g6civcx

I have an S13 with about 130k on the chassis. I'm looking to rebuild the front suspension for roadracing. Can somebody recommend a good, reliable set up that's easy to maintain?

Right now I have Megan Racing Street Coilovers, new OEM tension rods, and Tein tie rods. I will install a Nismo Power Brace soon.

I'm looking to pull apart the entire front suspension and replace all the moving parts, and possibly upgrading to 5-lug for better wheel choices (but maybe not aluminium hubs since I don't know if they're strong enough). Just looking for some advice after not finding much by searching.

Please point me in the right direction before I go to PDM and order a bunch of stuff

Thanks!

andrewmp6

splparts.com only name you need to know

g6civcx

That seems to be what people keep talking about. I'll check it out. Thanks.

andrewmp6

they have every muilt link part for the front and rear even the lower contorl arms and the rear a arms

KA24DESOneThree

You want the maximum amount of adjustment and minimum amount of play possible. Spherical bearings are your friend.

Your Megans have camber adjustment and spherical bearings all around. This is good. Their price, however, tells me that there are better coilovers out there. Will they be fine for a while? Absolutely. I have been running on KTS coilovers for a while and the car will hang with the (almost) best of them.

New OEM tension rods were a waste of money. They are far too soft and offer nil by way of adjustability. You cannot and will not go wrong with either SPL v2 or Peak Performance tension rods. I have the SPL v2s on my road-racing-prepped S13 and I am happy with them, and I have had the chance to inspect Peak Performance's product and am very willing to recommend it. If I had known more about Peak Performance prior to buying the v2s I might have gone with them.

Tein tie rod ends are strong, but do not offer bumpsteer adjustment, which I feel is a necessity when trying to get every last millisecond out of the car. Ignore all that jazz about "increased steering angle" when looking at inner tie rods because you don't need it.

Your control arms are another weak point in the suspension. The bushings are soft and the stamped construction does not lend itself to being torsionally rigid. Box them. I personally am going with SPL's FLCAs, which may be a lot of money but I do not know how to weld and by the time I have a fabricator make me an equivalent the savings will probably be rather minimal. I want EVERYTHING to be adjustable, and screw the price. You CAN just replace the bushings with urethane and probably be happy, and it will work just fine.

The thing about 5-lug is the increase in weight. I'm not talking about the hubs themselves, as the weight is minimal and almost inconsequential in the overall scheme of things. The real increase is in Z32 rotor and caliper weight. You will be adding significant unsprung weight to each corner, albeit there will be a gain in clamping power and swept area. Whether or not that matters to you is your choice. Don't forget that increasing the weight of the rotors has a detrimental effect on turn-in and acceleration, and the increase in unsprung weight will lessen the effectiveness of the dampers.

The effectiveness of the suspension is GREATLY increased by a stiffer chassis. If you have a chassis with the effectiveness of a limp noodle, all the trick suspension pieces in the world won't mean squat.

Any other questions?

Jung918

i got the nismo power brace ay mynismo.com. that is the best price I have seen

slideways2004

great post. and yes, money wasted on the new oem tension rods.

KA24DESOneThree, how would you get chassis stiff? spot welding and roll cage or are you talking about strut bars and stuff

slideways2004

great post. and yes, money wasted on the new oem tension rods.

KA24DESOneThree, how would you get chassis stiff? spot welding and roll cage or are you talking about strut bars and stuff

KA24DESOneThree

I have Nismo tension rod brace, Nagisa Auto shakitto plates and fender braces (gacchiri braces), DC Sports front strut tower brace, Carbing rear strut tower brace. That leaves subframe bracing, HKS trans tunnel brace, Do-Luck longitudial bracing, and Do-Luck b-pillar brace and you're pretty much out of "bolt-on" bracing. My chassis is pretty stiff right now but when my 245s are working hard, the flex is quite noticable.

Spot welding is good for stiffness, and a roll cage is better. When spot-welding, remember to redo the lower radiator support mount because it has a tendency to break loose. As for a cage, there's a TON of options.

I'm going to have a cage put in, nothing spectacular... just a well-designed 6-point with a harness bar and a removable "speedway bar" for the track.

g6civcx

Thanks for the responses.

I had Whiteline tension rods before and I did not like them at all. They made the steering wheel shimmy at speeds above 50mph. I went with OEM for now until I can find a better alternative. I'm sure somebody will want them when I'm done being how every S13 I've seen needed new tension rods.

As for the Megan, I've looked at just about every manufacturer for the S13 and I chose Megan for the quality and price. I think they are great, and the value can't be beaten. Maybe I'll try something in the future but for now they're working well.

As for the chassis, I understand fully. I have a shop working on a basic 4-point cage with provisions for adding on additional bars if I decide to make it a dedicated wheel-to-wheel track car.

I also understand that bigger brakes yield higher unsprung weight. For the higher heat adsorption and dissipation (and better wheel choices), I'm willing to make that compromise.

I am looking for recommendations on front suspension parts in particular. Any additional suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

jmauld

That is an important piece of information. If you really want to go racing, you need to decide on the class you want to run and build the car to it. Otherwise, you may be throwing your money away on aftermarket suspension arms, that will need to be replaced with the OEM parts in order to be legal. There are very few classes where you can actually race this car, and many of them do not allow those types of mods.

If you're really just modifying your street car, you might also want to consider the type of maintenance that heim joints "should" be given and the amount of fatigue that they will place on you and the car.

In terms of improving your handling, it's tough to beat polyurethane in the front control arms and NISMO rubber bushings in the T/C rods.

__________________
Jason
'95 240sx SE

g6civcx

Noted. Thanks for the comments.

I'm not looking to do points racing with this car so class is not an issue. I just want it to be safe and reliable on the track.

OptionZero

if your steering wheel is shaking, then you should check your tires and make sure they are balanced

tension rods w/ pililow balls shouldn't degrade your steering that badly

g6civcx

I had brand new Yokohama Db S2 balanced properly and installed. It still did it.

It was only when I was going above 50mph, not below that. I started noticing it immediately after I installed the new tension rods.