Woe is me....

zeno · May 28th, 2003, 10:10 AM

I just got my car back from the shop to do some minor brake work. My mechanic (great honest guy) tells me that my rear shocks are basically on their last leg. Not the news I wanted to hear. I'm in the process of slowly saving for turbo and was ready in the next couple of weeks to begin by up-grading my clutch and throwing a lightened flywheel in at the same time. Now this shock thing throws a huge monkey wrench in my situation. I don't like the idea of dumping money on POS OEM shocks but I also don't want to spend the huge amount of money to upgrade. I've always wanted to upgrade the suspension but it was going to be after the turbo project. Now I'm torn on what to do, I really want to continue my turbo project idea but now it seems I need to decide to whether to buy some OEM shocks or spend all my turbo money on upgrading the suspension. I asked my mechanic his opinion and he said if he had the choice between fixing the shocks and taking out a beautiful woman, he would pick the woman

. I don't want to bottom out the car but I'll also be driving it easy until I can fix the problem.

What do all of you think? Turbo? OEM? Change directions and go upgraded suspension?

Additionally, anyone know of someone selling some used OEM rear shocks?

98 nizmo200sx se · May 28th, 2003, 10:16 AM

go ahead and fix it now so you wont have more problems later witch will cost you more $$$...my .02

98 nizmo200sx se · May 28th, 2003, 10:18 AM

and how are you gonna control that new turbo with bad shocks

zeno · May 28th, 2003, 10:26 AM

^^^good point^^^ I'm kind of leaning towards just biting the bullet w/ some POS OEM shocks.

Neil · May 28th, 2003, 10:46 AM

Also dont know what suspension upgrade you were gonna do in the future but if you were gonna do the lowering with springs or GC setup I'd just get the AGX's now so that later you just need to get the GCs or the springs and you already have the shocks/struts.

However if you were gonna do a better upgrade like JIC's or Tein's I'd say just get the OEM one to hold you over.

Just my personal logic.

dono200sx · May 28th, 2003, 10:55 AM

I would price around and find the cost of the cheapest shocks you can find. Throw those on there. They should last you until you can afford to upgrade you suspension. Though you might also compare the price of the upgraded shocks and see if it would be more cost effective just to buy the good ones.

himilefrontier · May 28th, 2003, 12:02 PM

Just put some in yourself,it's pretty easy.You can usually get them for $10 each at the parts store.

zeno · May 28th, 2003, 02:38 PM

***Question from the person who knows jack about suspension***

Would I only need to buy new shocks or would any other parts be involved. My mechanic mentioned that I would also need a new bumper. I found a nice little diagram.

Gimp · May 28th, 2003, 05:18 PM

Ya know....if you would have mentioned this a week ago, I could have GIVEN you my old OEM shock to hold you over. BUT, I got tired of seeing them in the garage and threw them out. Sorry!

Did he say if your SPRINGS are bad, or just the SHOCKS?

WRteam200sx · May 28th, 2003, 05:26 PM

well ... it just so happens i HAVE a pair of REAR shocks sittin around ... they are G.A.B adjustables... *USED* but im good condition ... i'd be willing to let them go for under what you'd pay for new ones .... say $60 for both .. but you gotta pay shipping

OR ... if you can give me a week maybe less , i will have OEM shocks and struts for sale

wickedsr20 · May 28th, 2003, 06:02 PM

I'd find someone selling their used OEM parts and pick those up. I see some from time to time on the various forums. Just keep your eyes open.

zeno · May 28th, 2003, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Did he say if your SPRINGS are bad, or just the SHOCKS?

Just the shocks.

Quote:

they are G.A.B adjustables... *USED* but im good condition ... i'd be willing to let them go for under what you'd pay for new ones .... say $60 for both .. but you gotta pay shipping

How come so cheap? What does "USED" mean? I need details...

himilefrontier · May 28th, 2003, 11:06 PM

Hmmm.I didn't realize they were a coil over design.That is harder to do since you need to reuse the springs and need to get a proper spring compressor to do so.I thought it just had normal tube shocks that went in and out with 3 bolts.
This design shouldn't be impossible for you to work on,but you will need to get an EXTERNAL coil spring compressor.Auto Zone will lend it to you for free with a refundable deposit.If you want to cheap out on it, you could just replace the shocks without the bumpers(I think he may mean the bumpstops,but I am not sure since I haven't been under my B14 yet)

G2-0-0SX · May 29th, 2003, 06:50 AM

I've taken my shocks and struts out like 4 times adjusting coilovers and cutting bumpstops and just messing around and stuff with them since I cant even drive the damn car till september due to my license suspension, I bought a pair of manual spring compressors from advanced auto for $30, u just have to use a wrench to compress both sides of the spring. If you need my OEM shox i'll sell them to u for supa cheep, I dont know how good of condition they are in though they were on the car when I bought it and I dont know how long they were on there, but they seemed pretty good when I took them off. Taking your shox off is very easy tho, I thought it was going to be hard too, the hardest part is getting the bolts off of the back of your break drums and rotors, the bolts have been on there for a long time and are VERY tight, u need 2 17 mm wrenches (I used a regular wrench and a socket wrench) But I had to just beat the crap out of my wrench with a hammer until the bolt came loose...later on however, I found out the easiest way (the way my friend did it to his corolla S) Is to put a big long steel pipe over the wrench to give you more leverage on it, you may also wanna try some liquid wrech, but after you've got these bolts its easy, u just have to unbolt the top from your trunk and then compress the spring down and take the big bolt off the top of the shock, then everything just slips off: the spring and the bump stop. Get back at me if you need those shocks man.

hope this helps a lil.

Katana200sx · May 29th, 2003, 09:40 AM

u dont need a spring compressor. just support the rear with a jack and unbolt just the center nut instead of the 3 or 4 little ones..slowly lower the jack and the are decompressed and out. its quicker too.