Ok, here's a question for all the drag racers, what front shocks to you like?? QA1? Competition Engineering, generic Jegs/Summit or which? I have Koni's that are a pain to adjust, going to finish the front end upgrade on the racecar with lower control arms, get rid of the 30+ year old, and new springs, would like to figure out what are the best front end shocks to use, and how long they last, etc, your thoughts?
I put QA1-R front shocks on the 68 in place of the Koni shocks last spring, I wouldn't use anything else now. The adjusters are not that easy to get to and you have to clearance the stock lower control arms to get them to fit, but they work very well. I found them to work better in the 60' to 330' area than the other shocks did, my 60' was a bit more consistant but from there on it was night and day. I never even knew that I had the problem until I changed shocks and started adjusting, car really came around. I could dial the car in before making a time trial and be within .01 after the first pass I was closer than that, deadly consistant.
what 60' times are we talking about, in my opion unless you are going to be hooking up in the low 1.6 or faster and mid 11's or faster i would just use some good gas shocks, i use gas shocks and a airbag on the right rear and boxed lower control arms.
Shocks HI. Roberta we put a set of QA1s in my buddys car last year and ive been helping him with tuning the car i think these are one of the best shocks ive ever used i run the comps in my 67 and im going to change to the QA1s. the thing is im going to use the ones that have the coil spring right on them (part # HAL-RCGMPI3) I talk to QA1 they told me this set up is lighter than the stock coil spring and shock set up and you can also set up your ride hight with the turn of the spaner nut.Also it is much easyer to get at the adjuster with this set up like dennis said with there stock shock it is tough to get at the adjusters. the part # for your car is HAL-RCGMP12. THEY ARE IN THE NEW SUMMIT MAG. PAGE 206 hope this helped.
I found someone selling these on racingjunk.com at a good discount, name was Louis if I remember correctly. Parts are shipped direct from factory with good discounts from what Summit sells them for. He can sell any QA1 product, got mine in 2 days.
Dennis, did you have the "coilover" ft. shocks on the '68? John/Shayne, I believe that Bobb used the "coilovers" on his "big blue pig" & I don't believe that he was as impressed with them as you would think, maybe it was because of it being such a heavy car (Shayne) but maybe Bobb will see this and comment.
John you just had to say something didn't you :rant: > I love there shocks but I had nothing but trouble with those junk piece of **** conical coil spring I ended up putting my moroso springs back in and just useing the shock. Some of it could have been the weight of the car but they were compressed almost solid and would not transfer the car lifted not at all in the front. I called and talked to there tech people thinking that it might have been somthing I had done and the guy on the other side tells me they are really more of a pro street set-up and might not work in my application and that I should take the springs off and use the shocks only :af: :af: I explained to him who much I like spending $500. on a pair of shocks that don't do what they are advertised to do. He said he was sorry and they wished they could help me more. :af: :af: :af:. I have talked to someone else at PRI and they suggestedthat the springs may have been miss marked and that I could have had small blocks on it. I just don't want to spend the extra money to find out they don't work any better with big block springs.
Yea Jim I ended up putting the moroso spring back in and ran the shocks for the conical spring and shock combo without the conical spring. I was ticked because you can buy the QA-1 for less then 300 a pair for there standard stuff but it's near 500 with the conical spring. It was just a waste of my hard earned money. Hell it's just money they print more every day o No: .
QA1s Bob & Shane, well now that i hear this im going to call them and start asking all about these springs. my buddy runs them in a heavy 70 chevelle big block 10 inch tire car that runs 8.50s its 3600# he really liked them thats why i was going to try them.(now i might just leave in my beat springs and 10 year old comp shocks) my car 60 fts are in the 1.30 to 1.33 on a good track looking for that 1.29. well shane we just got them in for my buddys 70 gs its not heavy like you and bobs old car but ill try them on his car first then ill let everyone know how there working .P.S thanks john for spilling the beans LOL.
The 68 had moroso springs with the QA1-R front shocks, these are not the same as the standard QA1 shock, the valving is different. The old QA1 is still available but doesn't control the downward motion as well and may upset a harder leaving lower powered car after the initial leave. The QA1-R is more like an adjustable 90/10 that pulls easier than it pushes back in, past about 6 clicks tight the front would not come back down, feels like a 1320 foot wheelie. My car has gone 1.29 60' a few times but was generally a low 1.30 60' without a trans brake, the person that built that car knew what they were doing, I only tuned the car can't take credit for the build. Check with the guy on racingjunk for the QA1 products, I saved about $50 on my shocks from Summit prices.
