Van Steel

Well after a long time coming, our rear coilover kit is in the final stage of production. Hoping to debut them in Carlisle but giving you guys a sneak peek at them 1st. Pricing is still to be anounced. We are figuring in the $1200 range. I know you'll have a ton of ?'s so fire away. Just please read below 1st.

A little info
We are using QA1 Shocks and Hyperco Springs. We only use Hyperco springs b/c they are the most consistant springs on the market.

You can not buy the brackets seperately. The pic will show you that the bracket is welded to the arm but when the production piece are made, it will be all 1 piece. I have 5 sets of the style below.

You will have to drill out the upper shock mount to take a 1/2" bolt. Full instructions are being made up that explain that in detail along with reinforcing the upper mount. These are aftermarket parts on 30+ yr old cars so you may need to help it out a bit if you have a lot of rust. Other than that, this kit is a true bolt-in deal.

The upper part of the shock MAY touch the one of the tubs in the rear behind the seats. There is nothing you can do to prevent this. Some cars sit more to the left and some hit more to the right. Will it affect anything, NO.

You wil notice that the backing plate is cut in half. It's just b/c we needed room to weld when we first started out on this design (there were 2 previous designs). Stock backing plate will not have to be cut like this one.

We have fitted this kit on a couple of different cars in our area. A 67, 71 and an 80. All fit very similar.

fugawi

DUDE, your makin me hungry!!!!!

Van Steel

richscorvettes

Great to see this product offered. A few questions come to mind:

- It appears that the trailing arm is an off-set design. If so, does it provide the same ~2" of additional space to allow wider wheels with more backspacing?

- I know you mentioned that detailed instructions are being put together but can you give a general idea of the reinforcement for the upper shock mount? I take it that this is to be welded in place.

- Are the QA1's the adjustable type?

- What spring rate(s) is planned to be offered with the kit?

- Can you give us an idea of the improvements in handling and ride seen from your testing?

Best of luck with the new product. I hope to see it in Carlisle next week.

Rich

Pop Chevy

O-K, it's good that they fit and look great !Big question is , how well do they work ??Ride and handling. Also what spring rates are you offering ? I have a healthy 454 in a 64 Coupe.
Thanks, Pops

deanoshiro

Hello Dan,
Looks good, better than the lay down design I saw earlier in CF. What is the ride height length? The double adjustable QA1's should work great with this set up.

dso

freewayflyer

It looks great. But, I have one concern. The upper mounting appears to be the stock upper shock mount. Correct?

If so, is it strong enough to take the stress?

EDIT: I should learn to read. I just looked at the pretty pictures.

ratflinger

Any thoughts on a retrofit kit for those of us that have already purchased your offset TAs?

Tim_Ko

I thought I read somewhere that the corvette designers used the transverse leaf because it was lighter than coilovers. (Cheaper, yes - lighter ???) It seems to me that the coilovers would be a lot lighter than that massive 7 leaf spring. Can you comment on that?

Also, since the spring mount is not in the same location as the original spring (my eyeball says the moment arm is about half the distance), is the coil spring rate 2x the transverse spring rate.

I've never a graph of the corvette transverse leaf spring to see how it ramps up and how smooth it is. Can you comment on the comparison with the coil: (force vs inches of deflection). Can you post a curve?

How much height adjustment can you get out of it and how does it effect the spring rate? Do you just look at the curve (inches of deflection)?

One of my other cars is an 83 Porsche 928. It has coilovers on all four wheels. I drive it on and off with my 85 C4 with bilsteins. The porsche is just so noticably better than the C4 when your driving through a S turn on a bumpy road (hard left to a hard right or vice versa). And, where the C4 tires will bounce across a bumpy surface (spring can't react), you won't even notice the bumpy surface in the porsche.

I also have your offset trailing arms - a retro kit would be great.

Vince'82

what is included for the price ?
a pair of bare t/a and coilovers or an assembled (bearing/spindles) pair of t/a and coilovers ?

norvalwilhelm

I like the design and the location of the shock. I have been running that same design for quite a few years and have not had any issues with it. I did make a solid billet upper mount to replace the stock one and reinforce the frame in this location.
I run fairly soft springs 450 pounds, 10 inch and 5 inch travel shocks for 7 inches of wheel travel.
I think it is a good design and alot better then a previous one with laid down shocks.
Very nice

Van Steel

Thank you Rich.

These are of the same 2" offset t-arms that we cuurently offer. We just modified the back part of the arm to be laser cut with the bracket already installed.

The upper mount will be an "L" Shaped bracket that we recommend being welded in. A very minor job. If customer does not have the capabilities, we recommend taking to someone who can. Currently we have not re-inforced the upper mount and it has held up fine for 1500 miles but we will include it in the kit.

Yes the QA1's are adjustable. Double adjustable shocks will be offered as well.

Currently we have only installed this kit on SB cars. The spring rate we have been using are 500# springs. I have more calculating to do for the BB guys. Other spring rates will be available as not everyone likes the same type of ride. Some guys like soft springs and big bars and others vice versa. But we are basing our springs for now at 500# for SB cars. We just designed the kit more for the cruising guys who want some performance not the performance guys looking to get even more. BUT that can easily be changed by changing spring rates and stepping up to the double adjustable shocks rather than the single adjustable shocks.

The best way to descibe the handling is to say that the rear coilovers absorb dips in the road, at any speed, better than your traditional rear spring design. Think of motorcycles in motocross. They design their shocks to absorb the dips (also known as whoopty-doos) as best as they can to get through the section faster. Kind of the same concept here.

The great thing about coilovers is that you can custom taylor the ride to your liking. The coilovers provide endless tuning possibilites. We have MANY different options. For instance, we have:
*10 different spring rates
*12 different adjustments on the single adjustable shocks to make them stiffer or softer.
*576 different adjustments on the double adjustable shocks.

Van Steel

No retrofits for guys who already have our arms. The location of the brackets and hardware we provide need to be in a precise location. That is why these arms are laser cut.

We are working on a plan for guy to swap out what they currently have for the new set up. The details are being worked out.

Tim_Ko

Hello Norval, I read your older posts on your rear suspension design/fabrication/test and you mentioned that they bottomed out! And, I think you were using a 450# spring at that time. I never saw that you made any followup comments on that. That's why I mentioned above that the spring is located at approx half the distance from the original mounting location and it seems that you need more spring.

Van Steel

Stock leaf springs can range from 32#'s to 38#. These shocks are weigh 9# each and I'm going to say the arm is a pound or 2 more. I haven't weighed it yet against a standard offset t-arm to know for sure. I would venture to say that your looking at about a 10-16# weight reduction over stock.

The spring mount location is set in a tad bit more inboard than stock. This is b/c of the coils on the coilovers. We use a 9" spring rather than a 10" spring for the height adjustablitly and you should be able to get about 1.5-2" lower than stock. In the last pic posted(I know it's a little blury) you will notice that the spring is not at it's lowest point. There are threads there to adjust downward for lowered ride height.

Like you I noticed the same difference in the cars handling like I mentioned above. The coilovers just absorb more of the dipps in the road. I don't have the capability to post diagrams. Just not that computer savy.

Van Steel

What you will get is the bare offset arms, coilovers, upper reinforcement bracket and all neccesary hardware included. If you want bearing assemblies installed, it's extra.

Van Steel

Thank you. I appreciate your comments.

sly vette

I have been waiting a long time for this!!!!!
I Really would like to go this route and if you're willing to take my freshley rebuilt TA's in trade + cash that will seal the deal!!!!

Van Steel

Please refer to post 13. We are working it out.

sly vette

I seen it...That is what made all my blood run into my lower anterior region

Keep in mind how difficult it is to remove the spindles to access all that pretty new e-brake hardware.
Thank you and I will wait in anticipation for the final details.