Club Cobra - What are the best shocks

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Mick I
I agee bang for buck QA1 good

LJ

I use Cararra shock / spring adjustable rebound. Yes, the units are expensive, but then I only have one life. I do not push the limits of the car on public roads. I do enjoy playing with it on a track. I do my playing at Dunville Autodrome which is a road course. The track is flat and narrow. The track is so tight you can bearly touch third gear. When I am driving outside of the track, I am very comfortable with how my car handles. Up here in Ontario Canada, if you are caught doing 30 MPH or better over the speed limit. The fine is $10,000.00 dollar fine, and they take and crush the car. That is a bit steep if you have over 100 thousand in your dream car. Besides, up here everybody appears to have their own idea of entitlement, and the "me first" outlook is always on their minds. (ramble off)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatBoy (Post 1193440)

But they are a listed part number so presumably, you can buy them.
I'll add to the Penske recommendation, they're brilliant on my Kirkham. In spite of having solid rose-joints everywhere, the car is amazingly compliant and comfortable and much of that must be down to the superb Penskes.

Paul

Every Penske is "custom" valved. You can't buy an "off-the-shelf" Penske shock, they're all by specification. Even if the specification is "the usual" or "the default", they're all custom, all hand-built and dyno'd.

Yes, that is true of the Penske's, but the trick is what valving to run. To get something in the ballpark takes some time and money.

We have dyno'd quite a few of the cheaper shocks, the results bring a tear to your eye and there is a definite lack of consistancy.

We have also had experience with Murray Cootes Shocks. Can highly recommend Murray, he knows his stuff.

On all our new cars we have optimised the shock location/operation to increase shock movement for a given suspension travel. The more the shock moves, the better and more reliable the control it can exhibit. So regardless of the shock brand chosen, you will get the best out of it. So if you can, this is a good area to address.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 400TT (Post 1193459)

On all our new cars we have optimised the shock location/operation to increase shock movement for a given suspension travel. The more the shock moves, the better and more reliable the control it can exhibit. So regardless of the shock brand chosen, you will get the best out of it. So if you can, this is a good area to address.

A very good point Craig. You want to give what ever type of shock you choose the best chance of controling the spring/wheel. As a rule of thumb keep the shock as close to vertical as possible and get out as close to the end of the suspension arm as possible.

This was part of the design brief for my home made rear suspension.

I've got AVOs but bought them before I knew better.

We don't often have the luxury or budget for custom shock valving to suit the Cobra. There's not many kit manufacturers that will put in the work to come up with a package that's dialed in to suit their chassis. Most will just reccomend an eye to eye length for an after market coil over. Hats off to you Craig for going the extra mile.

I like the idea of switching to a double adjustable since it gives the best chance of dialing the shock in to suit your particular car setup. Being able to adjust compression and rebound seperately should get you as close as possible. It also lets you tweek how the car transfers weight. Drag racers have been doing it for years with shock valving that has less comepression and more rebound damping or vice versa. This lets them make the car lift the front and squat the rear transfering more weight to the rear tyres for better traction.

Cheers

Michael

Quote:

Originally Posted by 400TT (Post 1193459)

We have dyno'd quite a few of the cheaper shocks, the results bring a tear to your eye and there is a definite lack of consistancy.

Craig, at the risk of a lawsuit, how did the QA1s fare?