Installed the QA1 on my RCSB.
Jun 29, 2005 | 12:13 AM
#1
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12 Second Truck Club
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 5,575
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From: Sacramento, CA
Installed the QA1 on my RCSB.
I swung by this morning to pick up a set of QA1 shocks for my lil truck and what I thought would be a simple swap turned out to be a half-day ordeal..
The shocks were fine and I got a good deal on them but since they were not designed for my truck I had issues with getting the rears fitted. The thickness of the eyelet (bushing) was too thin so I had to pick up a bunch of washers to space it out. The hard part was that GM uses metric bolts for the shocks and the inner rings for the poly bushing were eithe too big or too small. We ended up having to use a drill press to open up 4 of those lil bastards to get a nice snug fit. Took about 45min of tinkering to figure it all out and get em made up. Joel at Naake Motorsports was super helpful and didn't even charge me for his time! That's some damn customer service there!
The fronts went on with zero hastle except that this was the first time I ever used a twin-tube shock instead of the gas charged type. I thought the damn things were broke when I had to extend them by hand and they didn't just pop up like a normal gas charged. LOL The ride with just the fronts on is much improved over my dead stock units. I'm going to install the rears tomorrow morning.
I used the RC1540P up front and the TC1661P in the rear. The fronts are adjustable only on rebound so that I can make a true 70/30 OR 90/10 shock. The rears are a normal 12way adjustable but effect compression and rebound at the same time like any other adjustable non-drag shock would do. Depending on the settings you choose you can have a very soft, tuna boat like ride or a very firm almost autocross style shock. These things are great for a daily driver that likes to get hyphy (drag race or autocross or just plain get dumb) once in awhile.
On non lowered trucks you will want to measure your shocks while sitting naturally and give those measurments to Naake, Tbyrne or whoever you are ordering them from. From there they can recomend the correct length shock. For instance: My truck is lowered with a 2/4 Hotchkis kit.
You will also want to verify your bolt size so you get the right sleeve for the rear shocks bushings. Mine were about .570 to clear properly. You can go ghetto like I am and use washers to suck up the space bewteen the shock eyelet or Naake sells a poly bushing setup that you can cut to the exact spacing you need and it would come out much cleaner. I just don't have any cutting tools at my house and I ain't screwing around with a hacksaw and poly bushings. Those who have tried this without a vise know what I'm talking about.
Rear Shock mounted
Rear Bottom with washers
Rear Shock Top with washers
The Washers I used. 9/16" SAE 3/4"
Front shock Bottom. I didn't wanna take the wheel off for other pics. :p
The shocks were fine and I got a good deal on them but since they were not designed for my truck I had issues with getting the rears fitted. The thickness of the eyelet (bushing) was too thin so I had to pick up a bunch of washers to space it out. The hard part was that GM uses metric bolts for the shocks and the inner rings for the poly bushing were eithe too big or too small. We ended up having to use a drill press to open up 4 of those lil bastards to get a nice snug fit. Took about 45min of tinkering to figure it all out and get em made up. Joel at Naake Motorsports was super helpful and didn't even charge me for his time! That's some damn customer service there!
The fronts went on with zero hastle except that this was the first time I ever used a twin-tube shock instead of the gas charged type. I thought the damn things were broke when I had to extend them by hand and they didn't just pop up like a normal gas charged. LOL The ride with just the fronts on is much improved over my dead stock units. I'm going to install the rears tomorrow morning.
I used the RC1540P up front and the TC1661P in the rear. The fronts are adjustable only on rebound so that I can make a true 70/30 OR 90/10 shock. The rears are a normal 12way adjustable but effect compression and rebound at the same time like any other adjustable non-drag shock would do. Depending on the settings you choose you can have a very soft, tuna boat like ride or a very firm almost autocross style shock. These things are great for a daily driver that likes to get hyphy (drag race or autocross or just plain get dumb) once in awhile.
On non lowered trucks you will want to measure your shocks while sitting naturally and give those measurments to Naake, Tbyrne or whoever you are ordering them from. From there they can recomend the correct length shock. For instance: My truck is lowered with a 2/4 Hotchkis kit.
You will also want to verify your bolt size so you get the right sleeve for the rear shocks bushings. Mine were about .570 to clear properly. You can go ghetto like I am and use washers to suck up the space bewteen the shock eyelet or Naake sells a poly bushing setup that you can cut to the exact spacing you need and it would come out much cleaner. I just don't have any cutting tools at my house and I ain't screwing around with a hacksaw and poly bushings. Those who have tried this without a vise know what I'm talking about.
Rear Shock mounted
Rear Bottom with washers
Rear Shock Top with washers
The Washers I used. 9/16" SAE 3/4"
Front shock Bottom. I didn't wanna take the wheel off for other pics. :p
Last edited by F8L Z71; Jun 29, 2005 at 12:07 PM.
Jun 29, 2005 | 03:10 AM
#5
Thread Starter
12 Second Truck Club
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 5,575
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From: Sacramento, CA
The front is setup so it can be as hard or soft as you want on the rebound. IE it will allow the front to lift easy or or make it hard to lift the front. The compression though will always stay normal. So for track days you can set em soft and have the front lift easier and when the front comes back down it doesn't crash into the ground because the compression side of the shock is still normal. Does that make sense?
Jun 29, 2005 | 03:14 AM
#6
Originally Posted by F8L Z71
The front is setup so it can be as hard or soft as you want on the rebound. IE it will allow the front to lift easy or or make it hard to lift the front. The compression though will always stay normal. So for track days you can set em soft and have the front lift easier and when the front comes back down it doesn't crash into the ground because the compression side of the shock is still normal. Does that make sense?
that said, these sound nice, keep us updated on how you like them on the street. Do they have a shock with enough adjustment to go from say a 50/50 to a 90/10?
Trending Topics
Jun 29, 2005 | 03:20 AM
#8
very nice!
QA1 R SERIES
DRAG RACING SHOCKS
Key Features
90 - 10 valvings for front shock drag racing applications
Fixed, firm compression with a wide range of rebound adjustment
12 position rebound valving adjuster
On-the-car valving adjustment
Lightweight aluminum body
Easy bolt-in installation
100% dyno tested and serialized
QA1 R SERIES
DRAG RACING SHOCKS
Key Features
90 - 10 valvings for front shock drag racing applications
Fixed, firm compression with a wide range of rebound adjustment
12 position rebound valving adjuster
On-the-car valving adjustment
Lightweight aluminum body
Easy bolt-in installation
100% dyno tested and serialized
Jun 29, 2005 | 08:18 AM
#10
The fronts went on with zero hastle except that this was the first time I ever used a twin-tube shock instead of the gas charged type. I thought the damn things were broke when I had to extend them by hand and they didn't just pop up like a normal gas charged. LOL The ride with just the fronts on is much improved over my dead stock units. I'm going to install the rears tomorrow morning.
I used the RC1540P up front and the TC1661P in the rear. The fronts are adjustable only on rebound so that I can make a true 70/30 shock. The rears are a normal 12way adjustable but effect compression and rebound at the same time like any other adjustable non-drag shock would do.
On non lowered trucks you will want to measure your shocks while sitting naturally and give those measurments to Naake, Tbyrne or whoever you are ordering them from. From there they can recomend the correct length shock. For instance: My truck is lowered with a 2/4 Hotchkis kit.
I used the RC1540P up front and the TC1661P in the rear. The fronts are adjustable only on rebound so that I can make a true 70/30 shock. The rears are a normal 12way adjustable but effect compression and rebound at the same time like any other adjustable non-drag shock would do.
On non lowered trucks you will want to measure your shocks while sitting naturally and give those measurments to Naake, Tbyrne or whoever you are ordering them from. From there they can recomend the correct length shock. For instance: My truck is lowered with a 2/4 Hotchkis kit.
Couple questions. The fronts bolted right in with no extra parts needed? I had heard you might have to make a few modifications to fit them in.
Do you know the stock spring specifications? # and extended height? I'd like to do a QA1 shock/spring swap up front. Maybe a 3'' shorter spring, and 25# heavier.