A10 suspensión upgrades

[Samurai]

Hi, I’m a new Datsun owner... got an 83 A10 Hatchback and I know no much about this car.

 

I want to ask you if there’s any upgrades in terms of suspension for this car or do I need to swap Parts from another platform.

 

I’ll appreciate your help.

[datzenmike]

Upgrade..... like lower and firmer with less body roll in the corners????

 

Front*

1/ Coil over kit will allow body to be set lower and you can select the spring rate you want. The down side is very expensive to have adjustable height that you set once and don't need once you get your car to the height you want. Upside is it's easy as ordering them.

 

2/ Any year 280zx front struts. You'll need your bottom spring perch off your old struts and the top hat and use your A10 front coil and support it on a 2" split collar. The coil can be cut to increase the spring rate or buy a coil. Cheap and as the zx strut is shorter automatically lower. A bonus is it comes with huge brake calipers and a gigantic vented rotor upgrade. Note that the larger calipers may not fit your stock 13" rims. Only downside is you have to to find a set and some work to modify them.  I did mine with an angle grinder and $25 for the split collars. Adjustable and lower.

 

*definitely replace the internal shock absorber. Here you have 2 choices. Both the A10 and the ZX came with factory oil bath dampers. If your car has never been replaced you can empty out the old thin hydraulic oil and replace with thicker 20w motorcycle for oil. Thicker is harder to push through the valves and firms up the action. The other is to replace them with fitted shock inserts. Fork oil was $25, so lower, (and adjustable) firmer spring and renew the dampers for under $50.

 

Rears*

1/ You can order coils that are stiffer and can lower your ride height or with careful measuring and some grade 3 math calculate how much to cut your stock coil to get the firmness you want. This +++++DOES NOT+++++ set the ride height, only the stiffness. Hopefully too low and you can put rubber spacers under the coil to raise it.

 

* replace the rear shock absorbers.

[Samurai]

3 hours ago, datzenmike said:

Upgrade..... like lower and firmer with less body roll in the corners????

 

Front*

1/ Coil over kit will allow body to be set lower and you can select the spring rate you want. The down side is very expensive to have adjustable height that you set once and don't need once you get your car to the height you want. Upside is it's easy as ordering them.

 

2/ Any year 280zx front struts. You'll need your bottom spring perch off your old struts and the top hat and use your A10 front coil and support it on a 2" split collar. The coil can be cut to increase the spring rate or buy a coil. Cheap and as the zx strut is shorter automatically lower. A bonus is it comes with huge brake calipers and a gigantic vented rotor upgrade. Note that the larger calipers may not fit your stock 13" rims. Only downside is you have to to find a set and some work to modify them.  I did mine with an angle grinder and $25 for the split collars. Adjustable and lower.

 

*definitely replace the internal shock absorber. Here you have 2 choices. Both the A10 and the ZX came with factory oil bath dampers. If your car has never been replaced you can empty out the old thin hydraulic oil and replace with thicker 20w motorcycle for oil. Thicker is harder to push through the valves and firms up the action. The other is to replace them with fitted shock inserts. Fork oil was $25, so lower, (and adjustable) firmer spring and renew the dampers for under $50.

 

Rears*

1/ You can order coils that are stiffer and can lower your ride height or with careful measuring and some grade 3 math calculate how much to cut your stock coil to get the firmness you want. This +++++DOES NOT+++++ set the ride height, only the stiffness. Hopefully too low and you can put rubber spacers under the coil to raise it.

 

* replace the rear shock absorbers.

 

That’s exactly what I’m looking for datzenmike, less body roll and a firmer ride.

 

Thanks for the explanation. I’m really a novice working on this cars, I’m more familiar with the b series nissan, do you have some pictures of what you did? It will help me a lot.

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Samurai
Redaction error

[datzenmike]

For the struts dismantle them. Cut lower spring perches off the original and the ZX struts. The zx springs are really too large to fit well up into the strut tower on an A10 so youre going to use your spring, bottom spring mount (or perch) and the A10 top hats.

 

You can do this with a hacksaw too.

 

 

Grind down old weld so it doesn't interfere later when adjusting ride height.

 

 

2 inch split collars to support the lower perches on the strut tube. About $15 US and each is rated to hold 5,000 pounds so each will hold the weight of almost two A10s 

 

 

 

 

 

If lucky enough to have the original oil bathe dampers...

 

 

Remove gland nut

 

Use dental pick to fish out this O ring,,,

 

 

Have a pail to catch the hydraulic oil. Up end the strut and the oil and damper drop out.

 

Make sure empty of old oil. Fill with fork oil, holds about 300ml or 1/3 liter. Fill and let out bubbles as best you can. Install O ring and tighten gland nut. Hold upside down and extend and compress 2-3 times then 2-3 times right side up to expel any air in the valves  Bloody heavy with caliper and rotor on so get help. Remove gland nut and top up, leave 1/4" air gap on top for heat expansion. repeat till all air is out. I used 20W which is firm enough for me, I wouldn't go less. The original was watery thin. 

 

 

I used a hydraulic jack and block of wood to push up under the spring perch to lift the body then tightened the split collar. Did same amount on other side. Lower very slowly to check adjust up or down as needed. Make sure the split collars are TIGHT

 

 

 

 

Adjustable like $800.000 coil overs but maybe not as easy but under $25.

Renewed, firmer dampers about $15 US for liter of BellRay fork oil, enough for 3 struts. 

[Samurai]

22 hours ago, datzenmike said:

For the struts dismantle them. Cut lower spring perches off the original and the ZX struts. The zx springs are really too large to fit well up into the strut tower on an A10 so youre going to use your spring, bottom spring mount (or perch) and the A10 top hats.

 

You can do this with a hacksaw too.

 

 

Grind down old weld so it doesn't interfere later when adjusting ride height.

 

 

2 inch split collars to support the lower perches on the strut tube. About $15 US and each is rated to hold 5,000 pounds so each will hold the weight of almost two A10s 

 

 

 

 

 

If lucky enough to have the original oil bathe dampers...

 

 

Remove gland nut

 

Use dental pick to fish out this O ring,,,

 

 

Have a pail to catch the hydraulic oil. Up end the strut and the oil and damper drop out.

 

Make sure empty of old oil. Fill with fork oil, holds about 300ml or 1/3 liter. Fill and let out bubbles as best you can. Install O ring and tighten gland nut. Hold upside down and extend and compress 2-3 times then 2-3 times right side up to expel any air in the valves  Bloody heavy with caliper and rotor on so get help. Remove gland nut and top up, leave 1/4" air gap on top for heat expansion. repeat till all air is out. I used 20W which is firm enough for me, I wouldn't go less. The original was watery thin. 

 

 

I used a hydraulic jack and block of wood to push up under the spring perch to lift the body then tightened the split collar. Did same amount on other side. Lower very slowly to check adjust up or down as needed. Make sure the split collars are TIGHT

 

 

 

 

Adjustable like $800.000 coil overs but maybe not as easy but under $25.

Renewed, firmer dampers about $15 US for liter of BellRay fork oil, enough for 3 struts. 

Thanks a lot for all the graphic description, I’ll start to look for that ZX struts.

 

and for the rear will be the same? I perfectly know that those pair of struts aren’t the factory set.

[datzenmike]

 

Any time the ride height is lowered you really should increase the spring rate to minimize the chance of bottoming out. New shock absorbers are a must.

 

I ran out of time so here is how I figured out how much to trim my front coils to increase their spring rate. Shortening a coil actually makes them stiffer but never do this to set your ride height. There is not much chance that it will be the correct height AND also the firmness you want. The formula is 11,250,000 X wire diameter⁴ /  8 X number of coils X coil diameter³. You will need to make some measurements, do them as accurately as possible for best results.

 

 

My 710 coils are 0.5" thick wire.

Diameter of coil center to center is 5.0625" (easier to get the outside diameter and subtract wire thickness)

Number of non touching coils is 6.5. You want to count only coils that can compress.

 

 

 

 

11,250,000 X (0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5)

__________________________________   =

 

8 X 6.5 X (5.0625 x 5.0625 x 5.0625)

 

 

703,125 / 6,746.8095 = 104.2 pounds per inch spring rate.

 

By trial and error using the formula I worked out that removing a little over one coil would increase the stiffness (spring rate) by 50% to 150 lb/in. This is fine for my old bones and is plenty firm for me. Start low and if you think stiffer is better increase to 175 then 200. Once cut if too stiff you can't go back. Drive it a few weeks to be sure.

 

 

 

Rear suspension...

The rear is more conventional with a coil spring and a separate shock absorber. The spring rate formula can be used to calculate how much to trim off to get the rate you want OR buy replacement springs that are shorter. Too short, you can always add rubber spacers under them. Definitely replace shock absorbers.

[Unfamilia]

I used S13 rear springs in my a10 sedan. They had great rate and ride height. Think they were GAB springs