Need help with shock selection

[mrn2obelvedere]

I am trying to decide on the best shocks for my plymouth. I want to know which will be the best among the following:

1) Bilstein
2) Koni
3) QA1 stocker star (single adjustable)



These shocks are all in the same price range. I am leaning towards the QA1's since they are externally adjustable but I want to hear your opinions. Thanks!

[Lowend]

Let hear a little more about your Plymouth. how's it setup and what are your goals?

[mrn2obelvedere]

The current setup is as follows:

Addco sway bars (1.125 front, 0.875 rear)
Magnum force tubular adjustable upper control arms
manual steering (will be switching back to power steering with a steering quickener at some point)
panhard bar in the rear
stock leaves (with addco front spring eye pivots/solid rear shackle bushings) and torsion bars (for now, I will upgrade these as money allows. I will likely use fiberglass leaves when I do upgrade the leaves)
I plan to add a cage and sub connectors, again, as money allows.

The engine is a 360 small block with aluminum heads, the trans is a 727 auto. I want to keep the car as light as possible for handling hence the small block.

My intent is to have a car that gets the maximum possible out of the torsion bar front/leaf spring rear suspensions. I will likely autocross the car, but only in the open class for fun (I'm not even dreaming of being competitive with modern cars).

[mrn2obelvedere]

Any opinions here? I'm waiting on this to make a purchase.

[ProdigyCustoms]

We can supply any of the three. My choice would be the the QA1 for the 12 way adjustability. it really does help dial in ride and is noce for being able to stiffen them easily for aggressive driving.

We run QA1s on a lot of in house projects including some of the high end cars. Great product for the money.

We can sell any of them at a better deal then the big warehouses.

[mrn2obelvedere]

So with the single adjustable QA1's, I'd like to get something straight in my mind.

Lets say the adjuster has 12 clicks. When you adjust the shocks, lets say, from 4 to 10, does this increase both the compression and the rebound dampening? Or does it work inversely? That is to say, when going from 4 to 10, compression damping increases while rebound damping decreases (or something like this). Which is the case?

As far as deals go, PM me with the deal you are willing to offer and I'll gladly consider it!

Thanks!

[Lowend]

I'd like to say for the record that I'm not a big fan of QA1. They have consistency issues.
Knowing that 'glass springs have some different needs with rebound valving I would be tending towards custom valved Bilstiens.
Guldstrand can do these based on spring rates and car weight

[Bryce]

I like the afcos. I am using the T2s on two projects right now. My falcon pro-touring and my mustang drag car. The T2s are double adjustable. cost about $300 right now. Check their website for a bolt in setup for you.

[mrn2obelvedere]

As in $300 each? That would be way out of my budget.

[ProdigyCustoms]

On a single adjustable you are changing compression and rebound at the same time.

As for the quality of QA1 shocks, I will be the first to tell you these are not the end all shock. There are many higher end brands that are better in track enviroments. But I can also tell you some high end projects like Project Prodigy and II Much run QA1 and they work great.

At $135 each, the QA1 are hard to beat for a shock with which you can quickly change ride settings.

The Vari Shock is another we carry that is a bit more money that is a good shock also in the price range of others dicussed here.

I like the Bilsteins and the Koni's but they do not have the in car adjust ability of the QA1s.