For What Its Worth

Coil Over Spring kit for the front end

My car has been riding well with all the mods added to the suspension.  The only picky point I had was the stock style shocks.   Choice of shocks is very limited for the front end on these cars and it would be nice to have a much better shock.   An opportunity came to purchase a very lightly used set of QA1 shocks and springs and I took it.

I believe the kit I have is the 6267COK-SA kit sold by CPP, Classic Performance Products for the 1st and 2nd gen Chevy IIs.   The spring is designed to fit in the stock upper spring bucket.  The notes I found on Steve's Nova Site shows the spring has a 325 pound rate.    The upper mount has 2 U shaped plates that replace the stock spring mounts. 

The shock itself is a Single Adjustable QA1 shock.  Single adjustable means the adjusting valve on the bottom adjusts the firmness of the shock in both up and down directions.  A double adjustable shock has 2 adjusting valves one for the up and one for the down motion.    QA1 reports there are 18 adjustments.   I could turn 12 clicks easily by hand on these.  I set them to the seventh from the bottom position for a street ride.  Since the Chevy II is such a light car and I don't intend to do intense road course racing this setting is probably very close to what I need. 

The car height is adjustable by turning the adjusting nuts on the bottom.  Don't forget the special wrenches for the adjusting nuts if you decide to add Coil Over shocks.  The wrenches don't usually come with the kits.    Threads appear to be 8 threads per inch.   

The set I bought had the upper round end replaced with a bayonet or "stud" end so it would work with the stock shock towers.   QA1 number for the stud is SS110SDM. The previous owner had gone to the extra expense of getting the end adapters.   I like it that way so I left it.  I did not need to use the round upper mounts that came with the kit, the stock shock towers were fine.

A  few tips on the install.  This is not a detailed step by step list.

              

How do I like the result.  I like the ride very much.  The spring rate fits the car well.   If I want to change the ride of the shocks or car height, it is a simple adjustment. 

Some pics of the installation.

Lower Bushing Replacement

The lower bushing on one of my shocks had to be replaced.   The shock kept overcoming the snap ring and slid sideways on the shaft.  This caused front end vibration.  In examining the problem the bushing had a soft spot on one side or air pocket.  This added a side load stress on the connection and caused the problem.   

I ordered new bushings from QA1.  No problems with the new bushings, but the installation was a small puzzle.

 The bushings are fairly stiff, so pushing it in by hand was not an option.  A vice had to be used.  I got the taper on the end of the bushing just lined up with the hole and used a vice to squeeze it in.  Make absolutely sure it is started all the way around before adding much pressure.   It slid in, the center of the bushing was stiff enough not to collapse.   I then used a large socket on the side of the shock to let the bushing come the rest of the way through.    This mimics the way QA1 support said they do it.  They have something that looks like a small piston ring compressor to compress the bushing and use a press to push it into place.  

Created Sept 2011

Happy Motoring, VHubbard Last update Dec 2013

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