Suspension upgrades.. Recommendations?

[complex]

Finally got my car (97 240SX SE) back from the body shop on Wednesday, and got new Bridgestone Potenza RE730s put on it today. Good stuff.

Anyway, I want to start doing some suspension upgrades soon, and I'm looking into different options. First thing I'm considering is new springs/shocks.. Any suggestions for those? Something pretty good, but not super expensive.

Also, what about intake/exhaust? I'm focusing mainly on suspension stuff, but a few engine mods wouldn't hurt.

Thanks.

[Solidus]

For your intake Injen is the constant and AEM just came out with a system for your car. Either of those will work and look fine. As far as suspension it depends on what you want, I mean do you mind that skateboard feel of a tight suspension or do you want your girl to be happy during the whole ride. There are a whole slew of options. You could go Koni yellow?Red ? with an Eibach pro kit or you could go hard core and get a set of Apex world sport Full body coilovers. It's up to you but you have to decide. Just remember , Freinds don't let freinds buy junk. Buy right stay happy. No weapon R , Arospeed , OBX crap. Trust me and you'll have more money later to start on your SR20DET. Don't trust me and I guarantee you'll buy one good part for every piece of crap you buy the first time and end up paying triple.

[complex]

I don't really mind a rougher ride. I had a Jeep Wrangler before I got my 240, so I'm kinda used to it. :P

I've heard a few other people suggest the Eibach Pro-kit.. Just happening to find it one place while looking at other stuff, they list the price as $225. Good/bad? Any other places you would suggest buying from?

[jexser]

I don't know if anyone else saw it, but on Speedvision they had a feature on the Lotus R-something and it had the new Eibach coil-overs on it. They have the remote oil canisters and all, pretty fuggin' nice!

I agree with solidus completely, buy only the best you can afford. Companies like Tokiko and Koni deserve the reputation they enjoy. And be sure to get rid of all the rubber bushings in the car, urethane bushing will increase "feel" dramaticaly. Don't be lured in by the ricer culture and stay away from any deals that seem too good to be true. You get what you pay for, and cars related items are no different.

[Edited by jexser on 04-21-2001 at 11:27 AM]

[Jay]

if you want to drop they money go with either Tien, APEXi or some other GOOD coil over set up...other wise go with KG/mm springs and Koni/tociko adj. shocks..with some goos sway bars...thats the best route to go!!!!

[GolfTT]

Unless you really plan on using the height adjustability of the coil overs a lot, the extra cost isn't worth it. I went with Neuspeed Sports, and for racing vs. street I got Koni Yellows (adjustable shocks). The ride height is fine and I can tighten or soften the suspension up depending on the conditions very easily. Just something for you to consider.

Tim

[complex]

Yeah, I don't think I need expensive coilovers.. I'll probably just stick with shocks/springs. Now for what is probably a really dumb question, but I'm still a newbie.. What exactly are the bushings, and how much are they to replace, on average?

Lastly, can anyone suggest some good places to buy from online (or in the Tucson area, if anyone happens to live around here..)?

[Solidus]

Try http://www.optauto.com , on the question of bushings contact energy suspension for your application . The bushing kit itself is cheap 100-150. Getting it all pressed in is the bitch. But trust me its the difference between Disney and Club Hedonism (been there ) . I would advise you to go with the Koni adjustable (yellow) and the spring choice is up to you ( Tanabe sustec, Eibach ,H&R etc. ) But I'll tell you again " STAY AWAY FROM CHEAP RICE CRAP" ( Nobody told me)

[Jay]

Had some Kg/mms on my Hachi Roku...loved them...Ill get them for my next car..what ever that is(probly WRX)

[Silvia S14]

no foo, get skunk2 springs, snapping them in half is part of the fun! ;) :D

[Mystik]

word up, sil knows what the deal is...


ps sil s14, you will be happy knowing i am looking for a s13.. :) perferably a 180 style :) know of any cheapy's i can get? i need a drift beater

[Silvia S14]

I really haven't found any cheap 180SX body 240s, I use to see at least a handful of under $2000 ones, but recently no cheapies.. maybe the Super Street crowd caught on an are buying them up? :D

[Mystik]

damn those bastards!

[guroo27]

I have skunk 2 fully adjustables. i dropped my 93 integra 2.5 in front and 1.75 in back and I love it. make sure you do it the proper way and get bushings and camber and all that stuff. i see way too many lowering jobs that look like crap.
oh yeah, i can drop my car up to four inches i think for show, but i cant drive like that.

[Rich]

Okay, the orignal question was for shocks/swaybars....

When building a suspention kit you are going to have to think of many things. First of all you are going to need to make a desition, looks, or performance. You may never acheave both, and if you do, you are luckey. If you are looking at making your car handel the corners better, read on. If you are looking at making your car look cool, go cut your springs, and have a ball.

There are many things that go into building a good suspention package. Some of these parts are, Springs, shock/struts, sway bars, camber plates, hubs, sub frame connectors, heim joints, mustache bars, half shafts, jounce bumpers, bump stops, panhard arms, controll arms, A-arms, bushings, and this list goes on and on depending on what type of suspention you have. All cars can be made to handel the corners well, some better then others. Depending on what you want to spend, I have seen a '68 Camaro beat the hell out of a '98 Viper on Laguna Seca.

Springs:
Springs are the most common form of suspention mod today. Most people lower their car before they make any other mods to it. With that, the aftermarket companies supply the demand with a miriad of lowering spring kits. The two types of kits are liniar and progressive. They both have their places in our world. A progressive spring is great if you want to lower your car, and retain a plushy ride. They do this by changing the spring rate from the top to bottom of the spring travel. You will have a soft section at the top where your car rides, as you progress to the bottom of your suspention travel your springs will stiffen up, keeping you from bottoming your suspention. These springs tend to cause dangerous sessions of under/oversteer by constantly changing the spring rates as you corner. This change is unpredictable, wich makes the car handel worse then when it was stock. Liniar rate springs are built for those of us that will take a harsh ride over poor cornering abilitys. The liniar rate springs are of a constant rate from top to bottom, making them very predictable in corners. Because the springs are of a constant rate, it makes the manafacturing of them easier, and cheaper, making them cheaper for the consumer. You may not get a super low look with a set of liniar springs, but you will benifit more from them, then you would from a super low set of progressives.

Struts/shocks:
When replaceing your springs to lower your ride height, it is always a good idea to slap in some stiffer struts/shocks with them. Because you are shortning the distance from ride height to bottom, it will take less of a hit to bottom out your suspention. I also reccomend when replaceing your struts/shocks get an adjustable set (Tokico, KYB, Koni, Carrea, etc.) This will allow you to fine tune your suspention for racing, or soften up your ride for round the town drives. The adjustable strut/shocks are alittle more pricy, but well worth the envestment if you are wanting to drive hard and fast.

Jounce bumpers:
aka, "them little rubber things on your struts" They are there for a really important porpose. To keep you from bottoming out your struts completly, wich tends to bend and brake them. If you are going to lower your car, you might also want to modify the Jounce bumpers. Most cars will have them tapered, for the same reasons you have progressive springs. To become harder and harder when you are bottoming out. You are going to want to cut out the smaller/softer section, this will make the bottom outs more harsh, but still keep you from slaming suspention parts.

Bump stops:
aka, "them little rubber things on your frame" These keep your controll arms/A-arms from smacking the frame/chassis of your car. if you lower, get some smaller ones, but MAKE SURE THEY ARE THERE. Metal on metal when you hit a harsh bump is really bad.

Sway bars:
Another simple, and common mod to the suspention. The sway bar is a rod of steel, alu, etc. that connects one side of your suspention, to the other. In the middle it is attached the the chassis, or frame of the car. Fallowing Newton's first law. The weight of your car wants to keep going in a straight line as you corner. This lifts the side of the car closest to the apex of the turn. If you rotate hard enough you will lift the inside tires, and possabily roll over. As your chassis rolls, the swabar fights the motion and pushes up on the outside of the car. Keeping the car flat in the corner, and making it possable to keep all 4 tires on the pavement. The thicker the bar, the more enegery it will withstand, and the flatter the car will remain. When choosing a bar, be sure to choose a good set, front and rear. If your f/r bars are not ballanced, you will cause under/oversteer. A little body roll is good, this keeps the weight on the outside tires, wich will pull you through the corner faster.

Strut tower braces:
aka "strut bars, strut braces, usless cool things, etc." Depending on your chassis, these bars are great mods, or useless. 99% of the bars on the open market are not very effective at what they are entended for. They are ment to connect your strut towers and keep them an equal distance apart while cornering. If you think of your chassis as a U shape. Where the legs of the U are the strut towers, and base the chassis. The strut brace will connect the top, making a square shaped figure. Thid DOES keep the strut towers the same distance apart, but it still changes, remember from HS geometry, a square is a very unstable shape. To make the strut bars more effective, you can place a leg between the bar, and the chassis, before, and below the mounting point. This will help eleminate the tendency to turn that cool square into a diamond in a corner. Even better then that is to connect the strut bar to the fire wall of the engine bay. This will keep the legs of the U from moving side to side, aswell and front to rear. THIS WILL CAUSE MORE UNDERSTEER. It's something you are going to have to tune around. The easies way to counteract that front bar is to install a rear bar. The rear suspention is alittle different then the front. You have changed the U to a H, yet another unstable shape. Best way to stiffent this up is to connect the tops of the H with a strut bar, and a cross bar from one top, to the center of the H. This will make the square formed by the strut bar into two triangles, the most stable of shapes. Then adding a subframe connector to the bottom of the H and the same type of cross bar, will do the same thing. All in all, the strut bars should be one of the last mods you make to a suspention kit. They will only enhance other suspention mods, and will not be a stand alone item.

I could go on all day about building a race ready suspention, but I can't give all my secrets away. If I did, I wouldn't have a job when I get out of the Army If you are wanting to build a completly race ready suspention package, feel free to e-mail me privatly at rich@corprin.com Hoped I helped someone.

[tweek162]

have you looked at http://www.240sx.org ?

best bet for those who drive 240s

i had a ka24e before.