66 Chevelle with QA1 coil overs??'s
 

Hello all,

I have installed a set of QA1 coil overs on my 66 Chevelle front and rear. It sits exactly like I like, and the same as many others I have seen. I am having a few issues though and hope for some guidance.

The rears are the problem. There are 150# springs installed on the shocks. When driving down the road, if I hit a bump or even a good dip the rear bottoms out completely. As it sits there is very little travel in the shock.

I adjusted the spring up the shock and raised the car an inch or so. Not bad looking stance wise. And while it did provide more travel, it still doesn't appear to be enough.

Would heavier rated springs help? What I am doing wrong here? I have seen many a Chevelle sitting just as this one is and I can't imagine all these people are driving like that with the car completely bottoming out.

I did send an email to QA1, but being a holiday weekend I don't expect an answer form them for a day or so.

Any thoughts on my dilemma?

The attached picture is before I raised it an inch.

Thanks,
Glenn

1. What is it bottoming out on? Bumpstops or the shock?
2. What length coilover are you using?

150 lb spring sounds light.

First off, thanks for offering help. There are no marks on the bump stops or the floor. It looks to me like there isn't enough travel in the coil over. It has been suggested to me that I need longer and adjustable mounts that go on the rear for the coil over to hang lower.

Something along the line of these by Alston:

https://www.cachassisworks.com/site_...using_PRKR.jpg

I priced just the brackets, and they want $700 plus for just the brackets. I gotta believe that someone makes something less expensive than that. Alston products are top notch for sure, but I am having a hard time swallowing $700 for adjustable brackets personally.

I can't be the only one having this issue with a lowered A body. How do you mount them on your car? I see where you have your own lower bracket as well, but it looks to be part of the bigger kit and not something I can order separately

The attached picture is how mine mount now. I also agree that the 150# sounds too light, but that is what was in the car when I acquired it.


Thanks,
Glenn

Basic spring rates for coil-overs on your car would be 450lb small block,550lb big block for street/cruise front
and 225lb springs on the rear.

Craig

I'm with Bret. 150 sounds soft. Our baseline spring is a 12" 175#. Contact QA-1 and give them these tow measurements taken while the suspension is under static load.
- Eye-to-eye measurement of the shock
- Spring length

With that info they should be able to figure out how far off your spring rate is.

I'm curious what the outcome was. I am looking at QA1 or similar coil overs for my 64 but was concerned with the shocks bottoming as I want my car to sit low. I noticed most manufactures don't seem to offer adjustable lower mounts and was wondering if I need to order a shorter coil over to start. I can't seem to find extended and collapsed measurements for QA1 or Ridetech.

Craig's right on the Spring rate. Your 150#s are too soft

Generally if you are going to lower your car more than 2" you would use a different shock than if you were going with stock height to less than 2".

QA1 is kind of know for suggesting a softer spring rate that can sometimes be an issue.

The key is selecting the proper spring rate for your application!

We just released our own A-Body UMI rear coil over brackets that we couple with double adjustable viking shocks.

http://umiperformance.com/catalog/in...roducts_id=980

If you need any info or pricing please feel free to contact me.

Craig