Jump to content

Coilover advice


Bosch

Recommended Posts

So to give a bit of background before getting into my question(s), I bought my 2005 Zed back in January last year and fell in love with it the first time I drove it. I took it straight to Japex for a full service and never really considered that “Zeditis” would become a thing for me.

 
Add to that, the fact I’d just bought a house and was saving for my upcoming wedding, it felt like any work done to the car would mainly be routine maintenance and replacement of worn parts etc.
 
However, slowly but surely I’m starting to get bitten by the bug and I’m really determined to (i) learn how to wield a spanner; and (ii) modify my car.
 
As money is a little on the tight side post house and wedding, I’m looking at modifications which (i) add to performance, but also (ii) need doing as a result of the age of the car. When I bought the car, it was on 81k and I’ve taken it up to around 92k and in that time I’ve had a handful of services at Japex, a new set of Eagle F1 tyres before splashing out to deal with some of the items which were flagged by Japex as needing attention soon (as well as just doing some things which felt good to do in a preventative approach to maintenance).
 
I’ve therefore sorted the sticky clutch pedal with high temp fluid, braided line and new slave cylinder. My front rotors were in need of replacement and so I upgraded to DBA discs with Hawk HPS pads and put some Hosetechnik braided lines in whilst I was at it. My compression arm bushes were worn and so I had some Whiteline bushes put in. I also had new spark plugs put in and replaced my leaky lower oil pan. I flexed my car maintenance skills and dropped in an HKS air filter and a new fuel filler cap to replace the one with the broken cord and finally added some bling to the engine bay with a Nismo oil filler cap and rad cap.
 
I’m looking at dealing with some of the next things that have been flagged as needing to be addressed and will hopefully use the opportunity to have a go at doing some work myself (with the help of my brother), renting a bay at Pit Start in Acton (or somewhere nearer if anyone knows of a similar service closer to Milton Keynes). Two items flagged on my last service were as follows:
 
1) Rusty W Brace - I’m looking at getting the Ultra Racing brace to replace my rusty one.
2) Rocker Cover - Apparently this is leaking a bit of oil. This was discovered when doing my spark plugs and can be repaired with a gasket set. This seems well beyond my abilities and so will let Ross at Japex sort that for me.
 
Now to the point where my questions come in… I’m wanting to upgrade parts of the car, which save for bits mentioned above is completely stock. Given the age and mileage on the car, I’m wanting to undertake the upgrades on a basis which addresses those parts which are probably getting towards the end of their useful life.
 
I think therefore that the suspension is probably up their on my list of things which needs replacing and which I could have a go at doing myself. I have my eye on either the Meister R Zeta and the BC Racing BR coilovers (but am open to suggestions) and wondered if there was any guidance as to the difference between them or which would be more suitable for a car which in all honesty sees some spirited road driving and probably one track day a year.
 
Next - whilst I am buggering about trying to fit the new suspension, is there anything else I should sensibly be replacing/upgrading? Would new ARBs be needed/worth doing? Do I need to replace droplinks?
 
Finally, in anticipation of replacing my suspension, do I need to think about buying nuts, bolts or any other sundries or do new coilovers come with all the bits you need?

IMG_0819.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On my last car I had been thru both BC's and MeisterR coilovers, given the choice at entry level I'd have the MeisterR. Better made, better  pre  treatment to  help prevent corrosion and Jerricks sales is amazing should it be needed. 

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Arb's changed my 350 way more than coilovers did, made the car far more precise, so it would definitely be on the to do list if i were you. I had BC's and couldnt fault them one bit, i dont think you would be unhappy with either choice to be honest.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Jetpilot said:

Arb's changed my 350 way more than coilovers did, made the car far more precise, so it would definitely be on the to do list if i were you. I had BC's and couldnt fault them one bit, i dont think you would be unhappy with either choice to be honest.

Thanks.

 

Did you have any particular brand of Arb's?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

For anyone who is interested, I've bitten the bullet and placed an order with Tarmac Sportz.

 

I've gone for Meister R Zeta CRD coilovers, H&R anti-roll bars and the Ultra Racing rear lower brace. Now I just need to (i) await delivery of my goodies; and (ii) sort out a place to go and fit them all.

 

I'm hoping it's as straight forward as it looks in the Youtube videos!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would be keen to see how you find the Meister coilovers.  I'd have gone with the GT1's personally though I'm considering KW V3's or Ohlin's for my 350Z.

 

Just on the BC's, I have a 99 JDM Impreza WRX which I fitted a set of BC BR's to a few months ago and I'm honestly not all that Impressed. They did the job for what I needed (to replace the old knackered coilovers already on the car) but given I opted for a softer spring I honestly expected a bit more compliance form them.

 

There is something about the damper valving that I dont like.  It seems to me, in my non-expert opinion, that the compression and rebound curves aren't well matched.  Full soft gives a pretty good ride and reasonable handling but there is a lot of body movement (back and forth) which is most noticeable after getting a full tank of fuel. Full hard is horrific. Even with 205/55/16 tyres, you can feel even the smallest of groves in the road. Body roll is reduced obviously but its not good to drive. 10 up from soft is my current preference, seems to be a happy medium but there is still more front/back motion that I'd like... 10 down from hard was manageable too. The body motion was gone but the ride became way to crashy... Going back to my 350Z's stock suspension made me realise just how good it is.

 

Anyway, keen to hear how you get on with the Meister's

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 07/09/2018 at 12:06, longsh07 said:

Would be keen to see how you find the Meister coilovers.  I'd have gone with the GT1's personally though I'm considering KW V3's or Ohlin's for my 350Z.

Was in exactly the same position for my 135i recently. Researched and spoke at length to people including Jerrick @ MeisterR and was convinced that the GT1's would be as good as  Ohlins and I cant fault them. Better ride than standard dampers but considerably improved body control, they are particularly good over very bumpy or poor surfaces. If youre in that market at half the price of the Ohlins they are difficult to overlook IMO. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

A little bit of an update...

 

So after a day at "This is your Garage", which I would like to say is a fantastic little business, I didn't really achieve half as much as I expected I would. Richard was a real help and offered advice along the way which was really valued given this was my first time working on a car in any meaningful manner. It'd be great if there was one a little closer to me as it was a painful 2 hour drive in stop start traffic getting there for me.

 

13 years worth of rust made getting some of the nuts and bolts off a real challenge. Progress was slow and so we revised down our aim for the day and settled for replacing the W Brace and fitting the front and rear sway bars.

 

A quick tip for anyone doing swaybars (it's probably been covered before), but if your droplinks have never been replaced, make sure you do it. Mine were a dog to get off and without replacements, I had to drive for a week with a horribly loose feel and a loud clunking over bumps in the road as my old droplinks went back on.

 

Fast forward to this week and having determined a 4 hour round trip, plus a full day working on the car to get the Meister R's fitted wasn't going to work for me, a trip to Tarmac Sportz saw my Meister R's fitted together with some new Whiteline droplinks. I know they'll settle over the next few days, but already the feeling is night and day! The service from Chris and Bob was exemplary - Bob even followed up with a call this morning to check in on how they felt on the drive home.

 

Car is currently in for a 4 wheel-alignment and then fingers crossed my drive down to Bournemouth tomorrow should be fun, with everything feeling spot-on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like an exhaust is next on the list of things to do. This one is the original by the looks of it and has had a sleeve repair. 

 

The place that did my alignment is a Powerflow exhaust dealer. Anyone had any experience with these? The guy has some stuff on his Instagram (mad_dp) and it looks pretty decent. 

 

Quotes come in at roughly the same as an invidia which was probably my preferred option prior to seeing I could get something custom built. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Help!

 

So after having my coil overs fitted, the car had been making a horrendous banging noise from the rear, which I mainly put down to the damper adjusters hitting the boot. 

 

I finally got around to trimming them down last weekend and the driver side one came out in my hand together with the damper adjuster at the top of the coil over. 

 

A busy week week at work followed and so I’ve only just got out to the car this morning to go and address the issue and see if I could cure the banging. Took it for a spin and the banging was still there. I got the car up on the jack, took the wheel off and found a sheared bolt where the coilver meets the frame. I dread to think how long I have driven like this as I’ve put the banging down to something far more trivial!!

 

So two questions (I) is this safe to drive to the local garage to be fixed and (ii) is this likely to have caused any structural damage to the car or suspension?

 

3A070CE5-594E-4674-BD4A-D6E76BB28EBB.jpeg

Edited by Bosch
Typo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, ZMANALEX said:

An easy fix and driving to a nearby garage will be fine, but proceed with caution.

No structural damage will have been done.

Thanks!

 

I’ll be taking the speed bump free route to the garage for 8am tomorrow morning. 

 

Hopefully ill I’ll be able to enjoy driving the car again without a constant banging from the rear every time I hit an undulation in the road. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I am also looking coil overs for my skyline 350 GT as we both share 350Z parts . I have been told that I can use standard 350Z shocks and springs on mine as they have a 12mm drop on them.

this might be why mine is sitting a little low on the front, the last owner might have put Z ones on the front ?

I am looking at going with the Tein street basis  are they any good ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...