I've been thinking of taking the suspension plans for the wagon up a notch and since I came into a little unexpected "fun" money recently I can do more than originally planned without killing the budget. I've already got 4-wheel disc brakes and a stout 12-bolt build is currently underway.

The car is a '65 Chevelle 2-door wagon with a big block and a manual trans. I want to lower it just a bit to improve handling. I want to make it handle well without destroying the ride entirely and still allow for some ability to launch well at the drag strip. My original plans were to go with some lowering springs and possibly to add some bags in the rear. I still plan to add large sway bars and poly suspension bushings all around, with rubber bushings in the top rear arms.

Now I think I'll be going with QA1 coil overs in front with Hotchkiss lowering springs in the rear with bags and Carrera or QA1 shocks in the rear.

The Hotchkiss rear springs are a one-size-fits-all for 64-67s and I think I'm narrowing down the right spring rates to order for the front. With the adjustable height in the front and adjustable shock rates in the front combined with the bags in the rear springs I should have some amount of adjustment at all four corners to set the car up differently for street, handling or strip as the needs arise.

Does this sound like a good combo? I'd go with QA1 rear springs too if they offered a set but that's not the case.

Thoughts?

TIA

My comments would be

-Don't go too big on the swaybars, let your springs and shocks do the work instead, your ride quality will be better off for it.

-I like my Carrera shocks alot. For mostly street/handling use I'd go with them. If you plan on alot of drag strip time and want to get the best launch, QA1's are the way to go. You can adjust them for the best weight transfer at the strip.

My thought was that keeping things adjustable allows me to tune the suspension for whatever situation I have at hand. I have an old set of Carrera shocks I dearly love and have taken them off my coupe (which got reproduction spiral shocks) and donated them to the wagon project. But with the decision to go with QA1 front coil overs the Carreras can go back to the coupe for when I have it in cruisin' trim. I sure do miss their firm ride!

I have 1 1/8 and 1 inch sway bars on the coupe and it does great with this combo. I assume the same will work well on the wagon. Some sources say that if they are set up well they will handle better WITHOUT the rear bar but I plan to install it and do some A/B/A testing for myself. It'll come off and on easily as taking out 4 bolts. My thinking is that with the extra weight on the rear of a wagon a rear bar will help not hinder, especially since the wagon weight back there is high (roof) and behind the rear axle (wagons are longer than coupes behind the axle).

I hope to start writing checks as early as next week for all the goodies I'll need!

Now I just need to decide between the NAPA quick ratio steering box and the AGR quick ratio box.

I'm running the NAPA quick ratio box. I imagine the AGR is better and probably has a better feel, but I couldn't afford one.

I have to wonder if it is $120+ better though. I need a new gear box no matter what I do so I might go with the NAPA box for now to at least get the quick ratio and if I don't like the feel I'll upgrade at a later date.

Well, I can tell you did an autocross with mine, and I havn't had a problem with it at all. The only thing I noticed was a very slight decrease in turning radius. I'm not sure if that's something that can be adjusted or not.

How much improvement will the quick ratio box give in general feel on the road? Assuming F41 suspension?