280z front strut housing

[Tourniqet]

I ran across a guy who has some ground controll suspension but he says I need 280z front strut housing to put it on my 240z. He also said it is a good thing to do because I have more clearance around the inserts... What exactly is this mod and how hard is it to do?

Thanks

[2ManyZs]

First off, you don't want any "extra" room in the housing or your strut cartridge is going to move around and end up seizing.

The GC system he has is probably an adjustable coil over set up that requires cutting the strut housings and welding on new lower perches.

The 280 housings are longer and larger diameter than the 240, so you will want to use the 240 housing if at all possible. You probably could use the 280 housing with the GC coil overs as they will end up being nearly the exact same lenght after cutting.

But, whatever he's talking about having extra room in the housing, he's BS'ing you.

How hard is it to do? Scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most difficult, this would be a 9 if you don't have access to the right tools and are not an experienced welder... but then, you could always pay someone to do it....

[Tourniqet]

I replied saying that the extra room was bad and the larger diameter strut housing would prevent wider tires to be fitted.

He wrote

"The larger diameter 280Z strut housing is significantly stiffer

than the 240Z part, and the insert is held only by its ends (not on the sides). Additionally, the increased oil volume around the insert helps it stay cooler. As for wide tires, I doubt that the 2mm occupied by the strut housing is significant. I use 225R15s on all four corners. In any case, the smaller diameter coilover spring is much more significant in this regard."

[gramercyjam]

240Z strut housing will work just fine for the GC coilover stuff. However, the GC shocks (Advance Design brtand) will not fit into the 240Z strut housings because the OD of the shock is larger than the ID of the strut housing. The larger ID 280Z strut housings must be obtained OR the 240Z strut housings must be bored out to use the Advance Design shocks by GC.

John

[2ManyZs]

I guess the question is, is he trying to sell you 240 inserts with the set or 280? There's a big difference if he's trying to tell you to get 280 housing while selling you 240 inserts, or if he's actually selling 280 inserts which won't fit into the 240 housing as they are physically larger.

FWIW, the amount of oil in the housing will not make that much of a difference in any case, the oil will only serve to "cool" the insert up to the point that the oil is the same temp as the insert. Once they are at the same temp, the only thing that is going to conduct heat is the housing body. The only true way to cool the inserts is to use remote reservoir shocks that will replace the hot oil with cooler oil from the reservoir.

And secondly, the gland nuts for the replacement cartridges will not seal the oil in the housing like the original equipment one will as they were not designed for it.

[Tourniqet]

I am not sure, He is not selling shocks at all just springs and a GC adjustable type kit...