Help out a broke @ss college student (no im not asking for money, just advice)

[AlligatorBling]

Id like to ask a favor of all the wonderful and knowable folks on zilvia.net's forums... Im a college student with VERY low funds, however; i have big dreams of turning my 240 into a racing machine... i have been slowly but surely building up the horsepower of my car with after market bolt on parts... now i feel it is time to upgrade the suspension and handling of the car... i want to cover every area i can of the suspension handling package to make the car drive and respond to the road better. (springs, shocks, tires, wheels, bushings, swaybars, strut bars, ect...) I plan on possibly auto crossing, and road racing... as well as enjoying all the twisty back roads here in rural Virginia... What I would like to know is if you guys could give me an idea of what will help out my cars handling package the most, as well as a list of as many good quality product names that are reasonably priced that you know of that I might be interested in... any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks for your time. :)

Ryan
-93 SE Fastback w/ HICAS
Injen ram air w/ homemade cold air induction (dryer duct)
Hotshot Header
Test Pipe
Eliminated resonator
Flowmaster 60

[mrmephistopheles]

Polyurethane T/C rod bushings, Front & Rear STBs, a good matched spring/shock combo or a nice set of coilovers, Nismo Power bar, etc etc
I think your HICAS may interfere with your choice of suspension.

[HaLo]

HICAS will only interfere in rear suspension parts such as toe-links, rear control arms and such. Shocks and springs, sways stay the same.

[sykikchimp]

If your low on funds.. A set of sway bars is probably one of the cheapest ways to make the car handle substantially better.

AFTER fixing any busted bushings on your car get:

Sway bars + cheap STB's + Good tires

and the car will handle MUCH better without breaking the bank.

for the next step above that:

Good strut/spring combo like KYB AGX's or Koni's... and maybe RS*R Springs.. Check the Spring rate FAQ to find springs with the spring rate you want. anything under 6 kg/mm or ~300lbs is very streetable.

Next step beyond that is to begin replacing Rubber bushings with pillowballs, and adding some additional chassis stiffening braces.

(I love suspension)

[blatch]

Save for coilovers :)

[DuffMan]

Here's my planned budget suspension set up:

Whiteline front anti-roll bar 150 from pdm racing
Whiteline tc bushings 45 from pdm
Used tein HE's -if coilovers are too much $$ a good single rate spring (not eibach crap) and konis or agxs will work pretty well too.

The rear swaybar is pretty decent stock and will be left stock. Future upgrades will be chassis stiffening, and replacing any parts/bushings that are worn. Maybe rear subframe spacers.

[Dousan_PG]

best suspension mods imho after modding up my car

budget route (i est ~1500):
shock/springs
subframe spacers
bushings replacement
tires

tad more expensive (i est ~2000:
shock/springs
subframe spacers
tc rods
bushings replacement
sway bars
tires

high end route (i est >4000):
coilovers
subframe spacers
tc rods
all rear suspension arms replacement
sway bars
nismo power bar
new wheels (lightweight)
tires


me? i am on high end route. except no sways (dont need), on the last phase of replacing rear suspension arms (2 to go) and have FLCA left as well. that's it!

[CoasTek240]

pretty much everyones advie is pretty good.
ill give ya an idea of what i am doing.

I'm college student as well but have a pretty good job, and have been saving for coilovers for a while.

1. greg dupree subframe spacers (i'm putting on a vlsd @the same time)
2. buddy club coilovers
3. battle version t/c rods (from a friend, used)
4. cusco sways
5. originally i wanted to replace with poly buschings but i figure metal is so much better and i will wait to buy new parts. Kazama rocks.
6. there are other things i want in between these such as ss lines, dunlop fm901's, etc. but i'm just listing suspension stuff
good luck.
heres a hint, get money from blood and sperm banks

[Dousan_PG]

Originally posted by CoasTek240
heres a hint, get money from blood and sperm banks

rolfmao
serious?
blood bank here, i just go red cross so no $$$ For me
havent done a sperm bank haha
blood plasma donation is another one (i think that's what its called). my brother did that. painful and takes a few hours (2 day thing?), but he got 50 bucks out of it iirc!

[91CRXsiR]

the thing w/ sperm banks they go by qualtity, so if you aint much of a shooter, your gonna be waiting there for a while for a recharge.

[CoasTek240]

yeah i meant plasma. not just donating blood all u get is a cookie and juice box....however if ur hungryt its worth it. Plasma just feels really weird but pays really good.

[240Degrees]

also for sperm banks, they don't just give a flat fee for how much u can squirt, u need to be at least 5'10. Most mothers don't want a short guy. AND it would help a lot if you had a college education (no high school drop outs). they keep your name and everything confidential tho. sucks for me. im 5'8. i think that's it. height, intelligence, o yea and if ur good-looking that would be a plus. FAP AWAY!!

[AlligatorBling]

Do you guys think I should invest in front and rear strut bars, or just one or the other... also, ive seen many different brands, some with outrageous prices, some dirt cheep... what's the best to get, I don't see why the cheep ones wouldn't work the same as the pricey kind... thanks for any advice.


-Ryan
-93 SE Fastback w/ HICAS
Injen ram air w/ homemade cold air induction (dryer duct)
Hotshot Header
Test Pipe
Eliminated resonator
Flowmaster 60

[240Degrees]

get the cheap ebay kinds, but not the tube style...anyone else with me on this? this guy named f1sports sold me an intake, he's good. get both strut bars, they are quite cheap if u get the ebay kinds.

[ISTOTOSAO]

get pilot stb's both of them. they are low cost and good. after that wheels and tires are the way to go. thats all I have and my car handles great this far. after that though follow everyone else's advice they know more than I do.

ps. (sperm bank) good way to go