Installing QA1 coil over Shocks on a 1974 Chevy Nova 400 LB spring shocks www.amazon.com... Spanner wrenches www.amazon.com... As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Great video! The details of the ball joint separation help a lot. I was looking for someone removing coil springs on UA-cam a couple months ago, didn't find much. I was also looking for the the 98-02 Camaro disc brake swap, didn't find much there either. Ended up making a video of it myself. Nice work, keep em coming.
Nice..I went as well w coilovers on my 69 nova I got the speedtech chicane kit..and went with viking double adjustable coilovers...since then never look back
One thing I just experienced today while installing my Viking coilovers in my 70 Nova, the hole in the frame at the top before the shock arch was not large enough to allow the body of the shock to clear it on full compression. Make sure you have clearance from shock body to the hole beneath the mounting arch and if not, use a die grinder to darius the hole about 3/16" or more, test fit without the spring, then check again before final assembly. It was only an issue on my passenger side, driver's side had ½" clear.
FYI - I had to clearance one of the pass through holes at the top of the spring bucket to allow the shock body to pass through it for full compression. Easiest to check by installing shocks without springs and compressing. Great video! Thanks.
Thank you! I'm building a 72 and been working on cars all my life except for this Covid era that stopped everything! Thanks again for the update and reminder great job
If you have a propane torch handy...with pressure from the spring on the control arm, heat the knuckle with the torch and it will release. Just so people know 1 inch in the shock nut is 2 inches in height at the fender.
This looks like a great route to go to dial in that front ride height. Have you ever put coil overs on stock style stamped lowers? I have heard they’ll be fine and others say they’ll, fold, bend and brake on the first speed bump. This is a street car.
I remember that you also mentioned in a different video that the 72 Nova always had a rear axle alignment issue, where it was a half inch off on the right side. Did that get remedied for 73? I forgot if it was one year only. The back tires reminded me of that nice wheels for this beast.
That is in every 68-74 nova I have ever seen. Some are worse than others. It is caused by tolerance stacking of all the pieces as they are put together.
Please make a video on how to do the alignment! Other than being adjustable, is there any other reason ro run coil overs rather new stock style shocks and coils?
I already have an alignment video but may do another. The advantage to coil overs is ease of install and getting to fine tune your spring rate. Plus you typically start with a much better shock.
Looking good I’m switching my 73 ss car to the 72 front and rear bumpers can I use the same fuel tank and just adjust the fuel tube a bit lower or use a rubber connector to adjust it or do I need to switch to the 68-72 fuel tank ?
Just found your channel, great videos......probably the best rear end build video I've ever seen!! What wheel and tire size you are running? Hope to see a video for the neutral safety switch you discussed because I need to set one up in my car.
Hey. Thanks!! I’m running 275/60/15 on rear of FrankenNova and 255/60/15 on rear of the blue 73. It is difficult to film under dash but I’ll do my best on a video over the neutral safety.
What about the front tire size. My BB swapped 81 Camaro has 15X4 skinny front wheels, bought some 15X7 draglites but undecided on what tire size, your fronts look close to what I need. Since it is gonna be a street strip set up I want a slightly larger tire on the front, stock is 225/70 which I think is too big. I have 275/60 rear.
Thanks for the video as I'm watching it now to replace sacked out front springs. There's a problem with the lower control arm going down. The edge of the lower control arm is wedged inside the disc brake backing plate. Both sides are like that and it seems there's a cutout for the edge of the lower control arm to fit inside. Have you ever heard of needing to remove the brakes to remove the front spring?
I have had this exact problem. On drum and discs. Have to jack control arm back up and pull out on drum/disc to get ball joint in different position. Then lower arm
@@Shop209 thanks so much. I’ll try that. I hope it works. If notI will need to button up the lower ball and remove the top one which I don’t want to do.
Don't use jack stands . i use big wooden blocks (aka wood cribbing ) Also put 2-3 pieces of wood 2x4 's in between the jacks lift arm.n lower jack onto 2x4's .. the jack can not come down with 2x4's shoved in it !
Getting ready to pull the trigger on a full QA1 setup up front for my 74 I've had since high school (many years ago). I am long overdue at fixing the sketchy work I did on this car as a teenager. Is this sitting on a standard height spindle? I'm not sure if you mentioned it or I may have missed it.
I like the tubular a-arms. I‘ve always wanted to do that mod for my ‘76. I was looking at getting Fatman Fab arms because I know they do 2nd Gen Camaro arms that will fit 4th Gen Novas. Any reason you went with CPP over Fatman or Heidts or any of the other companies?
I found those on Craigslist a few years ago. New in box. Guy bought them and realized he didn’t have the skill to change them. I put them on my 73 and after 1000 miles the ball joints were junk. So I replaced them with BMR arms. Then I put new joints in them and used them on this car.
@@Shop209 Not sure if you’ve seen the factory F41 rear sway bar setup but for those reading Thats that haven’t, you can tell a factory setup because the lower plates that attach the rear axle to the leaf springs and that the lower shock mounts to are different than non-F41 plates. Normal plates just have the 4 holes for the U-bolts and T-bolts to attach them to the rear perches. On F41 cars they are wider and have 2 extra mounting holes where the ends of the sway bar attach. Then there are two brackets that attach to the sway bar and go up between the transverse muffler and axle to attach to the frame rails.
Also, any reason you went with the single adjustable? My front fender edge sits at 25” from the ground-perfect for me. I have all stock worn out front suspension but am thinking about Global West uppers with stock lowers as I’d like to keep the original ride height, but now you have me thinking I might like a bit of adjustment.
I went with single adjustable because it’s easier to dial in. I like to turn knobs and with two of them I would be forever playing with adjustment. Lol. Also they’re cheaper and were available. The doubles were not in stock when I ordered.
@@Shop209 not bad just looked like you lost alot of seperation in the front. On a sticky track that good but no prep type stuff it might not. Enjoyed the video. G
Dude that is one very resourceful way of doing it......🎉🎉
Sweet ride
Great video! The details of the ball joint separation help a lot. I was looking for someone removing coil springs on UA-cam a couple months ago, didn't find much.
I was also looking for the the 98-02 Camaro disc brake swap, didn't find much there either. Ended up making a video of it myself.
Nice work, keep em coming.
I’ll check your video out. I’m looking into that swap.
beautiful frankennova t-shirt!!!!
Nice..I went as well w coilovers on my 69 nova I got the speedtech chicane kit..and went with viking double adjustable coilovers...since then never look back
Thanks Just picked up my 72 Nova
I think these coil overs will work great
Very cool. Those look like a good shock / spring combo. Seems easier than fighting the coil springs and shocks separately
Absolutely. Trying to compress the stock springs sucks.
One thing I just experienced today while installing my Viking coilovers in my 70 Nova, the hole in the frame at the top before the shock arch was not large enough to allow the body of the shock to clear it on full compression. Make sure you have clearance from shock body to the hole beneath the mounting arch and if not, use a die grinder to darius the hole about 3/16" or more, test fit without the spring, then check again before final assembly. It was only an issue on my passenger side, driver's side had ½" clear.
I like the stance
Thanks!!
FYI - I had to clearance one of the pass through holes at the top of the spring bucket to allow the shock body to pass through it for full compression. Easiest to check by installing shocks without springs and compressing. Great video! Thanks.
Looks good! Good information. I would have chocked the rear wheels on the side of caution.
Themm brother I was waiting for you to post more videos 🤙
Thank you! I'm building a 72 and been working on cars all my life except for this Covid era that stopped everything! Thanks again for the update and reminder great job
Looked dam good after the first adjustment
Yeah but I could barely get the jack under it.
That is great information!
I’m running Qa1 as well. I have the 650 for my big block. The ride feels good but I can’t get the car as low as I want so I might switch to he 550
Yeah 650 sounds very stiff.
@Shop209 yeah. The ride was cool to me. I originally was thinking about the 73 bumpers along with the big block and I’m not average driver weight
72 with 496 i have the 500lb springs with 3-4 clicks. Barely moves when pushed up/down. Nice quality stuff and great video!
If you have a propane torch handy...with pressure from the spring on the control arm, heat the knuckle with the torch and it will release.
Just so people know 1 inch in the shock nut is 2 inches in height at the fender.
Well done and lot's of adjustment.....
i owned over 30 some nova's over many years.
This looks like a great route to go to dial in that front ride height. Have you ever put coil overs on stock style stamped lowers? I have heard they’ll be fine and others say they’ll, fold, bend and brake on the first speed bump. This is a street car.
Yes. These are designed for that. I didn’t have any issues with them on the one I did.
I remember that you also mentioned in a different video that the 72 Nova always had a rear axle alignment issue, where it was a half inch off on the right side. Did that get remedied for 73? I forgot if it was one year only. The back tires reminded me of that nice wheels for this beast.
That is in every 68-74 nova I have ever seen. Some are worse than others. It is caused by tolerance stacking of all the pieces as they are put together.
Please make a video on how to do the alignment! Other than being adjustable, is there any other reason ro run coil overs rather new stock style shocks and coils?
I already have an alignment video but may do another. The advantage to coil overs is ease of install and getting to fine tune your spring rate. Plus you typically start with a much better shock.
Hmmm, my nova leaf springs in the front .. its actually a kustom built street legal 4x4 nova , with home made 4x4 frame
That’s cool. I want to do a 4X4 nova
Looking good I’m switching my 73 ss car to the 72 front and rear bumpers can I use the same fuel tank and just adjust the fuel tube a bit lower or use a rubber connector to adjust it or do I need to switch to the 68-72 fuel tank ?
The only problem is that you will have part of the tank higher than the filler neck. You might have a problem with fuel running out.
Just found your channel, great videos......probably the best rear end build video I've ever seen!! What wheel and tire size you are running? Hope to see a video for the neutral safety switch you discussed because I need to set one up in my car.
Hey. Thanks!! I’m running 275/60/15 on rear of FrankenNova and 255/60/15 on rear of the blue 73. It is difficult to film under dash but I’ll do my best on a video over the neutral safety.
What about the front tire size. My BB swapped 81 Camaro has 15X4 skinny front wheels, bought some 15X7 draglites but undecided on what tire size, your fronts look close to what I need. Since it is gonna be a street strip set up I want a slightly larger tire on the front, stock is 225/70 which I think is too big. I have 275/60 rear.
I’m running a 195/65/15. 15X4 wheel.
Thanks for the video as I'm watching it now to replace sacked out front springs. There's a problem with the lower control arm going down. The edge of the lower control arm is wedged inside the disc brake backing plate. Both sides are like that and it seems there's a cutout for the edge of the lower control arm to fit inside. Have you ever heard of needing to remove the brakes to remove the front spring?
I have had this exact problem. On drum and discs. Have to jack control arm back up and pull out on drum/disc to get ball joint in different position. Then lower arm
@@Shop209 thanks so much. I’ll try that. I hope it works. If notI will need to button up the lower ball and remove the top one which I don’t want to do.
Don't use jack stands . i use big wooden blocks (aka wood cribbing ) Also put 2-3 pieces of wood 2x4 's in between the jacks lift arm.n lower jack onto 2x4's .. the jack can not come down with 2x4's
shoved in it !
I have some I use on occasion.
Getting ready to pull the trigger on a full QA1 setup up front for my 74 I've had since high school (many years ago). I am long overdue at fixing the sketchy work I did on this car as a teenager. Is this sitting on a standard height spindle? I'm not sure if you mentioned it or I may have missed it.
Yes. Standard spindle. I suggest the 400-450 springs. Not the 350. For a small block.
I like the tubular a-arms. I‘ve always wanted to do that mod for my ‘76. I was looking at getting Fatman Fab arms because I know they do 2nd Gen Camaro arms that will fit 4th Gen Novas. Any reason you went with CPP over Fatman or Heidts or any of the other companies?
I found those on Craigslist a few years ago. New in box. Guy bought them and realized he didn’t have the skill to change them. I put them on my 73 and after 1000 miles the ball joints were junk. So I replaced them with BMR arms. Then I put new joints in them and used them on this car.
@@Shop209 Can’t argue when the price is right 👍🏻 Good to know about the cheap ball joints. Thanks
Question, do you know if F41 suspension was available on non SS cars? 68-72. Rear sway bar?
@@Shop209 Yes it was. 4-doors too.
@@Shop209 Not sure if you’ve seen the factory F41 rear sway bar setup but for those reading Thats that haven’t, you can tell a factory setup because the lower plates that attach the rear axle to the leaf springs and that the lower shock mounts to are different than non-F41 plates. Normal plates just have the 4 holes for the U-bolts and T-bolts to attach them to the rear perches. On F41 cars they are wider and have 2 extra mounting holes where the ends of the sway bar attach. Then there are two brackets that attach to the sway bar and go up between the transverse muffler and axle to attach to the frame rails.
I did the same on my nova but it seems like one side is dipped down more than the other, but both are adjusted at the same height
That is strange. Check to make sure both springs have same part number.
Also, any reason you went with the single adjustable? My front fender edge sits at 25” from the ground-perfect for me. I have all stock worn out front suspension but am thinking about Global West uppers with stock lowers as I’d like to keep the original ride height, but now you have me thinking I might like a bit of adjustment.
I went with single adjustable because it’s easier to dial in. I like to turn knobs and with two of them I would be forever playing with adjustment. Lol. Also they’re cheaper and were available. The doubles were not in stock when I ordered.
@@Shop209 haha! Those are the exact same reasons I ruled out the doubles. Simplicity is key! Love the channel, bud. Keep up the great content.
Thank you!!!
Height is perfect after you adjusted it. Driving a car on the street that is too low is no fun.
Agreed
What parts you're using?
I put the part number in the video description
Not going to work good on bad surface no suspension travel. But looks good
Had a 1.62 60’. So it’s working good enough for power I have at moment
@@Shop209 not bad just looked like you lost alot of seperation in the front. On a sticky track that good but no prep type stuff it might not. Enjoyed the video. G
Thanks! I’m using slicks and not planning any no prep so it’s working so far. Now once I start making more power it might be different.
Can you use 2” drop spindles with the cpp control arms? And can the stock linkages be used tie rods and all the stuff for steering?
Yes. With drop spindles all the suspension is in same place. Just the tires move up.
Thank you so much for the info
What size tires do you have on the front and rear in this video?
Rear is 275/60/15. Front is 195/65/15
Put it back in the weeds!
Lol. Nah
@@Shop209 Not like in the back field, where you pulled it out from! LOL!
You’re talking about half the cars I have. Lol