QA-1's on GT4 - Slightly worried

Hi guys,

Just finished putting the rear QA-1 springs/shocks in (no time to do all 4, the front is due tomorrow). I am slightly worried however.

The old shocks and springs were a lot longer than the new ones. I got the sets that were recommended by everyone (4855P front and 5855P rear, if I am not mistaking), yet I needed to set the shocks as long as they would go.

With new springs, my car now rides 3/8 to 1/2 inch higher than with the severely sagged old ones. And that's with 300 lbs springs (vs 184 of the old ones). With the sagging that is bound to take place over the next few weeks, I am afraid that I'll end up even lower than I already was (and mine was LOW).

Are the GT4 shocks longer than the GTB/GTS, I now start to wonder????

Any comments welcome!!!

(If worst comes to worst, Verell, I might order another pair of paperweights with you to gain an inch or so)

Thanks!

Hans

 

Hans see my restoration thread in the tech section, last 2 pages. I've recently replaced my springs and the ride height is perfect. 185 lbs front 200 lbs rear and both are 14" long. I found out that the more angle on a spring the more inch lbs, that's why Ferrari used such light springs for the front, the angle is almost 45 degrees!

 

Depending on which way you've run out of adjustment threads on the shock body, these coilover spring perch exensions (spacers) may help you:

http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_prod_id=330,41,363_510&action=product

 

Hans,
The overall length of the shock really only affects the droop of the wheel when jacked up. Once sitting on the ground, the spring is compressed and the shock is much shorter. So you don't necessarily need to extend the shock, just add more spring length to put the adjuster in the middle.

You can use the spring perch extenders that Mike points out to add effective length to the spring, which buys you more height on the shock. Of course, you will need a spring compressor to put the spring on with those. You might also just buy a longer spring for the shock.

For what it's worth my rears hardly settled at all. The fronts settled about 3/4" (chassis settled that much).

Birdman

 

Yes Hans the GTB shocks are shorter than the GT4 but only the rear.The front shock shares the same part no. as the GTB/S.From memrory about 1/2" shorter.I dont know if this would make a difference though

 

Yes, I think it does. The ones that I have put in now are the rears, and these are really a bit short.

It looks like spring extenders will not work, as the shock itself now is at the end of its travel. The last two inches of adjustment, I was in fact compressing the springs, rather than extending the shocks.

While driving, I have had two occasions of a very harsh sound, right after a bump. I am thinking that this might have been the shocks extending all the way and being pushed even further by the now still compressed springs.

I think I'll first do the fronts and will see how far everything will sag over the next few weeks. The rears are still higher than they used to be (and somewhat higher that I'd like to see them), so I might just get away with it.

If worst comes to worst, I could install a pair of Verell's paperweights on the rear, to lenghen the shocks by an inch or so...

Setting the dampeners a bit stiffer might also help preventing the shocks over-extending.

We'll see what happens when the fronts are on (tomorrow morning, I hope)

Thanks for all the comments,

Hans

 

If your shocks are at full extension with weight on them and the car is low, you have a problem. That noise you are hearing after a bump is the shock "topping-out". They will beat themselves to death and the noise won't be going away.

Ideally shocks should have enough travel in each direction that "topping" or "bottoming" never occurs during normal use.

 

Hi Hans,

The ones you got (4855P and 5855P) do they fit the GT4 too?

I mean, they are the ones for the 308. I don't know if the GT4 and 308 have the same setup or #'s.

Chris

 

No Chris I found out the long way that the GT4 and GTB/S have different shocks for the rear.The fronts are the same though.This is for the original Koni shock.The part No.s for the rear are different on the GTB/S to the GT4.When I rebuilt my suspension I did the fronts with new Koni and later ordered the rears.The guy at the place where I got the shocks from told me he had a part No. for a 1977 308.Now we both thought that since the GT4 went through to 1980 that it would be ok.When I took the old shocks off I extended them both and found the difference.Luckily the guy took back the shocks.I then later found out that the rear Koni shocks are NLA for the GT4.I was able to track down a pair at a good price in the US on Ebay but the seller didn't want to sell them to me something about him not accepting Paypal outside the US I passed that info onto another US Fchatter and he bought them.Anyway I eneded up recoing my original shocks although I wasn't completely happy about the paint job.The red was different and it appeared like it had been sprayed with a spray can,but the shocks were recoed good.