Hey guys, Justin Parise here from QA1
and today we're going to be installing a rear coil-over kit on this 94 Chevy Caprice Wagon.
You can either get single or double adjustable shocks, you get your bracket tree, you get all the hardware
you're gonna need. We're gonna have various SAE and metric
sockets, both standard length and extended. You're gonna need extensions. I like to have the wobble socket style. These ones are really nice.
We're also gonna need just wrenches. A good option to have are some
quality impact wrenches. If you're doing this alone, this helps a lot instead of just working with sockets and wrenches.
So the first thing that you're gonna want to do when you get your kit and I understand being an enthusiast you're really excited
that you just got your kit and you just want to start taking nuts and bolts apart and throwing on your new kit.
But the first thing you really should do is to check your tire pressure
and make sure all that is where it's supposed to be.
This is my personal wagon, and for me, I wanted all my tires at 30 psi. I've already checked it,
that's where I'm at. Now
I'm gonna go ahead and measure from the center of the tire at the ground to the top of my fender and
see where I originally am and then I have a goal to go for when I'm done with the coil-over kit.
And for me, I want it down to 20 inches.
Right now I'm at about 22. So I need to come down roughly two inches and that's the first step.
Okay, so now we got the car up on the lift
the
car is almost jacked up to the point now where the suspension is almost completely unloaded.
So now it's time to unbolt the shock from the lower perch and then we'll go up top and get the other two bolts.
So now that we have the lower
bolt on the shock undone, now we can raise the car up more and get access to the spring.
We're going to get the spring out and then the springs out we have room to get at the upper shock bolts.
So now that you have the car up in the air a little bit further you have room for the shock to come out between
the tire and the exhaust on the passenger side. On the driver's side
there's not as much room with the exhaust hanging lower and
you need to actually get the shock out before you can get the spring out.
Now that the springs out we can gain access to the upper shock bolts
and one thing I wanted to point out with is the
youngest these cars are is 21 years old is a good chance that your shocks have been changed.
The shocks that I have specifically are a
13-millimeter nut at the bottom and a 10-millimeter bolt at the top and what I like to use is a quarter inch
little breaker bar with a 12 point socket to go in from the top. It's tricky to get in there
this is probably the hardest part of the job. But once you can gain access
between the axle and the exhaust,
you can get your arm up through the top and there you can gain access with your little breaker bar.
With our new 78 to 96 GM brackets
you need to make sure that the slotted hole in the bracket goes towards the front of the car and that the hole that you
need to drill goes towards the outside of the vehicle
That's how you know that you have the correct bracket on the right side of the car.
So now that the bracket is loosely in place,
we're now going to snug the bracket up and then drill the existing hole with a 5/16 drill bit
and I'm going to be careful not to knick the bracket,
but if I do, I do have a paint pen to mend the zinc plating so that we don't cause any more corrosion.
Now that the upper bracket is in place. We're going to put the lower end with the one existing hole.
We're then gonna mark where the upper hole gets drilled
using a paint pen and a punch.
From there, we're gonna put this number 29 drill bit in our drill and
drill the pilot hole from the front going back once we have our pilot hole done,
we'll put in the 1/2 inch drill bit come from the back going forward and drill the rest of our hole then we can mount
up our lower bracket.
We're gonna go through with the barrel file, file the hole smooth and
also take a paint pen, and we're going to paint the inside of the holes just for some added corrosion protection.
So now that we have the holes drilled and the lowers perched, we're going to install the lower bracket
with the included hardware. The 3/4 inch long half-inch 20 bolt goes in the lower
existing hole in the spring perch.
Now we're on to installing the plates onto our modular bracket.
And this is what really makes the QA1
rear coil-over kit unique is that these brackets allow you to change the ride height on the back of your car without
actually changing where the shock is in its operating range.
So what that means is that you can keep your shock in its optimal range while also changing your ride height.
Now with these plates you want
both plates on the outside of the tabs of the bracket.
And what I mean by that is that the first one goes on the outside on this side and the second one goes to the
still the outside of the vehicle on
the other tab. And you have six
positions for these tabs to fit in, you have three positions
with the brackets this way, and
you can flip the brackets and have another three positions.
So you have six positions of ride height an inch and a half total in this bracket.
It's just one more option for our end customers to truly put their car exactly where they want it.
Now that you have your lower plates in place and
I suggest that you put the plates in the lower flipped position and then one up from the very bottom to start out with and
once you have them in position,
we are going to get the bolts almost tight,
leave the plates just slightly loose and that'll make it easier to put the shocks in once it's time to do that.
Now that the lower bracket is installed and the plates are in loosely now, it's time to install the shock
and if this were a sedan this would be as simple as taking the two and a half inch bolt and
putting in the upper mount and then taking the two and three quarter inch bolts sliding it through the lower amount and you'd be done.
However,
this is a wagon and the brace on the frame has larger gusseting and it comes into contact with the edge of the spring,
so there is a little bit of trimming that needs to be done before the shock can be installed properly.
So the first thing you need to do is put the shock in place and see where the clearance issues are.
So now that I temporarily put the shock in place,
I marked
with a paint pen where the spring made interference with the crossmember gusseting,
and now I'm going to take the shock back out and I'm gonna use a grinder to clear the spot on the gusset and
give the shock and spring more clearance with the wagon crossmember.
Now that we trimmed away what we needed to with the
crossmember and have roughly half an inch of clearance between the crossmember and the spring and it's been painted,
It's now time to install the shock.
We're gonna put the 2 1/2 inch 1/2 20 bolt in the top and a 2/3 inch 1/2 20 bolt in
the bottom. Let's go.
Now, these kits come with four stainless steel spacers that need to get put in between the plates and the bearing in the shock.
You want to make sure that the smaller diameter side goes towards the bearing in your kit.
So now that we have both shocks upper and lower tight, now it's time to
tighten up the plates in the bracket and drop the car down and see where our ride height is and make sure we have it
where we want it.
Now that we have the suspension all tightened. Now, it's time to set the ride height.
The first thing I'm gonna do is shake the rear end.
Just let the suspension settle out and I don't have any compression and rebound settings in the knobs yet,
so it'll bounce quite a bit and settle. Once we bounce the rear end a little bit the car will be settled enough to where
we can take our ride height measurements.
We're back at our original ride height of 22 inches from the ground to the top of the skirt.
Now it's time to adjust the shocks and the brackets. The best way to do it is to adjust with the brackets first and then
adjust the shock and try to get your shock from eyelet to eyelet to 16 inches plus or minus 3/4 of an inch.
That's the best ride height optimal range for a six-inch stroke single or double adjustable shock.
Now that we got the ride height set on our 95 Caprice Wagon,
and it's nice and level it's time to go enjoy it.
And if you have any questions, please visit our website or give us a call on our tech line.