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Yet another post about wheels, tires and suspension.


OmahaJames

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So like many other B210 owners I am looking into lowing my car and putting new wheels and tires on it and I have a few questions. I have been looking at the Konig Rewind 15x7 wheels, which come it two offsets, +20 and 0, and from he reading I have done on here it seems that if I swap to Datsun 280ZX front struts I should be able to use the 0 offset all the way around, does that seem right? if I stick with the stock suspension will +20 offset on a 15x7 wheel work (I think this works out to 109mm of backspace)?

 

On a 15x7 wheel would a P195/50R15 tire be the best option? I think It should make the overall diameter of of both the wheel and tire about 0.1 smaller than the stock 155SR-13 tire, but I am not an expert by any means.

 

Finally after having read many posts about putting Datsun 280ZX front struts on a B210 I think that is the route I would like to take, but I have not been able to find any used 280ZX parts locally, is there an aftermarket solution that would work, maybe just buying 280ZX parts? If I did that what would I need to buy and what can I reuse from the existing B210 front suspension?

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Techno Toy Tuning - no searching just buy them, he will do the leg work. Expect to wait 3-4 months or more once you have paid. They are worth the $ and the wait.

so your telling me that for $925 you get some 280zx struts(150$)/GC coilver shocks(200$) and koni inserts (220$).. that to you is worth the money?

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also if you cant find em, local junkyard  here has them,, can always ship em to you.. anyways you can just swap over your spring perch and spring and top hat and should be able to drop em in

 

Yeah the junkyards here dont have any Datsuns, I'll do a little more searching here, but let me know what you would want for that.

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next week when i go illl snap some pics, but i do recall seeing a 280zx, did you need complete set up? top hat down to the spindle?

 

Honestly I am not entirely sure what I need, but I currently just have the stock B210 suspension, so I probably need the complete setup.

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Yah they are WELL worth the money. But not everyone has my budget and this OK. To build something decent like what TTT offers would cost you much more to piece together, and may noT fit correctly if you mess just one thing up.

yeah they do make some nice items but are way over priced..

i made these.. 280zx front struts, caliper, hub i paid about 130ish from the junk yard.

t3 camber plates=200

t3 GC coilovers=200

kyb inserts=100 for the pair

so far im at about 630 before tax and have a complete set up, now tell me how is this not decent? im using the same exact parts they use and more!

so lets say i didnt put T3 camber plates my total would come to 430..

but hey if you wanna over spend 500$ more for the pretty much same exact thing then go head lol

 

 

 

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I'm with you on this one 80Datson. I built these for my bubble 510 and it was still less than $900 from T3. Although, I have seen the price for a set of 280zx struts go closer to $250 than $150 on the street. You have to find them at a junk yard or from someone that is parting a ZX out that has no clue how much they're worth.

 

 

 

 

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I'm with you on this one 80Datson. I built these for my bubble 510 and it was still less than $900 from T3. Although, I have seen the price for a set of 280zx struts go closer to $250 than $150 on the street. You have to find them at a junk yard or from someone that is parting a ZX out that has no clue how much they're worth.

 

 

 

 

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yeah complete set of struts can fetch up to 250$ but a bit trick to find, but i got mine on a holiday special (50% off) :p

 

your set up looking sweet though!!! i love the wilwoods set up! though about going this route but not sure if they will clear 13" rims

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so your telling me that for $925 you get some 280zx struts(150$)/GC coilver shocks(200$) and koni inserts (220$).. that to you is worth the money?

 

I have Maxima struts. I made my ride height adjustable too and cost me under $30. Firmed the damping by replaceing the strut oil with thicker 20W motorcycle fork oil for $17 and increased the spring rate 50% for $3.00.

 

Why spend so much on adjustability when they are never adjusted again?

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I have Maxima struts. I made my ride height adjustable too and cost me under $30. Firmed the damping by replaceing the strut oil with thicker 20W motorcycle fork oil for $17 and increased the spring rate 50% for $3.00.

 

Why spend so much on adjustability when they are never adjusted again?

I agree with you 100%, Mike. That's the route I'm planning on taking with my b110 coupe. No need to spend a bunch of money when nissan has tons of stock and cheap used parts from other cars to improve on what the older datsuns had.

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How will pre loading the spring or increasing the pre load going to improve the ride??? Compressing the spring will simply extend the strut against the weight of the vehicle and raise it.

 

 

To get the drop I wanted I compressed the springs against the weight of the front end. Compressing more (pre loading) will just raise the height.

 

If I remove the strut, the spring is now pre loaded and equal to holding up about half the front end weight. To remove the spring I would have to release this 'pre loading'.

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Because when a vehicle with zero preload goes over a ride or bump the the spring mass will come off the springs....the damper that you speak of ( a OE type twin tube with a heavier viscosity suspension fluid) it would certainly not generate enough force, even with high piston shaft velocity, to keep this from occurring...not with the tiny piston that I'm sure that unit has. Not to mention the loads of hysteresis due to the poor internal flow paths. Anyways the sprung mass will come unseated and the crash back down onto the springs, over the backside of the event, the contact patch suffers here...so does the ride. It only make sense to shorten the strut if you are running a reduced ride height from OE (which you obviously are planning on) so you have useable travel in bump. If your pounding the bumpstops, you are losing grip at the tire interface. If you are set on the current length insert, I would suggest adding longer springs and a tender spring. By the looks of it you have plenty of threaded collar to run a longer spring/tender combo.

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How would you ever get zero pre load? The suspension would bottom out on the stops.

 

Here's what I have. With everything installed and strut fully extended and spring loosely between top hat and lower perch, the car weight would crush down and compress the spring and bottom out the suspension. It was unusable. I compressed the spring upwards in stages until I got the ride height I wanted when lowered down on the wheels. I guess you could call this pre load if you knew in advance where you wanted the ride height and how much to compress the spring to get it in advance. A stock strut would have pre load built in because it was designed for an end result ride height. Mine was a fit in the field. When the wheel is raised up off the ground the spring is tightly compressed still. I would guess at least several inches or more above it's loose position.

 

The replacement struts were slightly shorter than the stock and the spring rate increased by 50% to 150 lb/in. Car was lowered a couple of inches.

 

The stock oil bath dampers work just fine and will shed more heat than a strut insert. I don't know the stock viscosity but seems watery like hydraulic jack oil. I have replaced it with 20W Bel Ray motorcycle fork oil because of it's anti foam/rust properties.  

 

The ride is not bouncy but it is firm. (a relative term I admit) I have never bottomed the car even though I have made a few high speed 'errors' and misjudged a dip in the road and a railway crossing. 

 

 

You said adding some spring pre load would increase ride quality. It probably would but I said it would raise the ride height too.  .

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