Looking to swap out the shocks on my' 81 since appears still the original ones on the car. What do you guys feel is the best to put on?

From what I hear Bilstein's are supposed to be the best.

I put on KYB adjust a gas shocks back in 2001. I like the way they ride. The price was right back then too.
My car originally had a 9 leaf steel spring because it is a manual trans car. I switched over to a 7 leaf heavy duty spring and actually get compliments on how well the car rides.

Your car being an automatic should have the fiberglass leaf spring. You mentioned that your car seem to be riding low in the back. Shocks will not raise your ride height really unless they are air shocks. Sounds like your leaf spring may be loosing some of its strength.

What is the distance from the ground to the center of the wheel opening? Check all 4 corners on a level surface and let us know.

As for the adjustable strut rods for a driver I think its a waste of money. Unless your going to go road racing then yes.
How are the strut rod bushings? Are your strut rods straight not bent?

Sarge, doing my best inside of my garage I measured the following distance from the top of the innner fender to the ground:

I'm looking at a big box from Amazon that I'm assuming are two new KYB Gas-a-just's for the rear of mine.  (I'm going to order the two fronts as well).  I'll let you know how I like 'em after I get 'em installed in the next week or two.  I agree with Sarge, though: everything I've heard says Bilstein's are the best, just not a good choice for me due to the $$$!

That seems like the springs are sagging a bit. Those were close to the measurements back when I changed out the original springs. My measurements as of today are 28-3/4" all the way around. I replaced all the springs and bushings in 2001.

I'd say if your going to keep this car for a long time and your going to do a lot of cruising, take the time and money and go through the whole suspension. And make sure you find a shop that will take the time and effort into setting up the alignment properly. I found a lot of shops won't mess with the trailing arm shims. But a good shop will. Expect to pay around $250-$300 for a proper alignment after you redo the suspension.

Today I just had my car realigned because I put a new Borgeson Steering Box and they recommend adding 3-4 degrees of caster. Even though I had it done last back in '07 the alignment changed in the rear also. They had to redo the shims on the trailing arms. I knew the chamber would be slightly off due to me changing out the differential. The guy that did the alignment used to restore C2 and C3's. He say they should technically be done once a year. But at that price I'll go every few years myself. lol.

I replaced my old steel leaf spring with a fiberglass spring and my old worn out Monroe shocks with the KYB's and it made a huge difference. As you can see from my signature pics that was what my car looked like before.

|UPDATED|10/3/2012 1:24:26 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Sarge, to get more detailed......funny how we do that with our vettes, looking at the Service Manual and seeing the chart on Trim Heights I just checked all the measurements based on the manual and found the following:

I just got done doing the rear suspension on my 72. This included all the bushings as well as replacing the spring insulators for my original 9 leaf spring. I did the shocks as well but you must keep in mind that shocks do not hold the car up. They cushion the ride and keep the car from rolling up and down when traveling over bumps. There are many theory's on which shock to use. Truth in my opinion is any good shock will work very well if your not racing. I did put Bilsteins on the 72 with the rebuild but on the 74 I used gas Gabriels. They do a very nice job and you cant tell a difference between the ride on one from the other. The biggest difference will be the springs and bushings. Theres where you will see the greatest improvement. The 72 has the original springs front and rear. As I said earlier I did the insulators on the rear, I replaced all ball joints and rod ends as well as control arm bushings for the front. In the rear I replaced the trailing arms and bushings, Although you can just do the bushings in the arms, Replaced the Strut rods with adjustable rods. Will make alignment much easier for the tech (who in my case will be Rich tomorrow night!) Also Rear Spring Mounting Kit, Rear Spring Mount Bolts,
Upper & Lower Rear End Mount Cushions, Differential Carrier Bolt set. It made the suspension smooth and quiet. What a difference. My height ended at front 27.5 and the rear is 28 3/4.
Best of luck to you. If theres any information i can pass your way just ask.
Rodney

Got my KYB Gas-A-Just shocks installed the other night and drove it to work yesterday.  Me likey!    Good, crisp ride and the back end feels so much tighter going over big bumps.