stage20

iTrader: (3)

a buddy of mine runs a drag car and said that qa1 would custom make any shock to my specifications. i took the bait and called qa1 and spoke with an upper salesman. he said they do make custom orders, but not just one pair. he said that if he could get 100 orders (200 struts) they would make a production run.

who is up for a set of 12 ways for the front of our cars? i am!

i dont know exactly how we could set this up. maybe get on the horn and verify your order with a credit card #, and when 100 orders come in, he could make the struts and charge the cards.

just a thought, dont flame me too bad.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

if they aren't available then how are they for sale? i'll get some pictures up soon....

25THRSS

I'm in for front struts

stage20

iTrader: (3)

you have a set?

Scott_92RS

Did you get a price? It'll take more than this post to get 100 REAL orders. Maybe post this on camaroz28.com and the other regional thirdgen boards and this will have a slight chance of happening.

stage20

iTrader: (3)

it looks to me as if kandied has a set already. i was interested in his coilovers, so he is changing something.

post up a pic, better yet, where you got them from.

i didnt get a price on the custom production run. i figure they are worth whatever they wanna bill me for. its hard to find a strut that does EVERYTHING in one.

MrDude_1

i know im dying for some QA1s...

several of my 4thgen friends have them, and i get jealous when i see them go from dragstrip soft to road course hard in 30seconds....


i want some.

stage20

iTrader: (3)

30 seconds? those must be worn out, ive seen them adjust in 15. :hail:

MrDude_1

they're 4thgen owners........ you know... slow.

they have to have time to set the starbucks in their fancy lil flip out cupholder.....

ksrammstein

Depending on the $$$ I might be in but 100 orders is a lot.

stage20

iTrader: (3)

ive got 4 cupholders myself..... i know how they are tho, hehe.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

sorry guys, no pictures of them until i get the car back....12 way all around.



https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=240484

stage20

iTrader: (3)

where did you get them from? ive made numerous calls in the past week. from what ive told, they dont exist. im ready to buy a set right now, lead me the way.

ksrammstein

I thought that 3rd gen and 4th gen shocks were interchangable? Maybee that was just the stock ones, but I don't see why aftermarket should be any different.

25THRSS

not the fronts

Dewey316

Kandied,

I clicked the link, didn't see any strut info.

are you using the universal coil overs on the front?

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

it's there.......

MrDude_1

think about this.

what companys shocks are often found on Air Rides setups?

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

*ding* *ding* you got it right.

as far as i know i haven't seen them from any other company, in fact when i called to ask questions about them from hal themselves they were very hesitant. not sure why other then maybe someone has a lock on them as far as the machpherson strut is concerned. the actual shocks on the other hand have been around for awhile.

i'll get some pictures up and more info when i have them....i can tell you though that listed price on them is up around 700 though so they will be expensive, not as much but up there.

MrDude_1

700... if thats for a whole air ride setup, thats CHEAP..... i mean, good shocks and springs cost that much anyway...


unless you're talking about just the front struts...

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

that's just the strut, not the strut bag or the work for it. i'm talking 700 retail for the qa1 piece before it even gets the fabrication work for the rest.

you can't get an air ride kit for a mustang for 700 and everyone knows our parts are at least twice that of a mustang. mustang front qa1 strut bags 12 way retail for 1200.

MrDude_1

dudes

its even on their website already:
http://www.ridetech.com/productinfo/airstrut.asp


strut:


a possible 3rdgen kit:

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

i posted pictures of that strut on here over a year ago. i made appointments back in last august for this and they printed that in their newest catalog that's been sitting on my desk for over half a year now.

someone's just keeping things from you guys.


anyhow they are available and i'll get more pics soon but this is all i have for now that i can show....

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=240484

stage20

iTrader: (3)

so you are using the strut only from that setup, for a set of custom coilovers?

thats too rich for my blood.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

lol.........no

hal has never been cheap either. 12 way adjustable billet struts are going to be expensive. those of you having hard times understanding why koni/bilstein are up there would have a fit. considering bilstein 12 way billet is up around 1200 a set 700 for the hal isn't so bad. i'm sure there around 500.

Dewey316

My only issue with the QA1 shocks, is the lack of independent compresion and rebound adjustment, the adjustable billet bilsteins, and konis, are both double adjustable. QA1's are not (I am not saying they are not a quality product, so lets not get into that.)

MrDude_1

the diff being the adjustment range (PLEASE correct me if im wrong)

the bilsteins and konis adjust from autocross/roadrace hard to firm street hard.... while the QA1s go from drag race soft to i-cant-believe-this-car-doesnt-have-a-swaybar hard...

btw, my only adjustible strut experiance is with 4thgens so if im wrong, let me know.

stage20

iTrader: (3)

kandied- you have a set of 12 way qa1 front struts on your car? the kits above are airbag style kits which i am not interested in. if you have a set of qa1 that will work in the stock location with a coil spring type setup, please tell me how you discovered these. ive spoke with qa1 and have been told they do not make ANY strut for a 82-92 camaro/firebird, and have no plans to do so. ill make a new thread about my discussion and post a link for you.

stage20

iTrader: (3)

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=240616

some interesting info i learned today. anyone have experience, please share. :lala:

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

well let's look at it this way. in order to build an air strut ( patened by air ride tech.) you would have to take a strut and then build on it just like you would a coilover. my bilsteins have a coilover sleeve that is built (welded) onto the housing. it doesn't change the overall structure of the strut in any way. same as the housing.

now with that out of the way lets look at the physics. how much money and time is involved in building a strut? i doubt a whole lot, however look at what they cost. air ride is using their qa1 12 way struts for their air struts so they must be making them right? now just speaking from experience air ride mostly deals in distribution, not custom fab and individual setup....which i'm sure is the same as hals research and development.

case n' point....basically it sounds like they are available but hal is making more through air rides patent rather then just selling 1 or 2 to the public.

when i can get more info i will............that's all i can say for now.

stage20

iTrader: (3)

you would think hal would just sell the dang shocks. if they dont fabricate the bag on there, there is only a strut, which is all anyone needs for road/drag racing. qa1 needs to step up to the plate. :lala:

i called pat back about the struts in the air ride system. he says they are made by them (qa1) so why is he slinging BS about the piston rod being too long to take abuse, when he knew they were already in production of some form? im getting the shaft.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

as i said i will get you all the info you need.........you'll just have to wait til the end of the month. i'll try to do the best i can but they are available and anyone can purchase them. it's just a technical thing that is somewhat pushed back because of a patent.

o'well....good luck with your search, when i can get the info i will....that's the best i can do for now.

stage20

iTrader: (3)

all they had to say was "call us back in a month" or something of that nature. not "we cant make them to handle the abuse" "we have no plans of making them"

i understand that patents can get really hairy at times, but there is no reason to flat out lie to a potential customer.

am i right?

thanks for the info.

ksrammstein

You are right, lets just wait and see what Kandied can dig up.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

who knows why they said what they said but many things could have happened. you could have gotten someone who was having a bad day, someone lower down who truly didn't know or someone who thought you were some young kid and really didn't care what they told you......

it's unfortunate but those types of things happen. the best thing you can do when your in a situation like this is to ask to speak to an R&D group president or someone slightly higher up on a custom fabrication level rather then waisting your time with basic salesmen.

as i said i'm working on getting the info together, if your in a hurry i can't do much for you but i'll have some solid info by the end of the month.

stage20

iTrader: (3)

im in no hurry, ive got a set of 90/10 shocks going on soon, to get me by.

what i dont understand is that Pat was the actual engineer, not the low man on the totum pole or some 6.50 an hour desk clerk.

ill be patient, but im a bit upset for them not taking me seriously. maybe i should look higher up, if i can. answers like that steer business away.

thanks kandied.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

sounds like he wasn't on board with the project....he may just not know but i agree with you.

no problem.

stage20

iTrader: (3)

any update on these struts.... im getting ancy.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

lol.........yeah i can understand that. no i haven't done anything about it and i won't really know much until i get my car back which probably won't be for another week or so. the last time i talked with everyone the idea was that air ride was the only company that had the fronts anyhow. i wanted to wait until the actual finished building my struts before i made any comments on trying to get bare ones.

darkhorse91

I know this is a zombie thread but I would like to know about these if anything happened. Also on the Air Ride site it says 1-kit above the price for the air struts. wtf does that mean?

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

mine were finished shortly after. worked exceptionally well. they are now in the for sale section though as i'm working on a double tubular front end and need a shorter setup.

Shagwell

were they ever released as just the struts?
- I have a set of the vari-shock aluminum coil-overs(from alston's) that I got as a present. There was a post a little while ago about them, supposedly not being available. I haven't even looked at mine in a couple years. I haven't put them on, as I'm in the middle of a LOT greater things w/ my car. I guess I'll have to dig 'em out and make sure they're not mustang fit or soemthing stupid...

I'll be running the QA1 12 way rear coil-overs(street ones w/ the poly bushing) and the alston fronts.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

no and there are no plans of it the last time i spoke with someone at SEMA.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

here is the only set i know of.

darkhorse91

the airstruts are for sale on their website but It says 1-Kit. Does that mean you were the only guy to get one or what?

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

why don't you try asking them?

they have only made one kit for the thirdgen and i have it. they had plans they may even have plans to make another set but i haven't heard anything about it.

as i said anyone that is interested call up air ride and talk with them about the setup. if there is enough interest i'm sure they would make them. at $1,400+ a pair most probably won't.

if anyone would like them i am thinking of selling them as i want my car to go lower and the struts keep me from setting the lowest height possible.