help with shocks

by black eyes Fri Dec 13, 2013 11:45 am

Hello all hope your all doing good in this winter season and by the way happy holidays to all. I wanted to know were to get a Qa1 coil overs for my 73 mailbu as i have seen most of you running these on your cars? Problem being Qa1 does not make them for my year but the tex said there has been a lot of interest and will be making a direct bolt in kit for 73-76 coming soon. So if i may ask were did you buy yours from or did you make your own plates for the shock to fit? Any and all help will be great thanks.

by 74Malibu383 Fri Dec 13, 2013 4:27 pm

The fronts will bolt right in. The rears will bolt in on the bottom, but you'll need some sort of plate for up top. I modified an earlier Chevelle conversion bracket when I did mine.

Call QA-1 and tell them what you are working on. Give them the weights and tell them what you want to do with the car driving wise. They can give you the part numbers for the shocks and the springs. After you have the part numbers, you can get them from any distributor. Summit, Jegs...

I personally went with dual adjustable shocks and love them.

by black eyes Sat Dec 14, 2013 9:18 am

Hello and thanks for the reply i have called them Qa1 thay doint make them but said other supplyers make there own plates and set ups and add there package with the coil overs.So i have see some like opg but the question i have is on my 73 malibu i want to run a detroit speed rear bar and there upper and lower arms but need to lower the car down like how you have yours so i need lowering springs along withe the shocks so how do i know what spring to get? there by weight? or drop level 1 or 2 inch? I just got my rims today foose legends f104 black milled 17x8-18x9 so i will need to check the ride height with new rims/tires p.s.74malibu mad props to you on your talent and skill on doing your car very nice

by 74Malibu383 Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:58 am

Thanks for the props, I appreciate it.

I have the DSE rear bar and love it.

I'm slightly confused. Thought you wanted to run coil-over's in the rear. They're fully adjustable so you can adjust the ride height where ever you want it.

If it's lowering springs you're after, I used some 2" lowering ones for a while. It was a good start, but I wanted it slightly lower.

I would just throw those new rims/tires on the car then figure out how much of a drop you want.

by driveit Mon Dec 16, 2013 12:51 pm

Mine has got to drop more in the front. It is really annoying. With a 2 in drop spindle in the front and raised almost an inch. ugh... Gonna pull the springs and cut them once it warms back up!

by black eyes Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:52 pm

Well not going good with finding a bracket for the shocks.Tops bolt in but bottoms need a bracket to use the qa1 and nobody has them that i have called qa1-spohn-detroit speed so the search is still on. I plan on lowering it in the back but will wait to see how it sits with new rim/tires.

by black eyes Mon Dec 16, 2013 3:04 pm

after re reading your reply post you said tops need the brackets? and everybody is saying bottoms so i am lost i know you did yours so tend to believe you maybe i could ask to get a photo for yours and maybe i can figure this out.if not i'll half to ask a shop if they can do the work for me.

by 74Malibu383 Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:21 am

I don't know who you are talking to about the bottoms needing a bracket, but they're wrong. Here's the thread from 2010 when I did it... There aren't any photos of the top, but like the thread states, I just put the 1/4" plate that came with the "kit" up top and bolted it in.

http://www.g3gm.com/t2576-rear-coil-over-s

There are also photos of the front suspension in this thread, as well as the DSE rear sway bar:
http://www.g3gm.com/t5400-engine-bay-cleanup-horsepower-increase-_-engine-installed
I know these are aftermarket control arms, but the exact same coil-overs were used when I was running the stock set up.

by black eyes Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:44 am

well after reading your 2010 post there bolt in on top 1/4 plate to add some extra strength and bottom were washers to add space. is this kit still available? them check for shock height..

by 74Malibu383 Tue Dec 17, 2013 2:22 pm

No idea... you'd have to call.

by black eyes Wed Dec 18, 2013 2:48 pm

Hello just a update 1- thanks malibu for the post of your car gave me insight and help 2- the guy ( edit miller ) is still in business just talked to him before i started to write this reply he was on the road in ohio going back to bama and i have set up a time to call and order the brackets thursday thanks to inspire me to keep going..

by 74Malibu383 Wed Dec 18, 2013 3:45 pm

Great. Good luck!

by black eyes Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:50 am

Well up date to this point.I have begun to do some work on the car as of 8-16-14 i have replaced rear end cover with a t/a performance girdle,upper and lower control arms with metcomotorsports cnc machined 6061-t6511 billet aluminum& clear anodized,new rear bushings,Qa1 double ajustable shocks and a bracket kit from edit miller (nice guy )also a rear sway bar from detroit speed that i have not goten to as of yet. Got to late with all the problems we had but well get it done slow but surley and if 74 malibu383 see this thanks for you help and insight with photos that really help out a lot.And if i my ask cence i up graded to a different control arms and shocks were does the rear sway bar mount? if you have a photo this will send me in the write direction i think i know but want to confirm it thanks ps photos coming soon.

by 74Malibu383 Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:52 pm

Wow, you have done a lot! Any photos?

I could only find two photos that might help you. The DSE sway bar mounts to the frame via the corvette style end links. It's a little dark, but you can see the end link just to the right of the backing plate in the second photo.

If these don't help you out, I can try to take a better photo tonight.

help with shocks 2012-025

by driveit Tue Aug 19, 2014 3:11 pm

black eyes wrote:Well up date to this point.I have begun to do some work on the car as of 8-16-14 i have replaced rear end cover with a t/a performance girdle,upper and lower control arms with metcomotorsports cnc machined 6061-t6511 billet aluminum& clear anodized,new rear bushings,Qa1 double ajustable shocks and a bracket kit from edit miller (nice guy )also a rear sway bar from detroit speed that i have not goten to as of yet. Got to late with all the problems we had but well get it done slow but surley and if 74 malibu383 see this thanks for you help and insight with photos that really help out a lot.And if i my ask cence i up graded to a different control arms and shocks were does the rear sway bar mount? if you have a photo this will send me in the write direction i think i know but want to confirm it thanks ps photos coming soon.

Awesome progress. Please share some photos. I really wanted to do the coil overs on the back of my 74, but don't have a lot of tools to do fabrication for making my own brackets and such. Can you post details on the bracket if it was an exact bolt on?

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