Thread: Time for new rear shocks, need your advice

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GUYS WHEN POSTING YOUR SUGGESTIONS MAKE SURE TO MENTION WHETHER YOU ACTUALLY HAVE USED THE SUGGESTED ITEM ON A HIBOY YOURSELF...

Faith,

I understand your concern, since any question on this board can get some "interesting" results. However, some folks don't need to have the exact application you have in order to solve your problem. Fitting a coilover is based on the same parameters regardless of the vehicle. I'm a coupe/sedan guy, so that's why I laid out the procedure rather than picking an application that I haven't used (roadster).

As to manufacturers, I've used QA1, Carrera and Aldan. I prefer the QAs and AldanEagles because they have adjustable valving.

I suggest that you take the measurements and post them. After that, call the tech line and see what they say, then compare notes here.

My suggestion was directly for a Deuce roadster with a Wescott body.....haha

If you measure the distance between the mounting points on the rear cross member and the rear axle I can narrow it right on down for you if you like.

One thing I meant to mention was that tuning the transverse leaf spring is something that can be easily done at home.
No waiting for the new coilover spring to be delivered and monetarily speaking, no extra money need be spent....

There's a Panhard bar in the photo in post #11 above.

Duh! All I read was side-to-side. My bad . . .

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Duh! All I read was side-to-side. My bad . . .

Nah.

I came on a little harsh with the panhard bit.
Didn't mean for it to sound the way it did.

You good . . . me just not so bad....

I didn't take it that way. Momma always told me that ready, fire, aim usually wouldn't work.

Some one talk about Air ride (air Bags) for the back. That should be some fun.
I may try that so i can set my coupe down in the back when parked.
Give me some info.

Could the ride of the coilover suspension be improved by mounting them at a 60 degree angle and running a sway bar of 35" or 36" length so that the sway bar would react sooner to the body sway? The upper coilover mounting would have to be narrower than what C9's 32 chassis picture shows. Just a thought. I believe the Deuce Factory sway bar is approximately 27" in length and 3/4" diameter. The longer sway bar would need to be a larger diameter to use this setup.

Originally Posted by deuce4papa

Could the ride of the coilover suspension be improved by mounting them at a 60 degree angle and running a sway bar of 35" or 36" length so that the sway bar would react sooner to the body sway? The upper coilover mounting would have to be narrower than what C9's 32 chassis picture shows. Just a thought. I believe the Deuce Factory sway bar is approximately 27" in length and 3/4" diameter. The longer sway bar would need to be a larger diameter to use this setup.

Not a bad idea, but it seems that cranking the coilovers over so far would give the chassis/body combo too much leverage on the springs.

The ride on my 32's not bad, it's the lack of travel that is the problem.

The 32 has a panhard bar as long as will fit between frame rail and rear axle.

The 31 on 32 rails roadster pictured above has a much shorter panhard.
I like the long ones, but this should do ok.

I ran into a bit of a packaging problem with transverse spring, 4 links inside the frame rails, sway bar and the panhard.
I still have to make and package fuel tanks under the chassis as well as have room for the battery on one side and fuel pumps on the other - ahead of the rear axle.
(I'm striving to have an empty trunk - got tired of the fuel cell always being in the way in the 32's rumble. Not to mention the limitations of the rumble . . . never again.)
The way things are working out - so far - I'll be able to carry a spare tire.

Clearances are pretty tight, but the rear suspension has been cycled several times during the chassis build when it was sitting on a frame table.
No problems and things operated smoothly.
(Spring disconnected fwiw.)

I should gain some clearance between panhard and rear axle when the rear axle gets adjusted 3/8" - 1/2" forward for a better visual fit in the rear fender area.

My pal has a 29 full fendered roadster with the very short aftermarket panhard bar and handling is ok on it.

Both TCI and Chris Alston Chassisworks have larger diameter sway bars.
Alston's is aimed at the drag race crowd and may be overly stiff for our light street-driven cars.
The TCI makes it - imo - for street use and looks to be stiffer than the Deuce Factory sway bar . . . although the DF sway bar does the job just fine on the 32.
Not to mention its small and compact and the reason I got another one for the 31.

I don't know the center to center measurements on Hiboy Gal's roadster chassis. The coilover angle on the DF chassis is about 70 degrees. C9's should be close to this. The upper spacing should be around 31" to get the DF sway bar to fit. To get the 60 degree angle Aldan calls for, the spacing at the crossmember would have to be 26-27". Would this be too narrow to give the coilover enough leverage?

ok im doing my setup now on my 32 roadster now i have in my hands a set of qa1 coil overs but they are 16in in lenth while at rest out of car ...im sure i need the shorter ones correct , if so where do i start with this ....im building a steel roadster with a winters quickchange ..any info is always appreciated

my frame is setup for coil over shocks and im running pete and jakes ladder bars , ill post pics of my frame in a few minutes

here are some pics ....

Godspeed. What is the center to center measurements on your upper coilover mounting holes? You have a narrow set and a wider set of mount holes. Also, what is the measurement on your axle housing? Thanks in advance.
Deuce. You may have the best setup for ride out there. It looks to be a very nicely engineered setup! The 5" coil spring comes in a multitude of rates too. The suspension travel is probably much better than a coilover as C9 mentioned. Many of the IMCA modifieds run a 5" coil spring over a shock with threaded barrel and coilover arrangement. They are able to get suspension travel dialed in to whatever they want.