Hey Guys, Building a couple goodies here and finally recieved the QA1 coilovers from our better late than never friends in Washington (No, not DC). Anyway, the coilovers did not come with springs, but most are pretty reasonable on Ebay, and they're chrome. What I do not know though, is what weight springs do I need for these coilovers? I've been told these coilovers, QA1 Eagles, don't even require springs, but I think they do. See pics, and welcome all thoughts and suggestions. Details are: #1 - 32 Ford highboy, glass body, rootlieb front nose, LT-1, 4l60E #2 - 32 Pontiac 5 window, 350/350, all metal Thanks
The shocks in the pic QA1? they look like regular shocks to me. Coil over shocks have a threaded body for the lower seat/adjuster nuts and an upper retainor for the spring. I would imagine 300lbish since it is kinda short maybe + or - 50lbs
If you can weigh the front end, you can go on and measure the shock length at ride height and determine the correct spring rate to allow the shock to compress that much. Yes, they WILL need springs...unless you've got another method of holding the car up hidden in there somewhere.
Sorry, I put the straight shocks from a mustang II setup in place of the coilovers until they arrived. The eagles I received are adjustable, and I will pull out the spec sheet to see what weight capacity they have. Found a set of 200# on web but thought that was to light even for the LT1 car, but they are several sets of 400# on the bay for under $100. I appreciate the help.
Knowing the weight of your front end, desired suspension travel , ride ht and then calc travel to bump. Its common to allow a travel tolerance w/o hitting bump on a 1G bump or turn. I use a 125#/in on drag car front and a 325# on my son's corner carver. This is overly simplified and there are several vendors that can dial this in for you. I really like Afco.
Both charts recommended had good info. The speedway chart breaks it down easy. I am assuming that the stiffer the front spring, the stiffer the ride, and the harder pothole hits will transfer to the chassis? I guess if you're going to stay local driving, 100 miles or less, the softer spring may be more comfortable for the wifey. Thanks to all that replied.
For QA1s 250 to 275 should be about right for either car. You can adjust them for ride once thier installed.
You live in Florida and bought a heidts front end from washington? A complete front end comes with coilovers, just so you know for future reference. If your shocks say eagle or have a picture of an eagle they are aldan. QA1 will say QA1 on them. Both cars are going to be in the 350# range give or take. It depends on how tall of a spring you can get on those coil overs.
Dontlifttoshift, you're right. The coilovers are aldan eagles not QA1. Also, my frontends are not heidts but rather Welder Joes from Ebay. They were running a great deal at the time (I think $1200) and I wanted to convert my rides to better handling. They are nice kits, they just took forever to get me my coil overs. One set was aldan adjustables, and the other set is a generic adjustable. Both billet, both nice. They just didn't send me springs. As for springs, I found a 275# set on ebay for $50 and am going to try them on the highboy first, then if I don't like the ride, I will go to a higher weight capacity on the next set.
it's for race cars, but man there is a ton of good info here. http://www.thedirtforum.com/toolbox.htm Later
55delray did you calulate the spring length? This is the other part of dialing your ride. In other words how much is a 275#/in. spring compressed at your desired ride height and what will be your near-bump stop compression at 1G. Since the spring isn't inside the tire movement, you also need to calc the leverage and angle of the spring. You could spend the $100 from somebody like an Afco and do it once w/ their guidance or maybe just get lucky. I hope you are lucky w/ the $50 "better to be lucky than good"....somebody's quote
I've looked at a couple of sites to figure the proper springs I need. One thing I didn't see mentioned is "usable remaining" shock stroke. Once your car is setting on the ground with driver and maybe passenger, how much remaining travel do you have before bottoming out? If you have 2 1/2" of travel left, you'll probably want a heavier spring that the exact same car with 4" of travel left. If you're like me with a stiff ride, if your shocks have a rubber bumper on the shaft like mine do, you can slide the rubber bumper down the shaft and drive around and see how far they get pushed up the shaft and how much remaining travel you have. I have #300 springs and after doing the calcs was heading for #225 springs. But after cheching how little travel I have and how much I have left, I'm afraid I'd be bottoming with the #225, So I'll be getting the #250.
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