Danny Wolfe

I am looking to replace the shocks on my car. I saw where QA1 makes a conversion kit for the STOCK chassis that will bolt right on. The ride height is adjustable with a progressive spring to match the front weight of the car. However there is NO kit for the rear, but they do have a QA1 shock for the rear of the car that has adjustments for the ride only.....stiff ride or soft. The conversion kits for the front have that as well. I NEED YOUR INPUT. IS THIS A GOOD THING, OR DO I NEED TO JUST FIND A DELCO SHOCK??? Any and all of your input is greatly appreciated!

midyearvette

i would leave the stock coils in the front and go with the qa1's they are made by carrera and a very good choice both front and rear. the adjustments are a snap to use and i replaced the bilsteins i had on all four corners with them. the bilsteins replaced the worn out f 41's that came as original, the qa1's have a re-bound better than bilstein or stock delco...pricey though......jmho

Danny Wolfe

Is the ride height adjustable with the ones that you are referring to?

midyearvette

no to do that you have to use the coil overs but i dont know what mods you have to do to your control arms for them to fit if any,,,,,,good luck, all i can say is i like the qa1s much better than the bilsteins.....

Scott333

Do you have a link to the QA1 conversion kit for a stock chassis? I am thinking about replacing the factory/stock suspension on a '67 coupe (327/350 with A/C) with a "stock" F41 suspension, maybe ordered direct from Eaton Springs, just to be sure it's correct. Not for NCRS purposes, I'm just thinking it would be nice to have it "right" according to the original suspension engineering/design specs.

It is my understanding that the standard small-block suspension had a different front spring/spring rate for A/C equipped cars, but I don't know if there is a different front spring (or different spring rate) for an F41 suspension on a car with A/C.

I have read that a lot of people here seem to like the Bilsteins, others the factory AC Delco, and others the QA1's, so I'm interested in learning more and reading opinions about all of them too.

JohnZ

F-41 was only available with the L-71 (427/435hp) or the L-88 in 1967. All small-blocks used the same front spring (#3851100) whether they had A/C or not.

Scott333

Hi John,

I thought I had read somewhere that the front springs for A/C cars had a higher spring-rate, but I couldn't remember where. I checked Noland Adams' book and didn't find anything, then I remembered the "1967 Corvette Specifications Restoration Package" I ordered from GM's toll free number. I found the info on BarryK's website (I think...), called GM, said I had heard that they would prepare a package of some kind for any year Corvette at no charge, etc. They put me on hold, then came back on the line, asked what year the car was, and said no problem, you'll have it in a couple of weeks. Two days later it was delivered by Fed-Ex, no expense spared...

Counting the cover (and the front and back of each page seperately), on page 9 of the "1967 Corvette Specifications" manual it says:


________________________________________ ___________________

Air Conditioning Equipment

EQUIPMENT (used in addition to or in place of base equipment)

CHASSIS
Front and Rear Springs --------------------------- Heavy Duty
Rear Axle Ratio - Refer to Power Trains Section

POWER TRAINS
Fan Blade --------------------------------------- 5 blade
Crankshaft Pulley -------------------------------- Dual
Water Pump & Fan Pulley ------------------------- Dual
Compressor & Crankshaft Belt --------------------- One*
Generator ---------------------------------------- 61 Ampere

* Additional equipment: also brackets, supports, braces, hoses, etc.
as required for installation.

Heavy duty cooling equipment must be used on V-8 powered vehicles.
It is recommended that this equipment also be used on all other
vehicles for securing maximum air conditioning performance.

________________________________________ ___________________



Later, in Section III - Page 4, it says:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

Heavy Duty and Other Equipment [F41]


Special Purpose Front & Rear Suspension: Included special
springs, matching shock absorbers and special front & rear stabilizer
bars (available only when 435-hp engine is ordered)..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~


Do you know what it means (if anything) when they say "Heavy Duty" for front & rear springs under the "Air Conditioning Equipment" section?

Thanks,

Scott

JohnZ

Misinformation between the guys who put it together. If you look at the front spring chart at the bottom of page 2 in the Chassis section of the Engineering Specs handout, you'll see that small-blocks all used the same spring. This is also confirmed on the spring chart in UPC 3, sheet A4 in the '67 Assembly Manual. Front springs only changed on big-blocks.

Scott333

Thank you for the explanation and clarification, John