The Cal-look Lounge

I guess some are not that keen on giving out their secrets, but there is always some gentlemen out there :)


I could use some input on what to look for in a coil over. Total and collapsed length (of course depending on upper mount), lbs range, manufacturer to choose etc.


I have searched some, but just ordering from RLR or others are too easy..


Car is a 59 with soon to be ladder bar setup. 5-600hp turbo engine.

Hi!

I used Strange Coil Overs (as RLR does). Length depends on your Setup, just meassure eye to eye.
The spring rate also depends on your weight of your car at rear axle, I think i ended up at something around 400 lbs but this
is a Test+tune Thing.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Basti

Thanks, I guess the car is pretty heavy with an alu block, alu gearbox, big intercooler, turbo etc over the gearbox.

Mounting is not done yet, as the cage/rear section is not built.


I found the QA1 DD402 on Summit. I guess 3,875" is more than enough travel?

Age old question.. QA1s or Strange?  ::)

I would use strange...

Ok be Aware that the angle of the damper changes the spring rate a lot!

All the internet disagree with eachother regarding QA1 vs Strange :D


I know they work best straight up and down, but that is some what difficult on a ladder / swing car without having the upper mount really wide out, of bottom mount really far in..

Safe to say one needs more than 400lbs springs with the "normal" mounting angle?

KONI  ;D
/// M

Which series? The only one I see fitting is the 8211 series?

82121126 spa1
///Micke

I was tempted to just ignore this thread as that sort of comment irritates me so feel free to ignore my reply to this ;)

Basti gave you a good answer but it seems to me you are trying to sway it towards cheaper shocks rather than listen ::)

Asking random "internet experts & parrots" on various web pages/forums etc just gets a load of useless information from people that mainly never did anything in there lives except make shit up and pretend to be experts ::) >:(
What you need to do is work out how fast you want to go? then see who has actually done that and they try asking them?  
It probably doesn't matter what actual brand you use its how it is valved and that it is correct length that matters to me, and my own personal thought is really spring rate has fuck all to do with how heavy your engine is, a ladder bar car with a 100lb spring will hold the back of the car up with a full on pauter turbo engine but would be totally useless when you launched the car, angle & length of ladder bars, engine torque and clutch set up are much more relevant.  


My strange shocks & springs supplied by a so called "expert" were so far off the car was dangerous and it took 2 goes sending them back to Strange to get them right so don't think any off the shelf shock is going to be perfect just like that  :o

Finally I can't see any reason a swingaxle shock cant be straight up if you build car right and has to be angled over, but then I don't build swingaxle cars as I think its stupid :o :D

Sorry to irritate you Richie.. :)

QA1 vs. Strange is not a big  difference in price. I just don't want to shell out the csh twice.. I'm a kid of the internet age, and search everything I can. If I find two conflicting stories of quality, I'm at a loss.


Yes, I can of course ask directly, but I guess you can do it differently. Get the ladder bars length and angle wrong from one you ask, and you end up with completely undrivable car.

I've heard of 180lbs springs and 750lbs...



What I wanted out of the post was a starting point. Nothing more :)

Hi Erland

I'm no expert so won't be recommending one brand over another but how about looking at your choice from another perspective ?

There will inevitably be some fine tuning and changes required to whatever you buy so how easy is it to buy spares or have QA1 or Strange coilovers worked on ? What happens if you need a spare or advice ? Are they easy to contact ?

I will be using AVO coilovers for the IRS on my car. I had a rough idea of length and bought some used ones. I called AVO in England because I'm in England and spoke to someone who sent out the springs next day. I supplied them to Jim at Cotsweld when my car was back halfed and the mounts were made to fit.

Now if I have an issue with them or they need a rebuild, I know I don't have far to send them.

There are lots of makes of coilovers (ohlins, koni, Spax, AVO, bilstein etc) to choose from so I wouldn't get too caught up on using only makes that you have read about most from people in another country.

Do you have any local manafacturers where you are that you could utilise ?

My other car came with Tein coilovers from Japan and when they needed replacing, I went for MeisterR. Good reviews plus local to me so when the rears were the incorrect length it was nice and easy to pick up the phone, speak to someone in this country and get them returned - in this country.

Just buying is the easy part - spares or repairs can sting you !!

Just a thought
Darren

Thanks Darren for the reply! Much appreciated :)


AVO is closer of course, but still "abroad". If it's UK or US does not really matter for me. I've sent QA1, Strange and AVO an email today, and I'm curious to see the replies.

Norway is not the biggest supplier of VW-usable coilovers (or any other for that matter..)

And there is absolutely no point to choose a local supplier, as the cost locally are stupid high  ::)



AVO have been a good supplier to this point on dampers, so they start off good :)

I understand why Richie gets so annoyed

The most common mistake you make with a shock absorber
When transporting the race car with the sport's shock absorbers on the car
the shock absorber will get very hot after the shock absorber is allowed to work all the time (if you're afraid of them, you put a rod during transport)

That I positive about Koni shock absorber
Is having worked so much with those racing cars (20 years)
In Prostock / Promod (fia) and in the Competition Eliminator (old prostock)
A competition's Koni shock absorber is cheap to renovate at Koni (The Netherlands)
The service of two such costs about 100 ?
Ps when you buy shock absorbers then they should be dyno tested
For info
In the Prostock world, you use active shock absorber Koni
/// Micke

Comment about AVO.

My friend bought new AVO rear coil overs for his race bug. He drove two summers with them about 40 pass. After that these start to leak. So, email to AVO and question to buy new seals. Answer: Send them here...   Yeah, right..
Then these were opened here in Finland and fixed with new seals.
Next step: new mail to AVO, question: how much oil in to the shocks? Answer: ......  No, they did not never answer!

Result: No Thanks to AVO. Never again.

I've had that also, but they have been good to work with.

Strange answered with a re-route to RLR.

I kinda get it, but still the kit is ~50% over Strange's own pricing.