1Cerberus4u

Some days I feel like a squirrel in November with all this running around the car, seemingly getting nothing fully completed..

After putting on the rear sharkbite suspension and dealing with wrong parts, bolts too long, misleading directions etc, in the end, looks great and I'm excited to try it.

Moved to the front of the car and decided to replace the front fibreglass VRP monoleaf and put in QA1 semi coil over kit. Ordered the kit and went about installation and was having a hard time getting the hub and ball joints back together as It appeared to me, that the springs were too long. I separated the hub from the lower ball joint buy could not raise the lower control arm high enough to get the ball joint back in without raising the entire car off the lift. This was with the coil spring adjusters all the way down too...Spoke with Tim in tech at QA1 and he said, operator error.

I finally had to remove the upper ball joint too and man-handled both ball joints in together (remind me next time to take off the caliper and rotor to save weight) and put it back together.

Well, while it is together, as you can see in the pics, the car (with the spring coils all the way down) now sits 2" HIGHER than it was before.

I don't have any experience with corvette A ams and o VRP (which I know is out of business) so I am looking for advice. It looks to me like the VRP lower A Arm does not drop down like the stock one does and does not have that further lowered spring pocket.... so I am losing 2-3 inches of depth, no?

1, If I decide to stick with the current A ams, who makes a full coil over set up and how does it install as I am assuming you have to cut open the frame spring pocket
2. If I decide to keep the QA1 semi coil over, who makes other lower after market A Arms that will be a suspension/handling upgrade to stock (or VRP)
3. Do I just go back and install stock lower A Arms and if so, weigh in on performance/ adjust-ability compared to aftermarket.

As to option 1, QA1 does not make a shorter spring, which I think would have solved the issue. They only make a 9" semi coil over spring.

Geez....

RJ1

Check with Van Steel in Tampa. They have tubular A arms that use QA1's. Have on my car and it is lowered by 1 1/2 inch. My front and rear ties are tucked under the fender lines with no big gaps between tire and fender.

Tampa Jerry

Van Steel is located over the bridge from Tampa in Clearwater. Jerry

427Hotrod

Are the control arms designed specifically for the mono-leaf? Seems like that was an entire kit?

Any idea what spring rate you have? There are a lot of springs available out there as long as shock doesn't bottom out.

I've got Viking's coil over setup on the front of mine....but I have stock lowers. Their setup takes a unique spring...but there are some available.


JIM

Tom Austin

You may also want to check with Global West!
Tom

1Cerberus4u

MrTrim

I don't know if they will interchange, but I have Viking coil overs from Global West and my springs are 350lbs. the coil wire diameter look a lot smaller in diameter than yours. Just a thought, if needed, I can give you better measurements as I've only installed 1 side so far.
Chris

1Cerberus4u

Yea, Mr Trim, if you could get me your measurements. The springs in the car now are from QA1 and they only make a 9" spring (550lb for BB btw) and Van Steel makes a 7" with a different upper spring perch.

To answer 427's question, I bought the car with the VRP set up installed. I am assuming that the monoleaf and upper/lower control arms were a package, but globally, A arms should be A arms, unless someone has re designed them with different designs for drop, length, placement etc.

When speaking with Eric at Van Steel (who got the remaining inventory when VRP closed or so he said), he says the VRP arms look to have similar placement of shock location, ball joint etc...

Robert61

A arms are a arms. That doesn't mean each brand is interchangeable with everyone else's. If you can, nothing hits or binds, move he shock to the bottom of the a arm instead of the top. That would give you at least an inch. If you can and need more then you would attempt to put spacers between the shock mount and shock. I'm not there so I can't see what will and what will not work. If you look at every other brand the a arm is ment down in the center not just flat.

1Cerberus4u

Robert, While I agree A arms are A arms, clearly all of these and other manufacturers have differences, to include some have more built in castor than other, some more camber. Some drop down like the stock one's did and some don't. While they are "close", in this case, it ain't horseshoes...... its way too far off..

that said, your idea of mounting the shock below would be great, but in this case the shock adjuster for compression is in the way..... Ah, the joys of modifying things... LOL!!

Best to you

MrTrim

Robert61

j_66chevelle

Those are 350lb springs, that even sounds light.

Sky65

Are your Viking front shocks semi-coilover or full coilovers?

Thanks
Tom

MrTrim

I hope not, according to my research they should be fine with an all aluminum small block. I will be running standard BB sway bars front and rear to control corner lean, but the springs should give me a compliant ride in normal driving, then help keep the car flatter in the corners. worse comes to worse, I'll change to heavier springs. they are easy to change.
Chris

MrTrim

Tom,
These are semi-coil overs. they fit the upper spring pocket perfect. I just had the stock lower control arms beefed up per instructions. ( the instructions don't say how to do this, they just say you should and I agree) I added a 1/4 steel plate to the bottom of the mounting area. I had the welding shop make a roughed in plate then I grounded it to fit correctly before welding. As far as I'm concerned, it came out great. I'd use them on a Race car...lol.
Chris

1Cerberus4u

So I finally had a chance to get back on the coil over challenge while I waited for the Pats game to start (GO PATS!!) and following conversations with Eric at Van Steel and others here on the forum, I pulled out my stock lower control arms, sand blasted them pained them and went about removing the VRP stuff and installed the stock lower arm and I had a set of SRP upper arms from the Black Car purchase so for fun, I replaced the upper VRP with that..

Got everything back together and it looks like I made SOME progress...... Before the conversion the measurement from the wheel well to ground was 25" (front frame height of 6 1/2"), When I put on the QA1 coil over system, the car went up to 27 1/2".... so with the stock lower arms the car came back down 2 1/2" to where I was before..... Coil spring all the way down, still too high.

So Van Steel has an 8" semi coil spring set up, so I',m off to order those today.... The saga continues but we are getting closer....

CorvetteMikeB

Do they make any Rear Coil Spring Shocks for C2 Corvettes that are not for racing? I do not want to pay $700+ for a set of rear coil springs, too high for my budget. I am looking for a economical set(Brand) of rear coil shocks that will give me a smoother ride and not raise or lower the back-end.

1Cerberus4u

Hey Mike;

I actually think I can make a set of coil-overs for reasonable money. Let me check to see if I can put my thoughts to product and i'll circle back

Send me a pm with your email address

Andy

dn1964

Hi , I just bought a pair of qa1 coil over -507d-gm

I'm hoping there is no issue installing into stock lower A arms, the tech guy at qa1 says its a very simple , pull out the old springs and install the qa1 coil over. The bottom T mount of the coil over , bolts to the A arm
Ha Anyone does this swap?

Cheers Darren