Ride height and shock travel

[BigBlockOlds]

So I have a bit of a problem and was curious if other's have had the same.
On my '87, I've set the ride height where I think it would look the best. Its not overly slammed, just to where the top of the fender is about even with the top of the sidewall of the tire. Here's a picture:


However, I noticed that at this ride height I can't compress my shocks enough to get them installed on the studs mounted on the rear end.
The shocks I have are the QA1 Stocker Star single adjustable's. I checked their height against a set of Bilstein replacement shocks I had and they both match perfectly.
So what's the deal here? I thought for sure I've seen guys with G-body's this low that weren't using air bags, etc. Heck, my brother's car isn't much higher than what I show and we didn't have any trouble with his.
Is my only option to find a shorter shock so that I won't be bottomed out? I'd hate to raise the car much more because it just doesn't look right. I measured the distance from the shock stud on the rearend up to the point where it bolts to the chassis and I have it right around 14". According to QA1's website, the shocks I have only have a 13.5"-21" length (compressed/extended).
You can see here the car years ago. This was the stock ride height front and rear:


It looks about 2" too high to me.
Thanks,

[JRouche]

Yeah, half an inch of shock travel will ruin the shocks. Any chance of relocating the shock mounts. If you could move the uppers by two inches, either up or in (angled) and the lowers by two inches (down or out) you would get a combined increase of 4". That would give you a good amount of travel. JR

[BigBlockOlds]

I was thinking about that. I might be able to move the upper shock mounts to a crossover tube I welded into the chassis which would let me move the uppers inboard. As well as relocating the shocks lower on the rear end.

Thanks for the tip, I'll look into that.

I'm really hoping my neighbor gets his barn built and his lift installed soon! It would be nice to work on this kind of stuff with the car on a lift instead of laying on my back trying to figure out these angle's!

[Norm Peterson]

If the rear suspension is still the OE converging 4-link (or some lightly modified version of it) I'd make as much of the required shock mount relocation as possible in the vertical direction. Angling the shocks tends to soften their effect (and effectiveness). Since this is also somewhat sensitive to ride height, you get less damping toward the "bottom" of a particularly hard bump than at the beginning of the bump motion (≈ at normal/static ride height).


Norm

[parsonsj]

Good ideas all, but you also have the option of getting a shorter shock. The QA1 catalog is very deep; I'd bet you can find something that fits better.

jp

[darren@ridetech]

At ride height the shocks should be at about 60% travel. So with your 13.5" x 21" shocks your ride height should be around 18". But with that much stroke you could run it anywhere from 16.5" to 19" and still be good.... I like to see at least 3" of compression and 2" of extension to ensure that that shock does not top out or bottom out.

Looked in my Monroe catalog... stock replacement shock dims are 12.125" x 20.75. I'm thinking you just need shorter shocks.

With that stance... How far are you off the oem bump stop? Make sure you have 3" of compression travel here too.

[BMR Tech]

I would also suggest just using a shorter shock unless it is really easy for you to fabricate new mounts. G-Body rear shocks have a T-bar upper mount and eyelet lower. Looking in the QA1 catalog, their is not a shorter bolt-in shock available in this configuration however it is easy to make one. The T-bars in QA1 shocks are retained by C-clips and can easily be removed and put into another shock. According to the QA1 catalog your shock is 21" extended and 13.5" compressed. They have a part number (TC1576P) that is eyelet/eyelet and measures 16.38" extended/11" compressed. You could pull the T-bars out of your existing shocks and install them into this part number and get another 2.5" of shock travel. Just something to consider.....