Strano springs and Koni Yellows

[LETZRIDE]

I think I am set to swap my suspension up. My QA1's are leaking and I don't know how to rebuild them. Aside from that, I haven't been going to the drag strip as often. Now that I am out of the city, the roads around me are a little more curvy. I feel like I will have more fun with her not in a drag suspension setup and if I lose 1-2 tenths in the quarter mile so be it. I have the power on tap now that I can make up for that in other way if need be.

My Plan is to order the Koni's in June if all goes well. I have been between the Koni STR.T and Yellows for awhile now. reading through thread after thread isn't helping lol. My thought is this is probably the last time I will change the shocks, so why not spend a little more and get the best I can get. Then the other side of me is like, go with the Koni STR.T and you can do 1 more mod this year lol...damn budgets...

[ssms5411]

That’s cool, I think you can have the QA-1s rebuilt from QA-1, but the Koni’s are very nice, I’ve looked at them for my next shocks. I have Qa1’s right now also.

[LETZRIDE]

Ya the Qa1’s are rebuildable, but will require a bunch of downtime for me to ship them out from Canada. I also don’t have the tools to do it myself.

I’ll pull them and sell them as rebuilds for a low cost when I yank them. I mean now that I have a garage I could probably wait till winter and pull them out, ship them for rebuilt and reinstall. But then I can’t use my garage shop for like 2 months… Plus I was reading that the Koni’s actually do pretty decent on drag races anyway.

The question still remains though… Koni STR.T or Koni Yellow’s lol?

Also trying to figure out how the on car and off car adjustable shocks differ. Anyone know?

[ssms5411]

Email Strano he could probably tell you which ones to go with, just tell him what you want to do with the car and what mods. I know he use to answer questions about the springs and shocks.

[LETZRIDE]

Ended up calling Sam and ordered a set of the koni sports 4/4’s and strano springs. I found out from Sam that the STR.T shocks are not actually a koni shock. They are made in South America (I think he said) but are just backed by Koni’s warranty. They are not anything like a Koni shocks and are no comparison.

So let’s see how she handles when I get these on. I pick them up this weekend, not sure when I will have time to install, hopefully soon…

[ssms5411]

Nice, you’ll like them.

[LETZRIDE]

Did you run them before Steve? I am wondering how much I’ll truly be able to lean into corners…

[ssms5411]

Did you run them before Steve? I am wondering how much I’ll truly be able to lean into corners…

No they’ll be my next ones. Running the QA-1s right now. Everyone who has them loves them, I’m on some V8 forums and they swear by them.

[zlexiss]

Nice! Love Strano setups. Now get that big front swaybar he sells and figure out the right rear one to pair it with

[LETZRIDE]

Sway bars are on the list for maybe next year. I think I am ponying up for a K frame this year and fixing the oil pan gasket seep.

[ssms5411]

Yeah tubular k is definitely a great upgrade. I have a UMI 35mm front and 21mm rear nice upgrades. Didn’t you have a tubular k on your v6 Mike?

[LETZRIDE]

I did have a tubular K on my V6. I had all PA racing stuff. I snapped my lower A arm on the weld from them. So as a result I am hesitant to run tubular stuff.

I have bene back and forth with the BMR and UMI this time around. UMI uses a double tube design which is nicer and offers added protection. BMR has the turbo K frame. Their tubes are also thicker than PA racing, so I take some comfort in that (even though the K frame did not give me an issue).

Part of me wants to Turbo the LS1 but that is a whole new ball game for me. I loosely priced out some stuff and landed at $6-7k which is a big chunk of change all at once. The other option was doing heads/cam so I don't have to run such an aggressive cam setup and kill off too much drivability. Running something like AFR 205 heads and a cam. But the heads alone will put my behind about $3k by the time I am said and done, now to be fair a good portion of that 3 grand overlaps with what I would need to run a cam (rocker arms, springs, valve guides, etc). So Heads/Cam should run around $4k max and can be done in segments.

This time around I am looking to run stock lower A arms. I am pricing out a new set locally and through Rockauto. Damn inflation has shipping through the roof because usually Rock Auto is the winner in price hands down. My A arms were totally seized on the last car, so I am not even bothering looking into getting new bushings and pressing them in out etc for the price of new arms.

[ssms5411]

Yeah, so far my PA racing k and A arms are holding up been almost 15 years. Turbo LS1 would be cool, just do as your doing, a little at a time. It will eventually happen.

[LETZRIDE]

Expensive year for me. Pulled the trigger on a turbo k frame then ordered from Rockauto and another supplier new factory lower A arms, upper a arms, tie rods (inner and outer).

Basically the entire front end will be brand new.

[ssms5411]

Expensive year for me. Pulled the trigger on a turbo k frame then ordered from Rockauto and another supplier new factory lower A arms, upper a arms, tie rods (inner and outer).

Basically the entire front end will be brand new.

Nice, should be pretty sweet. Post pics.