Gas shocks, ride height, spring rate & overall car weight.....How to get it all right?

I am at a crossroads. Have my 65 almost done and the last item I need to deal with are the springs & shocks. I have a full set of KYB gas-a-just shocks that will be going on so that part is set. I removed a set of non gas Monroe shocks that took hardly any effort to compress, and had zero rebound since they were not gas charged. The ride height on my car before I started was ok but not as low as I would have liked. Now, with these new KYB shocks, I assume it will increase due to the fact that they have rebound force. I have witnessed this many times on different cars. The only difference to think of with a Riviera is the overall weight of the car. Gas charged shocks requires some force to compress. Since the riv comes in at 4000LBS, that is more weight than most cars. Obvious question here is how much should I expect to see it rise with just the shock install?? If anyone has ever gone from a standard shock to a gas charged one on a first gen riv, your experience would be great.

Most would say if you don't like the ride height, get lowering springs. Well yes, that is a solution, however lowering springs have a higher spring rate. Couple that with the KYB, and now your ride quality is not exactly what it used to be.

I realize that the only way to find out how she will sit with stock springs is to put the shocks on, drive it a bit and see for myself. Just wanted to throw it out there in case anyone here has been through this in the past.

I suspect that you will see no significant difference in ride height between the 2 shocks.

While I agree that more force is needed to compress the gas shock, once on the car there will be sufficient force to allow the cars weight to rest on the springs, not the shock, while at rest, eliminating or minimizing any difference.

There will be far more dampening force upon movement,both compression and extension, but only while the shock is traveling, not at rest.

To change ride height you need to deal with spring length and strength.

That is my $0.02

I will monitor more learned responses.

(continued) Good luck with your project!

Marty

I have seen numerous cars come up quite a bit after a shock swap so if what you are saying is true, it will mostly be due to the 4000LB riv. I swapped shocks on a fox body mustang one time and it raised the car a full inch. I went from a non charged shock to a charged one. Now that car was only about 3000 lbs. That's an extra 250 lbs on every corner. If there is no real difference in ride height, it will be because of this!

I agree with Marty. I have a 63 and replaced the original shocks with Gabriel gas shocks and it did not change the ride height. It did make the ride more controlled with less rebound, but that was the only difference.