Time for new rear shocks, need your advice

This month I will be finishing my suspension / shocks. The front was completed in January and rides real good now.

But hiboy's rear end is stiff (he needs to do some yoga :LOL: ).

So this month I change my leaky, tired, stiff coil overs and need to order the BESTEST adjustable coil overs on the market.

Those of you with HIboys, i would like your advice. Which brand would you recommend, what model, prices and where to order...

I think I am supposed to measure the traveling distance... Not sure how to do that, some tips welcome...

PS: Hiboy's is now all torn off, I took the hood, grill shell out and off came radiator to be fixed. While I was at it I cleaned the engine, since it was so nicely exposed... I will take some photos of my last batch of repairs done to front suspension etc... So I can finally post them here... Sorry for long delays but my film kept me VERY busy (no time to eat or sleep) for 3 weeks). THen the GNRS show... But I am back now!!

Oh and I have horrifying news for you: real drama my friends:

When I was taking out the radiator I BROKE A NAIL.

:eek: :eek:

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: (I thought you guys would get a laugh out of this post!!)

Also: Nothing like the lovely scent of coolant in a woman's long hair (VOMIT) :rolleyes:

Yeah, I know how it is. Had some split ends last week, didn't want to leave the house. :D :p

Here is what Speedway says:


CARRERA COIL-OVER
REAR SHOCK KIT
The finest street rod coilover shock available, featuring Carrera's patented, hyper-charging™ process. All pieces are beautifully chrome plated.
Kit consists of:


2 Carrera chrome steel adjustable shocks

2 chrome coil-over springs

polished aluminum spring mounting hardware


They also provide a rate chart, based on the weight of your rear end (actually the car's rear end) :eek: , and I think, from memory a typical deuce needs like 175 or 180 # units.

I have also seen Aldans name thrown around, and maybe some of our guys who buy coilovers regularly can offer an opinion. I have only bought two sets in my life, both from Total Performance, so I am no expert.

Here is their chart.

Don

Carrera makes very good coilover shocks, so are the Vipers from Pete and Jakes, but it isn't as simple as buying a pair off the shelf. You need to get the correct length, and the correct spring rate. To do that, you need to know the following:

- Distance between the upper and lower shock mounts at ride height. (You need to know this because the shock should be set up with about 60% of the rod showing. That allows 60% of the travel for bump and 40% for rebound.)

- Shock mounting angle, assuming they aren't vertical. (You need to know this because tilting the shocks reduces the spring rate.) If you don't have a protractor, measure the distance between the centerlines of the two shock mounts. Then hang a string with a weight from the upper shock mount and measure the horizontal distance from the lower shock mount to the string.

- Weight of the car on the rear wheels. (A typical fenderless roadster would weigh about 1450 lbs at the rear - 725 on each wheel.)

If you know this stuff, the parts desk at any of the suppliers can probably determine the correct application. So, slide under there with a tape, get dirty and let us know what the numbers are. :LOL:

I think Don's pretty close on the spring rate, but it wouldn't hurt to take the measurements before you buy.

Here's the page: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/177,...quot;andb.html

Get Aldan's.

Pete & Jakes's Viper shocks are made by Aldan, and say Aldan on them when they arrive.

I get mine through Chassis Engineering.

For a roadster - 180-220lb springs on a 14" shock, depending on angle....

I've switched to QA1's. Great quality and they are rebuildable... They also match all the old Carrera numbers. I sell them at about $350 a pair, so they are competitive on price, too... IMO best shock on the market and I've pretty much tried them all.

Important note:

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

Just so I know whether we are comparing 'apple to apple' sorta speak... what might work great with a muscle car or fat fender coupe may not be the best choice for a Hiboy so I need to know these things...

Jack, great instructions!! THANKS - Tomorrow I'll play with Hiboy's butt a little (725 pounds per tire? He needs to go on a diet :LOL: ). I'll post the measurements here...

I can't offer you a make to choose, we have different choices of manufacturers in the UK, but,If you could tell us the length of your shocks fitted at the moment it may help us hiboy roadster owners help you choose a suitable rated spring. I had 160lb 10" springs which were way too soft (needed a lot of preload)and now have 250lb which gives a firm ride but not uncomfortable ( i have to run fenders over here so choosing the right spring was crucial). It also allows for weight of passengers and luggage.
I would go for anything between 200-250lb depending on the length of shock, you can always add preload and adjust damping. Ideally they should compress down 25% with the weight of the car with fuel and driver, (not easy to work out:confused: ).I presume you don't carry passengers in the rumble seat?
Mel

Quote:

---

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.

I've given up on coilovers.
With 3 1/2" - 4" of travel and settling in 2" not much travel left.
My 32 has coilovers and the ride leaves a lot to be desired.

You can get a better ride imho with a transverse spring and some shocks with longer travel than the coilovers as shown in the pic of my 31 on 32 rails roadster project.

Granted, it would be a lot of work for you, but swapping crossmembers etc. isn't too bad if the body is off.

Note as well, the lower shock mounts are aftermarket coilover mounts.
Gives you three heights to work with.

The chrome plated shocks are from Speedway - an excellent outfit to deal with - and made in Canada.

A similar pair of front shocks are also Canadian made and in fact were recommended by Mike Bishop who wrote the "How to Build a Traditional Ford Hot Rod" book with Vern Tardel as the ultimate front highboy roadster shock.
(You need this book, it's pretty much the bible for AV8's and has a lot of information for us 32 folks.)

The 1" aluminum spacer you see was used to raise the body up a touch so there's a little more tire/fender clearance.
I may be able to lower it back down, but have to wait until the roadster is running to see what I can do.

40 Ford spring pack with custom main leaf fwiw.

And . . . if I ever change my mind about coilovers, with coilover mounts already installed swapping over is a 1 hour job.

Other pics of the rear axle install available if you wish.

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....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HiboyGal

When I was taking out the radiator I BROKE A NAIL.

---

I think you found a problem. They should have used bolts to hold your radiator, not nails!

Quote:

---

You can get a better ride imho with a transverse spring

---

What keeps a transverse spring setup from rock and rolling left and right, since everything rides on a single pivot point?

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

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SBC

What keeps a transverse spring setup from rock and rolling left and right, since everything rides on a single pivot point?

---

Same thing that keeps coilovers from rocking and rolling.

A sway bar - and not a panhard bar as Henry Rifle points out
The panhard bar serves to locate the rear axle transversely.

You would be amazed at the difference in rocking sideways and body lean with coilovers and no sway bar.

The pic shows a Deuce Factory sway bar on my 32.
The 31 on 32 rails car shown above has the same sway bar, but mounted higher and mostly out of sight.
If you look close at the photo in post #11 you'll see the Heim Joints that connect rear axle and sway bar.

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

Quote:

---

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....:LOL:

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.

Quote:

---

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?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HiboyGal

Oh and I have horrifying news for you: real drama my friends:

When I was taking out the radiator I BROKE A NAIL. :rolleyes:

---

Could have been worse, you could have ripped it off completely, now you know why (most) mechanics keep their fingernails short. ;)

Thanks - I believe I'm getting the gist of things now -

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

found these on ebay ......which ones are the ticket for a roadster


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/QA1-P...QQcmdZViewItem

Too involved for Faith ... :) as she has a already finished roadster .

http://hotrodders.com/journal_photos...1456599800.jpg

But a coil spring rear end will provide a great ride. Not something you just change over to with a up and going roadster ... but when building a new car ... It is the way to go IMHO ... The coil springs were at the Powder coaters at photo time

The 4 bar suspension allows great adjustments, The sway bar keeps sway to a minimum and the coil springs allow smooth ride. I use a TCI rear sway bar setup ... ( chrome )

http://www.totalcostinvolved.com/ass...rollbarkit.jpg

The chassis shown is my 32 3W ... but I have the same exact setup under my 32 full fendered Roadster ... but with less spring rate.

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.

deuce...... the holes are 26 and 29.5 ceter to center on both setups , my quickchange is 56.5 wide also