my suspension

[CRrider1988]

Hi im new here. My name is Mike, im 17 and live in Portland, OR. I bought my first Z, a 75 280 about 2 weeks ago. My plan is to "slowly" build it into the "weekend racer". I want to put some good suspension on it, right now it is all stock. It currently needs new struts, any little bump and i really feel it and hear it. I want good handling because i drive on a lot of curvey roads and want to be able to take it to the track and get some proformance out of it. I also want it to ride decent, i dont expect (or really want) an cadillac quality ride but it has to be ok for daily driving. What would you guys recommend for my low budget? A local parts store recommended KYB's or Tokico's, others have said they are both lame. Im stuck, whats the best for me?

[Bubbleguinea]

my brother just graduated from PSU...good times :-) he used to be on their sailing team...

anywho, hes got a volvo 1800E hehe IPD is located up there..

ok Z talk:

get tokicko or whatever. they are the best struts for a Z ever. Get familiar with www.zcarparts.com

they sell everything you want. MSA springs to drop the car, thick anti sway bars, strut tower bars, struts, poly. bushings, and boom. you have a car that can handle lots of roads in portland...and ive been on the curvy ones in the 1800E over there...they are pretty nice!

enjoy!

[TBK1]

just put the tokico hp set in my 77, got the struts and springs on ebay for 360.00, and while it was apart went with the hyperflex bushings. what a difference!

[nwcubsman]

Hi Mike,

Welcome on board. I have the Tokico Illuminas + Tokico springs on my wifes 240, with the polyurethane bushings. I like them so much I am going to put the same on my 240. Hope to see you around town.

[kenz240z]

Hello Mike, welcome to the club!

I, too, have installed the Tokico HP struts & springs on my '73. I also replaced all the bushings with the Hyperflex polyurethane set. My Z handles great with a nice firm ride.

I cleaned and refinished all the suspension & driveline parts when I did the work, now everything looks clean & new.

[CRrider1988]

Thanks for the input guys, seems like my best bet is Tokico. Now to start saving the money...more work

[bpilati]

CRrider, I'm getting ready to overhaul my entire suspension. I'm replacing my springs with OEM spec springs. I'm going with KYB strut inserts. I'm going to use Energy Suspension Hyperflex kit in most areas, but not all. I'm installing a Suspension Techniques swaybar kit. I purchased shocks and swaybars from shox.com. Very difficult to beat their price. Hyperflex kit I bought from local friend. I'm moving my differential to the '72 and later position (straightens out axles). My objective is a good road car. Stiffer springs will make ride stiffer, common sense.

The Z did not come with a very impressive front sway bar and tends to sway too much, common sense. Tight ride is good, bone jarring ride is bad. Track cars are not road cars. Tracks are smooth and flat, roads are rough and have potholes, use common sense. Some (well many) like to drive track cars on roads. Why? More money than sense is all I can imagine (my opinion). Why do we have suspension, well to smooth out ride on normal roads. Theoretically, if roads were laser perfect, what kind of suspension would you really need? Lots of jarring and vibration is not good for you car, especially an old one. You're 17, so maybe your body can withstand lots of bone jarring right now, but your Z is 30+ years old....be nice to it. Did BRE drive his cars down country roads or race tracks? Another thing, only a hand full of people that you meet around here even know what a BRAND NEW STOCK 240Z rides like, the rest (incl. me) know what an OLD WORN OUT 240Z rides like. So the springs are old, shocks have been replaced, but are worn out again, OEM bushings are old, worn, dried out and sloppy. So don't underestimate what brand new stock was like. Good suspensions are engineered, not thrown together in the backyard by gosh and by golly. The suspension is a system, you must think it through, don't buy a bunch of brand names for the stickers that come in the box.

Don't let people fill your head with OMG sounding racing parts, unless you're going to race...and I mean really race. If you are 90% road and 10% parking lot racing, I'd would recommend caution on installing the gee golly stiff components.

[sblake01]

Very well put, Bryan, full of real world common sense, and I toatlly agree with you. My suspenstion is all stock rebuilt in 1999 with new factory parts and urethane bushings at most locations. My 55 year old back appreciates it. I wonder how may arguments you'll get especially from all the 'young guns' we seem to have here,

[bpilati]

That's fine, we're open to that. But they won't kill my logic, they'll just go a buy that stuff cause, well they just want it, it's cool looking, it might impress girls, someone shamed them at the stop light or some such thing. Here are some truths; give your crappy golf clubs to a real pro and he'll hit the ball a country mile and show you stuff you never imagined. Give your worn out Z to a professional race car driver, and he show you stuff you couldn't do if your car was new. It ain't always the car that makes taking the curve easy, it's what's sitting in the driver's seat. Too bad we can't all have John Morton come over and show us what our Z's can do. We'd probably have a new appreciation for Mr Matsuo and his engineers.

[zguitar71]

I have a weekend racer and street drivinf car. I think my car is about as far as you might want to go as far as a hard sus for the street. I have www.Arizonazcar.com springs (heavy duty), I got them because they are linear rate springs, I think the tokico's are progressive, linear is better for racing (I autox). I have Tokico Illumina shocks and love them. I can firm them up for the track and soften them for the street. I bought them new on Ebay for 360 for the set of 4, search Tokico Illumina on ebay and you will find them. I have urathane bushings and the aluminum/delrin bushings for the sus arms so I can adjust the camber and toe for racing. And I have sway bars from MSA. MSA is good but you can find most of their stuff cheeper else where. If you plan on running dot race tires or real slicks (like I do) I think the linear rate springs are the way to go.

[bpilati]

:cheeky: Hey, that AIN'T no baby poo yellow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's Grey Poupon gold, for the sophisticated driver. By Jove!!

[240znz]

I've gone for stock rubber back in the suspension arms but urethane for sway bars, steering coupler and rack mounts. I'm thinking that I'll have sharper steering but a great ride. Best of both worlds.