Suspension Redo!

[Captain Obvious]

Don't forget to do the tightening of the bushing nuts with the car on the ground. You might even consider loosening the other bushing locations as well and resetting them to a new "normalized" position. I'm thinking that your new springs and strut inserts might establish a different neutral stance than your old parts and it would be good to re-normalize everything. 

 

Loosen everything up both front and rear, jounce around a couple times, (have someone sit in the driver's seat if you're that concerned) and tighten them up again?

 

Wait a minute... You're running stock style rubber bushings, not poly, right?

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Correct, all my inner front bushings and my rear inner bushings are all OEM Nissan parts.

 

No poly in the suspension at all except the mustache bar.

[Captain Obvious]

Yeah, in that case you might consider resetting everything.

 

And I'm sure you would do this without mentioning, but I'd keep an eye on your tires too... If the changes are dramatic enough, you might find an alignment is in order.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Absolutely.... Well put.

I am always curious about the alignment any time I touch the front end.  Still, I did not remove the steering knuckles from the tie rods, so it should be very close.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

So, I am torquing every thing up this morning on my friday off, and notice that my rear A arms are the same, I mean literally the same.  One just looks to be flipped over upside down.  The flats on the rear A arm are on top on the one side, and on the bottom on the other.  Well after I was done cussing the previous owner,  I went into the factory service manual to see which side I will be needing to order. 

 

Turns out in the picture, it is the same way in the factor service manual. How did I not notice this before???

 

Edited April 24, 2015 by Zedyone_kenobi

[Mike W]

Yes its seems strange but that is the correct configuration.  Guess it was for cost savings as they got to use a single part for both sides, just one flipped over.

 

Anxious to hear how the spring / strut change impacts your ride height as well as drivability.

 

Mike.

[rossiz]

huh... who knew? seems odd though, as the one with the flats facing up would seem to hold water if those two tiny drain holes near the spindle ever got plugged, and doesn't the arm sit in at an angle with the hub end down with no load? this would put those drain holes up top - unless the hub end of the section is open... anyway it seems goofy to me.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Okay here is a pic after:

 

 

 

And before

:

 

 

 

Not the best comparison really. I am shocked I did not have more side shots of the Z.  But 

 

Let me say this. For the first time in my ownership of the Z I can actually press down on the fenders and the car moves and gives a bit.  You know, like a car should. Going up and down my drive way was immediately apparent I have now have some upward movement. It was great. I want to take her out on a longer test drive.

 

The frost is the most noticeably higher.  I was worried about having a saggy but, but I really think it is pretty close to level. But I have definitely have more gap in front than in back.  Where I use to have barely 2 fingers in back, I have 3 now.  

 

Overall I am pleased.  Very pleased.  I will write more on the differences when I get more miles on this set up. I wager both the front and back will settle a bit more.

[Captain Obvious]

Man that car is beautiful. And the garage... I would eat off that floor. It ain't right!  ::

[HaZmatt]

So clean!

[Diseazd]

Stephen......The car will settle in over the next couple weeks. The Eibach springs aren't much of a drop from stock. Looks great......how do you like the ride?

[Zedyone_kenobi]

The ride is much improved from what I can tell so far

But I need to get her out on the road more

I just went a few times around the bock to check for any clunks or weird sounds

Going up the driveway was immediately noticeable

Very happy I did this!