QA1 Shock Absorbers

[Merv and Sharon]

They are aimed at drag racing here also and the rally market. As you say, and as they admit, they are based on QA1. Their site has a lot of info on coil overs and the owner is helpful in regard to matching springs and shocks with correct adjustment.

[Tenrocca]

I mentioned this on another thread, but the QA1 stock bearing on the proma stars is rubbish. Its a nylon race and only lasted about 3000ks before packing it in. They do a heavier duty one with a steel race nylon lined which I have now put in - but they should come as standard. Apart from that the QA1's have been fine.

Cheers

[Merv and Sharon]

Thanks for that. I will enquire. I notice that the Strange shocks have a misalignment spherical bearing with a spigot that fits between the suspension points.

Andrews Race Cars

[strida]

Originally Posted by DaveW

Dennis,
How tight is tight ?, where, is there any fowling anywhere, or just tight space wise to insert ?
This is where i'm up to at the moment, need to update my thread.



Dave

Dave, sorry for the late reply, been away for a few days, rears have plenty of clearance but fronts are a neat fit, no chance of fouling. My spring OD is 83.5mm so the outside of the spring is about 5mm from the back edge of the camber adjusting nut, again no fouling problems either at droop or compression.
Sorry "bit tight" was a poor choice of words

[kyleb]

Have just fitted the Strange Eng single adjustable to the front, removed the spherical bearing and fitted QA1 nylon bushes, very happy so far, and price is good. Also fitted the needle bearing kit to them which makes adjusting ride height on the car SOOO much easier.

[DaveW]

Kyleb,
How does the needle bearing kit work ? do you have any pics?
How does the nylon bushes fit into the spherical bearing eyelet ?

Dave

[Merv and Sharon]

They have a circlip. Craig says they go well.

[400TT]

QA1's are as good as anything else in the price range, best value in my opinion. But the more you pay with shocks, the more you get.

We've fitted dozens of QA1's, actually it would be more like 100's of QA1's.

[Tenrocca]

Hey Craig, have you had any of the nylon bearings go bad on yours? I emailed QA1 a while back about them it they said it was an unknown problem to them

[kyleb]

Hi Dave,
The flat needle rollers fit between the spring and adjusting nut. The qa1 number is 7888-109, works a treat. With regards to the bushes all you do is remove the circlips for the spherical bearing, pop them out and the nylon inserts are 2 piece so they just push straight in, no probs. Got it all from VPW. Can't supply any pics until I get the car back from the trimmers.
Cheers Kyle.

[sambo]

Thanks for the part number Kyle. That kit is around $26 and comes with 2 thrust bearings and 4 washers, presumably to sandwich the bearings. Would I need 2 kits (4 bearings, one per shock) or do I use a whole kit per corner with a bearing located top and bottom of the coil?

[kyleb]

Sambo. The 2 washers do sandwich the bearing, you place the assy on the bottom of the spring between it and the adjusting collar. So you have one bearing and 2 washers per shock. Although you are supposed to adjust the ride height with the weight off the suspension I have done it with no probs.

[400TT]

Originally Posted by Tenrocca

Hey Craig, have you had any of the nylon bearings go bad on yours? I emailed QA1 a while back about them it they said it was an unknown problem to them

No nylon bearing failures. What was the failure, did it look like it was heat affected. That's one weak point I can see, unusally high heat would deteriate them quickly.

Same with shock itself, read of plenty of failures, but we haven't had any feedback from our customers of any failures. The street/track cars we maintain have not had any failures either.

[Merv and Sharon]

They have to be better than AVO in my experience. Strange shocks look excellent value too

[Merv and Sharon]

QA1s installed with new springs in the front. No dramas. The old AVOs were on a poly bush fitting and had 'ovalled" a bit. The spherical bearing set up on the QAs seems much better. Now to order the rears!

[Mando]

Merv, how about some pic's?

Regards.

[Merv and Sharon]

Not much that hasn't been seen before Mando. They seem well made and the damper adjustment is much better than the AVO.

[DaveW]

Hi Merv,
Looks good, did you get locally or import, what was your reasoning over the strange version,
Dave

[Merv and Sharon]

Dave, I got them via The Car Shop Inc in Moline Illinois. Tim, there is great to deal with and they are fast and their freight cheaper than Summit. No reason why I chose QA1 over the Strange version, just they are a bit better known perhaps. With the Strange version, I was advised that you need to remove the small bolts holding on the adjusters and replace them with stainless, but other than that they are probably identical and their agent here is very experienced.

[FUNFER2]

Sambo- Here's a photo of what the thrust bearing kit looks like. Definitely worth the money.
There not actually needle bearings, just small speed bumps.