REAR bottomes out, spring rate? compression dampening?

[MAGONSTERZ68]

Sold the 3" drop Hotchkiss and bought 1.5" drop, advertised 150-180 rate, raised the nose and is way better ride on our shtty train tack crossing but rear stills bottoms out u bolts against the frame rail and snubbers dont help.
I know with the weight addition of trunk mount battery, full dyno mat, speaker box, amp, cocktail shakers, convertible mechanisms and 4 muffler, yes 4 muffler cut out set up. I only want noise when i want it so have two muffs set up in front of axle with cut outs and two travers mounted rear of axle sandwiched between the axle and fuel tank. I sure that with a full tank of gas contributes to the bottom out over all pick but built with intent of long drives with actual freeway conversations and it works as can be rowdy with a flick of a switch.

Thinking of upgrading to a double adjustable rear shock compression & rebound to assist slow compression speed, really not looking to swap out spring packs for a stiffer one or raise height as it rides great majority of the time. Who makes a decent adjustable? will it help? if so Ill be selling off the Hotchkis Tuned 1.5 Street Performance Series-non adjustable Rear Shock 67-69 Camaro Firebird pn SKU: 71020012.

[andrewb70]

What's bottoming out? Is the rear hitting the bump stops or is the shock too long?



Andrew

[MAGONSTERZ68]

What's bottoming out? Is the rear hitting the bump stops or is the shock too long?

Andrew

Bumpstops as well as U bolts to frame, shocks are matched set from hotchkis for the 1.5 lowered spring pack and are not bottoming out as apparent from wiper seal on piston rod has about 3/4 inch not traveled over on compression stroke.

[UMI Tech]

Overall travel distance is influenced by the spring and its rate. Travel speed is controlled by the shock. So sometimes you can stiffen the shock enough to keep the distance from happening, if that makes sense.

No matter what it's always nice to put the best shock on that you can afford. It makes the overall muscle car experience better.

[andrewb70]

Bumpstops as well as U bolts to frame, shocks are matched set from hotchkis for the 1.5 lowered spring pack and are not bottoming out as apparent from wiper seal on piston rod has about 3/4 inch not traveled over on compression stroke.

If that's the case, you need higher rate springs.

[protour_chevelle]

Youre on the right track, before putting new leafs in the car, put a nice shock with compression and rebound adjustment in. Like UMI mentioned, with a good shock you can slow the axle from travelling all the way to the frame.

[MAGONSTERZ68]

Appreciate the info All, looking at Triple Adjustable Viking shocks as states can have slow speed compression separate from high speed which is the issue now, cruising is great, fwy etc, but major dips and nasty ass train track impacts at posted speed limit sucks balls.

Specs:
Triple Adjustable: Rebound tuning is the same as the
double adjustable. The compression is split into two
adjustments - low speed and high speed. This allows for
much larger high speed forces without impacting low speed
feel or vice versa. The potential force range at lower speeds
becomes an area instead of fixed lines. This shock is a
single unit... no canister required.

Sure I'd like a set of PENSKE shock but reality sets in but unfamiliar territory for me here when it comes to adjustable units.

[79T/Aman]

but when you increase the shock compression your ride quality will suffer.

[dontlifttoshift]

Ride quality will improve if the car is underdamped currently. A car does not need a lot of low speed compression but when you consider the very high amount of unsprung weight at the rear of a typical solid axle pro touring car, high speed compression becomes very important.