Just curious bleach did you order them from ebay? I did came shipped out of Las Vegas.

 

When I ordered my set of Illuminas/Springs from Importrp.net it probably took about 5-6 days from when I ordered it. Was free shipping too, but like I said was about $40 more than shox.com

 

Shox.com no word yet on them arriving. They didn't even give me a tracking number....

 

Oh that's no good I hate when that happens. I'm curious to how you will enjoy your new ride because i have the tokico springs and struts and i bought the polyurethane bushings...Only thing is Its all still in the BOX
SO bleach I'm taking notes on your swap cuzz i'm next haha

 

So I asked for a tracking number today since they originally said (May 7th) that they would arrive on May 18th. Today is the 19th. Their response was that Tokico refused to drop ship the springs so they were sent out from their (Shox.com) facility yesturday, on the 18th.
??
So they didn't have them in stock and it took the manufacturer 12 days to get them to the reseller! ...and me as the customer was not informed.
Good thing I just cut those springs!

 

Sounds like you should get free upgraded shipping... too bad they are already on their way.

I've got a similar setup to Bleach (just not using the bump steer spacers), and I love it. Drives like it's on rails.

 

I take it you got your car aligned after the T3 tension rods right? Did you have them change the specs from stock?

 

In other news, my G-nose has arrived in Seattle. I gotta go pick it up.
looks like its only taking 3 days to get here from the time they claim to have sent it out. That's how long it should have taken from May 7th!

Do you have aftermarket sway bars as well? I drove the car a bit, not too fast, and it feels great. No re-alignment. My other Z was horrible with the toe out after lowering it. I will get it aligned though. I don't want to destroy my tires too fast.

 

Yeah, the MSA sway bars... I had extra money lying around and figured why not.

As for alignment... haha. I needs to be re-aligned.

 

i wouldn't align it till he got the shocks in to. and lets see da G-nose mounted!

 

i have the msa sway bars as well, holy crap did they help.

 

I remember you had one of the swaybar... mounts/straps (whatever they are called) break? Do you have a pic of what you did as a repair(just in case that problem shows up)? I didn't see anything in your thread about the fix

 

yeah it sounds like i need to buy the msa sway bars, you guys got me going on it. I'm gonna get those tension rods too. looks like my box of parts gets more dust now.gotta order more parts....

 

I got everything home. The Tokicos and the g-nose. I'm off camping for part of this weekend though so I won't be doing work on the Z.

 

Ah come on! No pics of the G-nose!?

 

yeah i havent fixed the mount yet, its my dd and im building a new shop, so time and space are limited. im prolly going to use a solid block of metal, then use long bolts, there is an article somewhere of a guy who did it that way, its in the thread about me breaking the mount strap.

 

Did you install the Tokico's yet? Im really looking forward to seeing what your car looks like with them installed.

 

Let me know when you get to it. I'm wondering if the springs are similar on the 280ZX. On my S30 when you install the Tokico springs to the strut sleeve, casing, whatever you call it. You don't compress the springs at all. With the car up in the air there's probably about a half inch of play on the spring. This kind of worries me, but that's how it's supposed to be. We gave Tokico a call and talked directly to them.

Now I'm beginning to think about ordering the Techno Toy Tuning adjustable TC rods for the S30 and possibly the Chromoly rear adjustable control arms from 280Zforce. I just ordered a bunch of u-joints for the halfshafts and then I thought that was stupid and should have just bought the modern motorsport adapters to use the 280ZX cv shafts. Oh well maybe down the line.

 

I threw the rear shocks and springs in. It was super easy.

Picture with cut springs:




Then with the Tokicos. Raised 1.25" from the cut springs and it is a much softer ride. It dips just a little on takeoff but handles way better than that jarring bouncy cut spring.


I still plan to cut the rear springs just a little. Maybe 3/4 of a coil. I like the higher ground clearance though. I was scraping the sway bar mounts quite often since they are the lowest point on the car.

 

Very nice! they went lower than I expected.

 

Did you happen to notice what effect(if any) the lowering had on your tire to shock clearance?? On the rear anyway. The front it won't effect.

Thanks for the rundown, and pics, looks good. My car was the color yours is, now it's more metalic primer.
If you've got 2" shock clearance on the back, that makes my game plan look like it might be reasonable. From what I see your rear section width is about 9.5. So, adding the 2" clearance, that's 11.5", and it looks like there's some room left to your 1/4. You haven't even had to get a hammer out, much less a torch, welder and fender roller. All I need is 1",(my intended tire has section width of 12.5) shouldn't be all that tough. I'll probably have to move the rear tires toward the rear to center them in the wheel well for clearance for and aft. They're about 4.5" higher than yours. If and when I ever get done, the wheel well won't be empty...

I'm curious why you didn't go for adjustable spring height?

 

I didnt' measure the clearance. There really isn't that much angle change on lowering. The trailing a-arm is still fairly level. There is plenty of inside room. I think over 2 inches now.
At least an inch on the outside to spare. No need for fender rolling. I could run much wider wheels and tire in back.

The Tokico set includes all four struts and springs for a good price. Coilovers are expensive. I don't have a welder nor the time. Plus this is a daily driver not a racer. Once I set my height I'm done.
Camber plates in front would be fun but un-necessary. The camber is perfect up front. In the back it could use less camber but plates won't do a thing as its not a strut setup.

Now that I have this setup, in future years if I needed to replace a strut insert or shock I could possibly consider a pair of weld-on coilovers for fun.

Also, after driving this car for a couple weeks I would say the ST springs I had a few years ago are more firm. These dip a bit too much on acceleration and I'm still running a stock setup. (slow) I don't consider the factory turbo Z to be a fast car. Its geared way too high. 3.7 R200 and more BOOST are in order

 

The clearance is nice to know, may be able to get bye with more...

Far as the coilovers go, most of my interest in them is from a clearance point of view, although in the end I'm going to want to tailor the rear such that the rear doesn't squat on acceleration,(it clues in the turbo Carerra I'm fixing to anniliate) hooks up, and has reasonable camber for tire wear crusing.
All hopefully without losing the camber decrease these usually achieve in corners. Between all that, and my propensity to wanna put whatever cheap tire I can get on, I think the adjust-ability should be part of the recipe.
Far as the cost goes, I'm pretty sure I can come up with something without spending much, they're simple, and laying around everywhere.

I'm with you on the camber plates, set the thing where ya want it, and be done. If ya have to fabricate some, no big deal. Just an excuse to make car heavier and wallet lighter to me.