AJE wheelie bar and QA1 shocks

[dragracer5372]

hi everyone--looking for some advice on wheelie bar and front adjustable shock selection for my '72 Nova. finally got car to hook and now i need to try to settle wheelies down to a more comfortable height. rear suspension is Caltrac mono leafs/Caltrac bars set with RH side touching spring and LH with 1/4 turn more and Rancho RS9000 set at 5. front has trick springs and Koni SPA1 shocks. rear tire size is 30 x9 and fronts are 29.5..... question i have is i know i need to put some type of wheelie bars on to control height of wheelie (i have a bracket on carb to only run at 3/4 throttle and car will go straight up i leave at anything over that) i would like to run this wide open and have been suggested to run the AJE's because they will not unload rear tires on a leaf spring car and i should also put on an adjustable shock on the front (preferably double adj.) but this is a bracket car with only one sponsor (myself) so i am looking at the QA1 Stocker R shock for the front. anyone here have experience with this brand wheelie bar and what is the general opinion with these and the QA1 shocks? Thanks in advance!!!!!

[dragracer5372]

anyone have a suggestion or opinion on the QA1 Stocker R shocks for front and AJE wheelie bars? just trying to sort out pro's and con's on both before buying something that doesn't seem to work or someone has had trouble or problems with and would like to help before i buy them or should i look at other brands of each? Thanks!

[Craig W.]

I've got QA1 R shocks on the front of my Nova. They've worked pretty well for me.

Your Konis are adjustable, just not externally adjustable. Koni has instructions on their website. I ran these shocks for a couple of years and they aren't too bad. Not as good as the QA1s I have now but they will stiffen up enough to slow your wheelies.

[dragracer5372]

thanks for the response Craig--are the QA1's fairly easy to get at to adjust knob and what setting did you start with and finally end up at? i know the Koni's seem pretty loose, but these were set this way when i got them so i left them. the front of my car seems to go up before car goes in forward motion, and i have been told it should be the opposite, and get an adjustable shock on front to control this where the car goes forward first. do you know of anyone that has run the AJE wheelie bars or should i try the shocks first and see if i can get wheelie controlled to a comfortable height with those first? Thanks again!!!!!

[Craig W.]

The knob on my QA1s is not too bad to get to thru the front springs. I have to jack up the front of the car to expand the coils, but its not much trouble.

When I run my car on the motor only, I set them one click from full loose. On the bottle, depending on track conditions, I may have to go 5-6 clicks stiffer than that to keep the nose down.

Never used wheelie bars, so I can't really comment on them.

[dragracer5372]

it seems most i talk to are comfortable with the QA1 Stocker R shock, and i guess if i can control front end rise with these, i'll give them a shot 1st before i order wheelie bars too. i'm just not wanting to get the car on the bumper and tips one way or another and with a spool i would think i could run into trouble if it did that!! i was kinda hoping to get buy without having to necessarily buy the double adjustables if i didn't have to--$$$$$--so thanks again for the advice. what coil spring do you use on the front of your Nova, Craig? if you run the Moroso trick springs, did you order them for the correct front weight or by the spring rate?

[Craig W.]

My front springs are the lightest Moroso coils they make for a Nova. 213 lbs or something like that. Originally, they lowered the front of the car about 3/4", but as I took weight off the car, the front got to sitting really high. So now they have 2 coils cut off them and its pretty dang low. I had to trim the bump stops in order to have any compression travel at all. Works pretty well for a mostly drag car. Doesn't seem overly harsh on the few street miles I put on the car (slow speed cruising at local cruise-ins).

[dragracer5372]

i looked back and found that i put the 47195 springs in when i put the car together. i will have to scale front of car again since when these were originally installed i had a steel head BBC and now i have a aluminum head BBC with a Dart block so i am sure there is a weight difference somewhere. i know when these were 1st installed the front was stiff and sat alittle high (front wheel opening cleared a 29" tall tire) finally took them back out and cut a coil and now front wheel opening covers 1/2 of 29" front tire and front is really loose too. seems to lean towards LH side somewhat so i am going to rescale and order new ones and cut both sides different for driver weight. someone had told me once i should order for a SBC but i don't remember their reasoning behind it. the picture of Beyond's car on his profile looks like about the heighth i would like to stay at for wheelie height (if you happen to see this post, do you have wheelie bars and what front suspension do you happen to use?) and i would say for Craig's car to run those ET's with that short of tire, the suspension (front and rear) must be working good on your's also!!!!!!!!

[Craig W.]

I'm pretty pleased how my suspension is working. I'm hoping the double adjustables that should be arrving this week will be a nice improvement and let me run in the 5.70s this year. I'll have to if I'm going to stay competitive.

[dragracer5372]

what brand of double adjustables are you going to be switching over to? i am actually thinking this would be a better option for me to calm front end down on launch instead of the shock pulling out too quick and i could have some form of adjustment to do this. wanna of those deals where you want the best shock at a minimal price!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[John_Heard]

dragracer5372 - No I don't have wheelie bars, they aren't allowed in the class I race in. My front suspension uses David Lemmond A-Arms, Rack steering and it's converted to coilover shocks. Last year I used Strange DA shocks this year I'm switching to Santhuff's. I would really like to avoid wheelies like the one in my avatar, about all they are good for is neat pictures and trashing $1000 worth of parts.

Craig does have his car working extremely well on that tire, he's put a lot of hard work and testing into that combination and it's paying off for him.

[dragracer5372]

Beyond--what type of coil-over set up are you using?--this would be another option for me also. just trying to weigh out any and all options i can use for the front of mine before season starts (less than 2 months here). QA1's set up only seems to have 1 for SBC and 1 for BBC and not real sure if this would be the way to go on my car or not--runs 9's but front suspension is currently stock except for Moroso trick springs and Koni shocks. Thanks!

[John_Heard]

Actually I'm not using any right now lol, I'm waiting on the Santhuff shocks and springs. To meet our rules I used a stud mount like a strut has on the top. The lower is a standard heim.

The coilover setup is only slightly lighter than a stock type separate shock/spring combo, the big advantage is spring selection and much easier adjustability.

[Craig W.]

[quote="dragracer5372"]what brand of double adjustables are you going to be switching over to? quote]

I've got QA1 double adjustables for the rear on their way to me. Hopefully will be here this week. Probably not the best shocks out there, but the fronts have worked well for me and they are the cheapest way to get a double adjustable that I'm aware of. So I think they'll be OK.

On the front, I'm sticking with the existing Moroso springs and QA1 R shocks.

[dragracer5372]

so what would be the general opinion if you should replace your front shocks for adjustables and are going to replace your front trick springs anyway due to ride height too low on one side---------should a guy just go ahead and buy the QA1 Stocker R coil over kit for the front or buy the shocks seperate and new trick springs?