same as yours.I wish you would have gotten yours a few months ago though so i could have read this before i sold the mufflers that came with mine,i figured they would be cheap so i sold them to buy some better mufflers for it.

 

Hey I'm workin' as fast as I can! They really are great pipes and mufflers. I did tack weld each joint, as I don't trust slip joints and clamps. I was going to buy those really high quality clamps, but decided at $9 each it would be better to weld the pipes.

 

Haha,your definitely workin alot faster than me,it's been 6 months since i bought my exhaust and still have'nt got it put on yet,i also forgot to mention that when i sold the mufflers i forgot to buy new ones so all my pipes are still laying in the trunk haha.Everytime i plan on buying the mufflers i find something else i need and buy it instead lol.

 

A beautiful day here today, so I took a long trip up the Columbia Gorge Scenic Hwy. today! Lots of fun windy roads, and plenty of cars sight seeing. Most were courteous and pulled over when I came up on them, but it's one lane each direction, so if nobody wants to go a little fastyer you're stick.
Bunch of bicycle riders that feel they own the road, and don't go in a single line, but rather 4 wide! Roosted them with smelly hi octane fuel smells, which it seemed they didn't appreciate.
Anyway, got home and the wife got her new camers figured out, so we took this video after it was wiped down and tucked back in the garage. Somehow she had to get my bald spot in there too. She thought that was pretty funny!

 

That sounds awesome! Very nice. thanks for posting a video.

 

Thanks ATM! It's actually a pretty mild cam, and runs fairly smooth when warm (like it was in this pic). When it's cold it sounds a lot more radical, but smooths out in a few minutes.