It's finally time to get the new suspension. I've waited many, many years for this to happen... and I'm just friggin' stoked!!!

Anyway, I'm most likely getting a set of Tokicos with the 1" lowering springs.

Just wondering if anyone has a trick to get an oil catch pan up under the car after the install. Right now, I have the lowest profile one I can find and it's a chore to get in up under the drain plug as it is. With the car lowered an inch, I'll have to jack it up just to do an oil change.

Is this the price we have to pay for performance, or is my suspension just that bad and it will be about the same after the install?

 

You must have "Stretch Armstrong" arms if you don't have to put the car up to do an oil change right now...

I've always jack-standed my cars to do oil changes, for safety, and because it makes oil changes easy.

 

I can reach my oil drain plug w/o jacking up my car. its not that hard but its not lowered at all either.

 

drive it up on blocks of wood?

That's what I have to do just to get a jack under my car at all lol

 

Ya but your car sits WAAAAY to low to start with lol

 

So... It's a "wait and see" kind of thing. I think I can deal with that.

 

Ditto...I have always jacked my Z up, to do oil changes. Or anything underneath the car for that matter.

Anyway..where are you getting the springs and struts from? I am kind of shopping around for suspension right now. I am torn between: KYB & Eibachs, or Tokicos all around. Haven't decided yet. All aside good luck with the suspension upgrades.

 

fixed for ya

 

No really its to low if your taking out street markers with your frame rails... At lest to low for a DD, maybe a show car but not a DD

 

You'll probably have to bite the bulllet and get a low clearance floor jack anyhow. Once you've invested that you'll want to get your moneys worth and use the jack (with jack stands of course) whenever you can so you won't need to worry about a lower drain pan. Once you've got it on jack stands you'll have a better idea of what's happening under your car as well.

If I could only do one best bang for the buck mod to the S130 it would be the Tokico HPK255 set. Turns the car from a Touring car back into a sports car. John from Beta Motorsports has one of the best prices and is a great guy to deal with.

http://www.betamotorsports.com/produ...cts.php?cat=10

 

^ Does that Tokico HPK255 set, come with all 4 springs and struts? If so, that is a pretty good deal.

 

i use a jack. i had ramps made that were 8' long and 12" high, but they take up lots of room.

 

 

That's a good question. I'd love to know the answer as well. My springs seem a little soft in hard corners and launches. Of course with stock suspension components in a 31 year old car it's expected...

 

It finally hit you that your car was to low?

 

Sorry to revive a dead thread but I'm considering this kit. How is it working out? It seems like a pretty good price.

 

Also I found the kit for a really good price. Has anyone ordered from here before?http://www.rsaperformance.com/tokico...-83-280zx.html

EDIT: Nevermind I found a better price at Stillen with free shipping http://www.stillen.com/product.asp?id=TOKHP01
Anyone know of any place cheaper?

 

those Tokico shocks are the worst you can buy.

 

how so? I've heard and experienced good things about the illuminas but they discontinued the rears for the S130. Why are the blues bad? Seems like they've been around for quite some time you'd think they'd have the kinks worked out.

 

because the blues have horrible damping characteristics, and blow out super easy.

illuminas are just as bad, although they do dampen a "little" better, my friend had one explode on him when he was removing the rear subframe from his Z31...

 

Okay thanks for the info! So what shocks do you recommend (Don't say I should slam it lol)? I want the suspension to be stiffer and a little lower so I don't want OEM. I have a friend who tracks his 240Z with illuminas, the car grips like crazy, of course he also has urethane and a roll cage, but he seems to really like the illuminas and they've held up well for his mixed street and track use. It's too bad they don't do rears for the ZX anymore. He said that the normal KYB shocks had a lot of body roll not sure about the adjustables. Anybody else have good or bad experiences with the Tokico blues?

 

I'm calling BS on that. The Tokico HPK255 is the very first mod I'd do to any 280ZX. I had a set of Tokico's on my car for six years and never an issue. The next step up from the Tokicos is custom coil overs. There are countless sets of Tokico's running on early Z cars with great sucess. These are actually race applications, not guys grinding thier rails on speed bumps....

IF you are running them outside of thier specs and they fail it's hardly fair to say that they are no good....

 

Alright... New deal.

Still want the Tokico package... But I hesitate. 2 reasons.

1. The package went up about $150
2. The whole suspension needs redone.

I don't want to put something under there that will tear apart the existing ball joints, sway bars, steering arms, etc...

Another option is to go with some KYB strut inserts and rear shocks. Not as stiff, but would keep the tires on the ground until I can get other things changed out/upgraded, including bushings.

Keep in mind, this is my daily driver. I also don't mind a tooth rattling ride. Actually, I kind of like it that way. I just don't want to damage anything else if I decide on the Tokico package.

Thoughts about that?

 

The Tokico isn't that harsh. Sound like you've got some other stuff to fix first.... Remember what you want comes AFTER what you need

 

Yeah... True enough. Point is, right now, I need something... the girl hops around like a '74 Sedan De Ville that need shocks.

I thought I'd get the shocks and springs out of the way, and hit the other stuff when I had time/money.

Thoughts on that?