EXHAUSTIVE RESEARCH
December 1, 2022
THE AUTO BUILDER
Featured
WITH A BULLET
July 16, 2023
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: The Truck Norris HEMI Camshaft from Brian Tooley Racing
September 12, 2025
CIMTEX SUPER CAMEO: PART 9
After 1-1/2 years of preparing a rock-solid foundation for our Cimtex Rods-constructed ’56 Chevrolet Super Cameo pickup, the time finally came to hang sheetmetal, but not without experiencing a few major disappointments. “All I can say is, before you buy a truck cab or any kind of old car body, look before you leap,” commented Darrell Cimbanin of Cimtex Rods after picking up our ’56 Chevy big-?window cab from True Grit Sandblasting in Hutto, Texas. This cab was in worse condition than we originally thought. It’s easy to disguise what appears to be a good-looking truck cab with plastic filler and a nice paint job. Sometimes even the experts can be fooled.
Slippery Sedan
Greg Harris has been a car enthusiast for years and has built a number of muscle machines and classic trucks. He has had loads of fun with late-model cars, but he couldn’t shake the fact that he really had the yearning to build a street rod some day. His friends knew about his longtime goal, so when one of them found a partially completed early sedan for sale, he told Harris about the car. Harris went to take a look, and as it turned out, the car was a half-finished all-steel ’33 Ford two-door sedan powered by a 427 Chevy engine. He immediately knew he had to buy the sedan—it was just what he was looking for. He made a deal with Clark and Bridgett Short, the folks who started the project, and brought the ’33 home.
BLACK AND BLUE AND FAST ALL OVER
In the past, we’ve told you numerous stories about obsessed owners who spent years, in some cases decades, chasing down a particular car. Sometimes, people who aren’t quite that devoted still spend a lot of time looking for a particular model, or a car equipped with a certain options package. Other enthusiasts have broader tastes, and one of those enthusiasts is Kurt Klopping of Omaha, Nebraska. When we asked Klopping whether he had specifically been looking for a Camaro like the ’72 that he now owns, he responded, “Nah. If it’s cool, you own it.” Sounds fair enough to us, and to prove his point, Klopping noted that he also owns a ’55 Buick two-door special, a ’65 Dodge Coronet 500 and a ’65 Buick Skylark convertible.
Spotlighter
PUTTING THE “HAUL” BACK IN HAULER
Author
Bob McClurg
Story & Photography
When You Want to Use Your Street Truck as a Work Truck
The term “street truck” is sort of an oxymoron, because once you slam one of these light-duty trucks into the weeds, their hauling days—at least in the physical sense—are pretty much over. But sometimes you have to use your truck for what it was actually intended. What then?
Fresno, California’s McGaughys Suspension Parts, one of the performance aftermarket’s leading manufacturers of dropped-spindle suspension lowering kits for muscle cars and light-duty trucks, just released its new airbag spring helper kit for the 2002-’05 Dodge Ram 1500 series 2WD and 4WD half-ton regular and Quad Cab models. Applications for Ford and GM light-duty trucks and SUVs are also available from McGaugys.
“The main reason why we designed these kits was because there are so many ‘one size fits all’ airbag products out there on the market that leave it up to the installers to figure out where they are supposed to place the airbag, where they are supposed to drill the mounting holes and where they have to either weld or clamp on the airbag leaf spring mounting brackets,” commented company designer Steve McGaughy. “We wanted to manufacture a ‘specific fit’ application for a particular-series truck rather than guesstimating by releasing just another universal-fit kit.”
McGaughys uses Firestone airbags. A pair of 90psi Firestone tapered-sleeve airbags was used in the manufacture of the Dodge airbag spring helper kit (part No. 02-DODGE-AIR). “We also manufacture our own-design, 3/16-inch-thick steel, CNC-laser-formed and welded, black powdercoated mounting brackets and related hardware, which includes a Schrader valve and T-fitting and 18 feet of air line.”
More good news: Not only will McGaughys new Dodge Ram 1500-series airbag spring helper kit work with the company’s 2-/4.5-inch 2WD Dodge economy lowering kit, 2-/4.5-inch 2WD and 4WD Dodge deluxe lowering kit, or 2WD 4-/6-inch Dodge deluxe lowering kit, but it will also interface with any other manufacturers’ suspension drop kits for these trucks!
Priced at $289.95, FOB Fresno, these kits are also available through participating McGaughys Suspension Parts retailers. Installation is fairly simple, using common shop tools, a floor jack and jackstands. However, in order to make the installation go more quickly (and safely), it is highly recommended that the installer use a hydraulic lift. Follow along as Steve McGaughy shows you how easy it is to install one of the company’s airbag spring helper kits beneath this awesome-looking, 4-/6-inch deluxe dropped Dodge Ram 1500-series 2WD Quad Cab. TB
1. McGaughys Suspension Parts’ new airbag spring helper kit for the 2002-’05 2WD and 4WD Dodge Ram 1500-series regular and Quad Cab models will not only work with any McGaughys suspension drop kit, but it will also interface with any other manufacturers’ kits. McGaughys uses a pair of top-quality Firestone tapered airbags (90 psi) along with a pair of CNC laser-formed, welded and powdercoated upper and lower mounting brackets, along with all the necessary mounting bolts, 18 feet of air line and a T-fitting and Schrader valve assembly. The kit lists for $289.95, FOB Fresno, California.
2. Engineer Steve McGaughy begins by first removing the rear wheels and tires from this modified 2WD Dodge Ram 1500-series Quad Cab, which has already been equipped with a McGaughys 4-/6-inch deluxe drop kit.
3. Here’s a closer look at the Dodge’s 6-inch drop, clearly showing that the rear framerails have been C-notched, so hauling anything with substantial weight is a dicey proposition.
4. The first order of business is to bolt up the Firestone tapered-sleeve airbag to McGaughys spring mounting bracket. Note that these brackets feature an adjustment slot. A 3/8-inch bolt and a little Loctite are used to secure the airbag in place.
5-6. Next comes the installation of the upper airbag mounting bracket, which butts up to the existing McGaughys C-notch plate on the Dodge’s rear framerails. It is initially secured using a factory hole on the lower framerail with a 1/2-inch bolt.
7-8. With the bracket securely in place, our installer uses a 1/2-inch drill to bore a series of four holes in the frame. Then four 1/2-x3-1/2-inch bolts are used to final fit the bracket.
9. With that done, installer McGaughy uses a 21mm socket to remove the Dodge’s spring shackle plate and 21mm nuts.
AD INDEX
Auto Custom Carpets 95
Air Ride Technologies 67
Bill Mitchell Hardcore Racing 35
Borgeson 39
Bruce Horkey’s Wood & Parts 95
Bully Dog Cover 3
Competition Cams 41
Cool Craft 53
Custom Autosound 67
Detail Zone, The 89
DuPont Cover 2-3
Fat Man Fabrications 29
Gear Vendors 53
Goodmark Industries Cover 4
Highliner 96
Hypertech 22-23
Ididit 9
LMC Truck 45
Magna Charger 33
Pertronix 47
Quantum Power And Performance 69
RB’s Obsolete Automotive 35
Ron Francis Wiring 97
Street & Performance 89
Stroker Motor 97
Superchips 11
Tuckers Classic 87
Vintage Air 81
Watson’s Streetworks 83
Wescotts 96
Year One 63
Zex 31
10. The McGaughys airbag and spring mounting bracket are placed between the axle and the spring. At this juncture, you can adjust the Firestone tapered-sleeve airbag on the spring bracket for optimum effectiveness. 11-12. With that done, McGaughy reinstalls the spring shackle U-bolts and plate and final tightens the 22mm retaining nuts.13-14. Next comes the installation of the Firestone tapered-sleeve airbag to the upper bracket using a pair of 3/8-inch bolts.
ARTICLE SOURCES
McGaughys Suspension Parts
Dept. TB
5680 W. Barstow
Fresno, CA 93722
559/226-8196
www.mcgaughys.com
