QA1 Six-Link Rear Suspension Conversion Installed

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65RoadRacer

65RoadRacer

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We've been dying to install one of these to see how it goes, and we have a fresh 1967 Dart taking in the coilover setup. Check it out here. The front installation is next.
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dukeboy_318 said:
curious question, what size rear tires are you gonna try running?
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I know they're using B body rear brakes, and are going to run a 17x7 inch wheel. This is more or less a replacement for a stock setup, so the axle can't be narrowed and you really can't fit anything bigger than what can fit on a stock rear suspension. Since it's a new kit, it's hard to say if they might build a kit for relocated spring mounts... I would think it's possible to accommodate that, but for now that's not on the drawing board yet.
 
Whats the time line for this build, do you expect to have it on the ground in the next few months ? Curious to see how exhaust works out. What are you doing for engine and trans? Beautiful paint btw...
 
Thanks for posting. I personally can not wait to take a close up a this.

I just love looking at ingenuity in action.
 
magnummopar said:
Whats the time line for this build, do you expect to have it on the ground in the next few months ? Curious to see how exhaust works out. What are you doing for engine and trans? Beautiful paint btw...
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We're going to do the front probably next week (K-member, control arms, dynamic links) and the built small-block is ready to go with a four-speed trans. The car should be done in a couple months, they're moving fast on it.

Exhaust might be a side exit as they've done that on a Demon and liked it, but it does look like you can still run it up over the axle.
 
There's a lot of engineering there that's for sure, but I think it's overly complicated. Especially for a street car. Add that to the fact that you can't even use a 1/2" offset with it, which means on a Dart you're pretty much stuck with nothing wider than a 245 out back or a 275 on a Duster/Demon/Dart Sport, probably a Barracuda as well. And no tailpipes?

I just don't see it. If you're not repeatedly flogging your car at AutoX's then leafs, a sway bar and a good set of shocks is more than sufficient . And if you ARE flogging your car at AutoX's, you need more tire than what this will give you. And of course if you're drag racing this isn't what you want anyway.

I certainly appreciate the effort and ingenuity, and having QA1 making aftermarket suspension parts for our Mopars is great, the more the merrier. The bolt-in installation is nice, but I think after that the negatives (and the price tag) outweigh the benefits of the system.
 
72bluNblu said:
There's a lot of engineering there that's for sure, but I think it's overly complicated. Especially for a street car. Add that to the fact that you can't even use a 1/2" offset with it, which means on a Dart you're pretty much stuck with nothing wider than a 245 out back or a 275 on a Duster/Demon/Dart Sport, probably a Barracuda as well. And no tailpipes?

I just don't see it. If you're not repeatedly flogging your car at AutoX's then leafs, a sway bar and a good set of shocks is more than sufficient . And if you ARE flogging your car at AutoX's, you need more tire than what this will give you. And of course if you're drag racing this isn't what you want anyway.

I certainly appreciate the effort and ingenuity, and having QA1 making aftermarket suspension parts for our Mopars is great, the more the merrier. The bolt-in installation is nice, but I think after that the negatives (and the price tag) outweigh the benefits of the system.
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Keep in mind that this kit is not designed for a standard, street use vehicle, this kit is designed for the person who wants to autocross or roadrace. You're right, you'd probably want a wider tire, but this doesn't give you less tire room, so whatever you're going to fit on a stock set up will fit here.
 
Nobody thats gonna autocross is gonna run a "stock" size tire...OTE="65RoadRacer, post: 1971343325, member: 47432"]whatever you're going to fit on a stock set up will fit here.[/QUOTE]
Nob
 
This set up looks more geared towards the guy who wants ohs and ahs when people look at his car. There is a whole market out there catering to "the re-invent the wheel" crowd.....highly unlikely its even AS capable as a properly set up leaf rear, ESPECIALLY with the limit in tire sizing
 
replicaracer43 said:
Nobody thats gonna autocross is gonna run a "stock" size tire...OTE="65RoadRacer, post: 1971343325, member: 47432"]whatever you're going to fit on a stock set up will fit here.
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Nob[/QUOTE]
I didn't say stock size tire, I said stock set up (you know, stock leaf spring and stock width axle.)
 
Yeah but if you run this kit, you MUST run a tire size that would fit with all the stock components. There's no room to go bigger. Looking at how the links are mounted to the axle and routed, you get zero extra room for tires compared to having the leaf springs in the stock location. Which means on a Dart that's lowered you'll be lucky to run 245's. That's simply not competitive for autoX or roadracing. The guys that have had success autoX'ing in competitive circles are running 275's at the minimum. And since you can run a 275 up front with little to no modifications, you're seriously missing out if you're running the 6-link on a Dart/Scamp/Valiant. And even if you do have a Duster/Demon/Dart Sport you're limiting yourself to 275's. I run 295's out back on my Duster, but it takes a 1/2" offset to do that and the 6 link won't work with that (at least currently). And then there's the ride height, it sets the roll center at the stock height and only allows +/- 1" for adjustment. For a serious racer that means you can only lower the car 1" at the most, because you're going to lower it as much as physically possible.

Sure, if you want to hit the occasional autoX or track day for fun it's not a huge deal, but if you're trying to be competitive this isn't the system you're going to use. And if you're just going out for fun occasionally you can do that with leafs and a sway bar and save a few grand. So, if it's not good for a street car (dumped exhaust) and it's not good for a competitive car (tire limits) then I'm with replicaracer, it's just a "looks cool" coilover conversion that costs a lot of money and wouldn't necessarily make you any faster.
 
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abodyjoe said:
man that really limits tire size and tail pipe options huh. just see no use for that set up.
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A rare time you and I agree on something. But i do agree. Not trying to diss anyone, but I just don't see how this is better than the far cheaper and very effective four links out there. Plus with the 2 links going to the rear, that is gonna massively cause binding on cornering.
 
Now how am I supposed to fit 355/30/19's out back on a Duster?
 

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That QA1 rear suspension is well made. All in all its a great kit. Very tunable. Heavy duty construction.

I hate to tell everyone this but most shops are going to charge $1500 to $2000 to do a spring relocate & mini tub. If you want them to install a 4 link & mini tub that will be $4000. Narrowing a rearend is cheap @ $150. But, then you have to buy axles for $300... And modifying those stock rear stamped sheet metal rear frame rails? Or running stiff suspension on them? The weakest link on every car I've ever owned is the suspension mounting points. I've ripped more Swaybar mounts out of frames than I can count, control arm mounts were never made to withstand road racing...

Learn to weld this stuff yourself, or build your own parts. The QA1 rear suspension can be modified with a little work.
 
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67Dart273 said:
A few of you that go all gaga over this fancy link stuff need to remember that some of the fastest Mopars, both road race and strip, still use a rear leaf setup.
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Yup. Exactly so. Tim Werner's "red brick" valiant has hit at 160 mph with torsion bars and leaf springs at Portland International, and put down lap times faster than a C06 Corvette at that track. No kidding. LilCuda owns that car now.

Tomswheels Valiant has turned autoX laps faster than Mary Pozi's Camaro, he runs torsion bars and leaf springs and was giving up 150hp to Mary's 500 hp Camaro.

And then there's the Hotchkis Taxi, a freaking 4 door 1970 Satellite that TireRack's test driver was using to put down faster lap times, with the same tires, as he was putting down with 2012 3 series BMW's that TireRack uses for testing normally. Just a torsion bar and leaf spring car. If you really want to get into it, the new 2017 Ford GT supercar uses a torsion bar suspension set up in the front. And the new Corvette's use a transverse rear leaf spring. Yup. Transverse leaf spring. You heard that right.

Like I said earlier, I appreciate the effort and engineering that went into that 6 link, but it has a very short useful suspension travel range because of all those links, it eliminates the use of tail pipes and ties you to the the stock suspension locations for figuring tire clearance unless you want to re-engineer the whole thing. As for what shops charge, learn how to weld.
 
These things are designed to appeal to people who have no ability to fab/think/tune. The reality is the fastest mopars on the autocross/circle track/ road course are still to this day, torsion bar/leaf spring equipped.
 
lol. I work in automotive suspension R & D here in Michigan. The only reason they use a torsion bar or composite transverse monoleaf in any supercar like the Corvette is for smaller packaging and weight reduction, and they're really cheap. They don't use them for performance or durability gains. They usually delaminate on the very ends overtime. And the durability sucks. We test these setups for 1-4 million cycles. Coil over shocks are durable and hold more accurate suspension geometry.

I seriously doubt anyone on here can engineer a system like QA1. And from the work I've seen on people's cars, half the battle is sloppy quality and then the car won't track straight. You need to know a little more than just how to weld.

(And where's the guy that welded new axle ends on his 8 3/4 rear by clamping them to the tubes... Yea great work not using a narrowing jig).
 
oi81b4uu812b4 said:
lol. I work in automotive suspension R & D here in Michigan. The only reason they use a torsion bar or composite transverse monoleaf in any supercar like the Corvette is for smaller packaging and weight reduction, and they're really cheap. They don't use them for performance or durability gains. They usually delaminate on the very ends overtime. And the durability sucks. We test these setups for 1-4 million cycles. Coil over shocks are durable and hold more accurate suspension geometry.

I seriously doubt anyone on here can engineer a system like QA1. And from the work I've seen on people's cars, half the battle is sloppy quality and then the car won't track straight. You need to know a little more than just how to weld.

(And where's the guy that welded new axle ends on his 8 3/4 rear by clamping them to the tubes... Yea great work not using a narrowing jig).
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A Corvette doesn't have any performance?
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: Your killin me!
 
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