New Suspension Installed! 4x4 Days are over [56K Beware]

[Farkel]

5 days of rolling on a nice cold concrete floor splattered with dirt and grease = suspension installed!

My car has been lifted ever since I got my wheels:
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/comparebefore.jpg

After a few months of gathering up all the pieces...
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension1.jpg

http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension2.jpg

For the rear, I'm running an ebay special strut bar. Everything seemed to be quality but I noticed the actual strut mounts only had 2 beads of weld holding it together. I felt like it needed some reinforcement so I sandblasted everything down, cut some sqaures out of scrap steel metal, and tig welded them on (not the prettiest of welds, I know, but it was my first try and does the job :P ):
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension3.jpg

After getting the front up, I degreased the entire wheel well and whatever I could get my hands on
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension4.jpg

Once the OEM strut and shocks were taken out, pieces from the old gasket came with it. I made a trip to a local parts store and got some gasket material and cut them to fit. You can see the old gasket split in half
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension5.jpg

Another pic showing off the truck-status:
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension6.jpg

The undershielding had to be removed and swaybar mounts had to be loosened to gain clearance. The breaker bar still wouldn't fit in some places, which is where a rachet and a makeshift extension + leg muscles come in handy
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension7.jpg

Here's a pic of the new and old tension rods. I was adjusting the length of the new ones to the length of the OEMs
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension8.jpg

Apparently the pivot ball of the tension rod had to be at an angle pointed downwards and toward the engine, can't really see it in this pic, oh well
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension9.jpg

Coilovers and tension rods are in:
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension10.jpg

Moving along to the rear of the car... a shot of the old setup:
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension11.jpg

Loosening the bolts on the upper mount of the strut:
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension12.jpg

Sticking on some Subframe Spacers onto the steel plates:
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension13.jpg

Blurry in this pic, but you can probably make out the red dots:
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension14.jpg

Work in progress...
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension15.jpg

The new stuff is in!
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension16.jpg

Closing the gap:
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension17.jpg

http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension18.jpg

The rears took more time to adjust because the first time the car was lowered it was DUMPED. It looked pretty cool but I didn't really want it that low for practicality, so the car was raised back up and the coilovers were adjusted some more. Then it sat too high, so that went back and forth until it came out right :) The trim panels in the back and rear seat backing is still not put in, plus the springs should settle a little bit more. Not to mention the camber was way too negative so some time was spent adjusting that as well. The fenders in the rear were also rolled :drool:

Between work, I spent a lot of time cleaning what I can just to soothe my OCD :ughd:
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension19.jpg

Box of the OEM gear...
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension20.jpg

The rear strut bar still isn't in and I haven't even driven the car after everything was finished up today... I'll take care of that tomorrow hopefully and maybe take some more pics soon... WORD.

Props to a friend who helped out and let me borrow some tools, and the walmart $40 dollar jack set that held up surprisingly well

Full write-up here: http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/suspension.php

[ALLABOUTDAZ]

nice work bro
nice to see more people stepping the game up on the Z32's

[xcusememisswyn]

Assuming you used an SLR, use a higher f/ stop with tech pics, I cant tell what half that shit is.

But looks good still, nice Z.

[Farkel]

Assuming you used an SLR, use a higher f/ stop with tech pics, I cant tell what half that shit is.

But looks good still, nice Z.

the lighting was poor in many of those shots so I just left the fstop low and didn't really want to fumble with the camera with dirt all over my hands :eek3d:

[louisdaboois]

thats a really clean Z, good job man.

[bardabe]

the first z on zilvia lol congrats on the install

[1985zcar]

Go lower :) hahaha nice car, my favorite color...what exhaust is that? My buddy has a Z32TT that has a similar looking exhaust and it's the most amazing sounding thing I've ever heard.

NICE CAR!

[Farzam]

Spacers and lower...you'll be golden.

[yarou]

Spacers and lower...you'll be golden.

Yeah, MOAR LOH

[genericforumname]

I'm diggin the duct tape lol

[Gnnr]

the first z on zilvia lol congrats on the install

lol, we need more Z people to post on here.

Clean ride. Go lower. Tuck the tires. Just Slam It.™

[MELLO*SOS]

wow your car looks clean, paint looks awesome. Bet youre loving the new setup, congrats...

[pinkarrowsnow]

Nice z man looks good and nice setup.

[jskateborders]

clean as fuck

[nightshiftgarage]

dude at least lose the gap in btween the fender and tire.

[ALEXTHESUS*PECT]

congrats to you. car should handle much nicer now!

[ixfxi]

thats a real pretty color Z32, what paint code is that? if its original, its not too popular.. because i havent ever really seen that color Z32 before.

i was surprised to see a Z in this thread... then i realized that this is still Zilvia. :-)

anyway, nice work... car looks clean, but man... expensive car to upgrade and tune. i would never want to own a z32 at your age..... or even mine! hehe nightmare of an engine bay to work on. im sure the lack of turbo makes it easier, but even then... owning that car w/o turbo is sacrilegious.

congrats again on the nice work
mike / clearcorners.com

[stinky_180]

Spacers and lower...you'll be golden.

exactly what i was thinking :yum:

looking good man! sick z

[Bushido]

wow, that first picture is awesome! nice camera and photography skills.

[Daniel.]

thats a real pretty color Z32, what paint code is that? if its original, its not too popular.. because i havent ever really seen that color Z32 before.

i was surprised to see a Z in this thread... then i realized that this is still Zilvia. :-)

anyway, nice work... car looks clean, but man... expensive car to upgrade and tune. i would never want to own a z32 at your age..... or even mine! hehe nightmare of an engine bay to work on. im sure the lack of turbo makes it easier, but even then... owning that car w/o turbo is sacrilegious.

congrats again on the nice work
mike / clearcorners.com

Is the holiday season getting the best of you? You seem to be giving out much more praise that usual.

And it's definitely a nice looking z32. :)

[idriveattz32]

nice work, if you want nice but affordable strut tower bars, get the powertrix carbing replicas...very nice and solid

[s13poop]

get ready for edgar (articdragon) to wet his pants when he see's this :keke:

[kuruptR]

Nice Setup!
I missed the part where it says why you used differnt coilovers front and back?

[ixfxi]

Is the holiday season getting the best of you? You seem to be giving out much more praise that usual.

And it's definitely a nice looking z32. :)

probably because im seeing less stupid shit on the forum lately..... :-)

[s13silvia123]

nice job i say just keep up the good work

[OBEEWON]

Nice, you have good taste for a youngin. Need to drop another 3 inches or so.

[yokotas13]

wait....5 days?

anyways, looks good!

[AznDrftr.]

very nice looks good. Nice stuff too.

[sijia10358]

LOOKING GOOD!! slam it!! lol jk

[hybrid_eg]

if i'm not mistaken those look like old school racing hart tracers? (did i spell that right) either way, nice old school look, i like it!

[Farkel]

wait....5 days?

anyways, looks good!

Limited tools and stubborn bolts :(

if i'm not mistaken those look like old school racing hart tracers? (did i spell that right) either way, nice old school look, i like it!

They are indeed Racing Hart Tracers :D

Saturday I put the interior back and threw on a rear Strut bar from eBay
circles cut and later some trim tubing was heated up and wrapped
http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension21.jpg

http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension22.jpg

http://www.turborush.com/hosted/zjournal/images/myz/suspension23.jpg

Drove the car and everything felt soooo much more responsive. The entire car is like a stone down the road, everything is really rigid and I already turned down the damper settings some. Potholes and railway tracks freak me out more than ever now

Thanks for all the comments :rawk:

[colexcore]

why run 2 different brand of coilovers for front and rear? price?

[articdragon192]

Looking good. But needs to go lower, lol jk.

[HyperTek]

Pretty sweet, always wnated a z32 myself.. doesnt seem like the z forums are too fond of coilovers (i know rx7 forums a bunch of old geezers who dislike jdm tyte coilovers)

[articdragon192]

Yeah, most Z32 guys are happy with just springs and shocks. I went to a Z32 meet last night and the guys were like, what springs are you on? I'm like, springs don't go this low. I'm on coilovers, lol.

[Justin Bernstein]

Please don't tell me that the M3 is yours also!?