QA-1 shock adapter bushings

Hi Charles: Nice idea using poly, though I just used aluminum spacers instead, which seem to work just fine. Machine shop friend made them for me for free, though he said they said they usually make such things for $5 each. Pics are in the thread at http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39712
specifically in posts #47 and #48 there.

Didn't need the center "bushing" since the Varishocks came with the proper ferrules.

 

Charles,
I would use aluminum side spacers with either bronze or steel ferules. The Poly will not provide enough side load support to keep from cracking the ears on your rear uprights when tightened. In addition they will compress and create drag between the shock bushing and the mounting ears on the car. The ferrules should move freely inside the shock bushings and the side spacers should butt against the ferrules and the mounting ears and have little if any contact with the shock bushing itself. Use silicone grease similar to what comes with Energy bushings between the ferrules and the shock bushings.
Also, Mikes shock bushings are similar to what I did, HOWEVER he used Varishocks which have a wider shock mount. Therefore his bushings are smaller than what you will need with QA1s. He used one bushing per shock mount that was 11mm. If you use 2 to center the shock like I did, it would be 5.5mm each, but the QA1s are narrower by 3mm. Yours may measure differently, but my spacers ended up being 7mm per side.

I am putting the finishing touches on my brakes/suspension redo this weekend so the car is still on the lift and easy to take measurements. PM me or call me if you have any questions.

Have fun,
John

 

Just noticed on your drawing above that your alum. bushings look like they go thru the shock bushing AND thru your poly spacers and out to the mounting flanges. If thats the case, disregard what I posted above as the aluminum ferrule would be taking the compression and the poly is simply to locate the shock. Nice design in my opinion. I would still consider bronze or steel for the ferrules.

John

 

FWIW I would not make bushings out of anything but steel. Aluminum etc is too soft and will get hammered oval pretty fast. We always make "Top Hats" (so you only have 4 peices to make per shock) which press into the spherical with .001" crush. Having shock bushings drop out and roll around while trying to install them is a pita.

I'd like to here what you think of the QA1's when you're all siad and done.

 

Exactly my point using aluminum. Steel or bronze would be better.
I have used top hat style bushings in the past with Penske and Ohlins shocks on race cars. Good design, but works better with spherical bearing mount shocks which these are not. It could easily be done to the QA1s, but probably is not necessary. The real benefit there is the ease of servicing and with street cars hopefully they wont be on and off enough to matter.

I will keep you posted.

John

 

I'm in the process of making up a set of QA1 bushings for another member. My design is essentially the same as yours except that I'm also using Al for the washers.

I wasn't happy with the top hat design as it allows room for a bit of flex in the center, can bend the thru bolt slightly. The rigid sleeve bushing both takes the compression load of the mounting yoke & also provides rigid transfer of load from the shock to the yoke. I'm not so sure about the sleeve getting hammered out oval. The compression force of the yoke should provide a substantial amount of friction to keep it from sliding.

I know of someone who made temporary QA-1 bushings out of copper pipe. So far they're holding up quite well!

 

My mistake, I thought they would have had sphericals. What mounting system do they use? Rubber bushings?

 

They use a eyelet mount system. Basicly a rigid end with a poly bushing. The bushing has a cylindrical thru-hole that takes a 3/4" diameter x 1.25" long sleeve/bolt/stud. Usually a sleeve over a smaller diameter stud. QA-1 sells sleeves with an assortmentn of fractional dimension thru-holes.

They sell kits that can be used to convert them to spherical bearing ends.

 

Thanks Verell.
Perhaps someone could post some pics when completed and installed.

 

Thanks Charles.
Nice job! Please post you're thoughts with balance and handling feedback when you have the QA1's fitted.
Cheers!

 

Yup, looks very familiar, great minds...

Would you send eMAIL with how to call you, I'd like to discuss them some more.
[email protected]

 

I went with the "top hat" design in Al. Haven't had any problems so far.
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Have qa1 shoks on my 308 gtbi must say very happy with them was gonna go with orig koni. Qa1 front DR7855 poly rear DR5855 poly spings F12-170 R14-175 12 damper setting handling is awesome they weight next to nothing just qwik note when fitting rear shoks have the damper adjuster(black) knob on shoks facing towards the engine as this will foul up on A arms if you try an fit the other way and makes it hard to adjust for you track guys and the front facing well in 'out ' wat ever tickles your fancy (and be very careful when fitting shok between A arms not to bump the black knob very fragile ) cheers rizzo

 

Very nice Charles. They should work well. I am mounting mine this weekend as well. Rears are on. Doing the fronts today.

John

 

Probably won't, I may just be being overly cautious.

I still think the sleeve/washer design is better. My 2nd reason for not using them is they're a lot more work/$ to machine due to amount of material used, unless you've got a CNC lathe.

The sleeve bushing is just std 3/4" Al rod with a 12mm center hole. The washers are also a std rod diameter with a 3/4" hole.

Still takes a surprising amount of time on a small lathe. Not sure I could do a set of 16 bushings/32 washers in Atlantaman's 2.5-3 hours incl setup. Then another 30 minuites to powdercoat the washers either black or red.

Which reminds me, QA-1 never responded to my request for lowered spring perches on the rod end so the A-arms don't have to be cutout. Last correspondence they wanted a minimum order of 100 shocks. I asked if they'd consider a NRE charge & do a smaller quantity, but haven't heard.

Would really like for Unobtainium Supply to be able to offer a complete 308/328 Shocks & bushings set along with a table of spring recommendations & sources.

 

I really think you should consider the Varishocks instead of the QA1 shocks -- presuming all else is equal, they have a much more robust, Koni-like mounting head. I'm very pleased with mine.

 

Don't worry Mike,
I've got VariShock on my round2it list as well.

However, I'm much further down the learning curve with QA1s. Primarily because I started researching them a while ago and US has a customer who already has bought QA1s & has ordered bushings for them that I have to deliver soon.

I haven't had time to look into a VariShock solution yet, but plan to.

BTW, do you have a link to the web site for the VariShock manufacturer? Best I've come up with is the ChassisWorks.com site, but their catalog doesn't have the detail I'd expect from the mfg. I'm going to need to talk to the VariShock mfg. tech support people to get precise dimensions & mounting recommendations for their shocks.

 

Never mind, it's:
http://www.varishock.com

- DUH