I have purchased tokico blue struts and a set of goldline 2" lowering springs. I have also purchased front and rear strut tower braces is there anything else I should purchase before I start the job. I would appreciate any help or incite.
How much money do you want to invest to your suspension? There are lots others you can do. (they are all optional) You can get the rear upper mount from Motivational Engineering, Polyurethane bumpstops, Front camber plates, anti-sway bars, etc etc...
Did you read "Kojima's Garage" on Sentra.net? In case you didn't read yet, here is the link. This is very helpful.
Yea that is a good start, but I would definately get sway bars front and rear, especially rear cause there is no stock sway bar and it will make a huge difference. Stillen has a set of sway bars that are good. But, I would recomend Suspension Techniques they are a lot cheaper and work great from what I hear. After that if you have money maybe camber plates, but they are expensive.
I now would like to know if bump stops are important to have on a lowered b14? I am thinking that I now need to purchase a rear shock mount to give me back an inch of travel that I am going to lose when I drop it 2 inches. Will the GC camber plates also give me the same inch in travel back or is there a front shock moount that I could buy?
Originally posted by Sawbinder I now would like to know if bump stops are important to have on a lowered b14? I am thinking that I now need to purchase a rear shock mount to give me back an inch of travel that I am going to lose when I drop it 2 inches. Will the GC camber plates also give me the same inch in travel back or is there a front shock moount that I could buy?
Thanks for all the help I greatly appreciate it.
Yeah, good bump stops comes to more important with that much drop. You will be riding on bump stops all the time. I had 1.7 inch drop and motivational rear upper mounts and it still bottomed out. GC camber plates will not give you any extra suspension travel. I think you can get more front travel by getting the B13 front shocks (shorter).
Thanks for all the input I think I am going to send my gold lines back and purchase some springs that are 1.5" or less. I keep reading about eibach are they really that good for the price? I was also wondering is there any other spring maker out ther who is just as good but not as pricey? Unfortunately I can't send back my tokicos I've had them for 6 months now waiting to put then on. Now all I have to do is find a spring that will work with them, that will give me a nice ride.
You have couple choices. You can get the Eibach Pro-Kit and they are 1.4 inch drop. I had them on my car before, and i didn't have bad bottoming out problem. B+G makes good mild drop springs. They are stiffer than stock, but softer than Eibach. Nice confortable ride, but if you like to autoX, maybe you want it a little stiffer than those. Another good ones are made by H&R. I have never driven a B14 with those springs on them so I don't know hou much stiffer/softer than Eibach, but I hear so many good things about it. I drove a few cars with H&R springs (non Nissans) and I liked them a lot. They are made in Germany, so you can trust the quality.
Well now I just found out that I am screwed....... I emailed Motvational Eng. trying to get some answers about Eibach springs to see if a 1.4" drop springs would work with my tokico struts. I read that Mike Kojima said that the b14 should use 300 lb up front and 200 lb in the rear. This is what I got in reply from motivational eng. Quote "The rate on Eibach springs is about 160 lbs and 180 lbs. Nobody makes a 300lb and 200lb spring for this application. Your tokicos wouldn't last a month with these rates anyway." Mike Saiki, Motivational Eng.
I am in some desperate need of some help here anybody please.!!!!
That sucks... Since your shocks are still new and never been installed, You can probablly sell them and buy KYB shocks. (too bad KYB is like the only good shocks available for B14) Why Tokico shocks are bad? I heard a few other people told me same thing but never told me why.
About the spring rates... Mike is probablly right about it. But it's depends on how you drive your car or the road conditions... Like me, here in Salt Lake City, road condition is way worse than avarage. So I kindda need to keep the suspension nice'n soft. But if you will be autoXing your car... This set up will be a little too soft. But overall, even those aftermarket springs will increase the handling. So, it's really up to your driving style.
Hey, Sawbinder, you can get custom springs wound to your specification. Valley Spring in California will do it; I'm running prototype 300/200 rate springs with 1" drop on my B13 SE-R. In your case, I would suggest 200/150 lb/in with no more than 1"drop. You might consider raising the rear spring rate to 175 lb/in for less understeer. The higher rate springs will make bigger anti-roll bars work better, too.
Valley Spring is not the only one out there doing custom work, I think H&R will do it, too. Check your Yellow Pages for local shops and check Google for everyone else.
__________________
Bruce in Houston
'94 Nissan Sentra SE-R w/ $tuff, converting to ITA
'98 Suzuki Bandit 1200S w/ $tuff
'02 Dodge Dakota SLT 4-dr tow beast, stock!
Thanks for the help I have already checked out H&R but they were closed so I will call them tomorrow. I emailed valley spring and hope to hear from them soon. I was wondering what you paid for your custom springs? I may end up not dropping the car after all if they are to expensive. I was wondering if anyone knew what the stock sping rates are for a b14. Im still wondering if I should go with a 300 lb rate in front and a 200 lb rate in the rear or should I go less. I just use the car for driving on weekends but i would like for it to look cool and to be able to perform on the curves when it needs too.
Thanks for all the help everyone if you have any more ideas let me know.
I can't tell you what the Valley Spring springs cost...they are prototypes that I am/was testing for a group deal that died. The owner isn't inclined to tell me because I was to get the springs free for testing them.
If you can get on the SE-R mailing list, Peter Jackson in Albuquerque has been attempting to get custom B14 SE-R springs from Valley, though I don't know how much drop. I do know he has had some difficulty.
To look cool would require more drop than stock-sized struts can accomodate due to their short travel. You would need to get shortened struts from Motivational and Ground Control camber plates.
For handling, you can get by just fine with springs in the 200/150 to 300/200 range, Suspension Technique sway bars, KYB AGX struts, GC or Cusco/Stillen camber plates and 205 width tires.
__________________
Bruce in Houston
'94 Nissan Sentra SE-R w/ $tuff, converting to ITA
'98 Suzuki Bandit 1200S w/ $tuff
'02 Dodge Dakota SLT 4-dr tow beast, stock!
I gave up on Valley Spring. There were too many QA issues. Not to mention phone tag, and timeframe overruns. I , personally(my opinion), would not use Valley.
I was hoping to get some from the Hyperco GB, but they only did the B13 app.
I'm sure there are other places that could do a good job on a custom rate OEM type spring. Let us know what H&R says.
Originally posted by CarbonBlack200 Why (are) Tokico shocks are bad? I heard a few other people told me same thing but never told me why.
I'm one of those stupid people who has to go and experience the whole thing myself; I don't generally trust the opinions of others.
I bought the Tokico Advanced Handling kit, which came with springs and "blue" struts. For the most part, I am reasonably happy with the springs. At first I thought the kit had lowered the car too far, but then learned that the Canadian B13's are Mexican made, and sit about 1/2" TALLER than US models, so my car actually sits pretty close to right.
The Tokico struts are bouncy, as they are really stiff on compression. I autocrossed with Tokico Illuminas before, and had no complaints, so I felt confident that the "Blues" could do the job.
The front struts seemed really soft (underdamped) compared to the back, and it seems that Tokico has revalved the fronts to be stiffer because of complaints, but I bet I got the older, softer versions (this from speaking with Tokico directly about a number of issues).
For a street car, I am quite happy with the ride and handling of the struts, but I have found that with now 20,000km on them, they are getting softer. Keep in mind I run 15-20 autocross events a year on the car, with R-compound tires. These struts are unable to withstand this kind of abuse.
This past weekend I ran a test and tune day, where I was able to run a skid pad, take tire temps, and do 20 runs on a course with standard suspension-testing components to it. The struts have proven themselves to be underdampened and inadequate for competition. This makes for a rather weird response in the car when negotiating the course - the tires and everything have taken their "set", but the chassis is still doing somthing unrelated because the struts are not controlling the motion well enough. The chassis is still bouncing due to inadequate rebound dampening.
I broke down and bought a set of AGX's which should be in my hot little hand in two weeks. I can get you a great deal on a set of Tokico Blues! Koni's are presumably better still, since the rebound dampening is much greater. I am still too cheap to spring for those ($800CDN for AGX, $920CDN for Koni), plus the AGX's are externally adjustable.
Tokicos are probably fine for a stock spring, but no more.
I don't know if this helps, but this experience certainly answered my questions as to why Tokicos were bad.
Got $$$?
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