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Hi HybridZ, its been a while. Took a long sabbatical from working on my S30 to finish college and get a job. For the last 6 or so months its been full steam ahead, the project is currently being rust repaired at a local body shop and I've been collecting parts as budget allows. The first piece major piece of hardware to arrived is the Viking Performance Shocks from the Apex Engineered Track Attack Front/Rear Suspension kit. I noticed that Apex’s website lacks details on shock and spring selection, so I’m documenting my findings here for others and to start a discussion on their choices. What's Included: Box as it arrives from Viking Performance Serial Numbers of each of the shocks (PN: C203) Viking Performance Shocks Link Part Numbers of Springs (600# & 700#) Initial Impressions: The car will be caged and used primarily/almost exclusively on track, so a stiffer setup is expected. However the spring rate selection still raises some concerns: The S30 chassis doesn’t benefit significantly from extremely high spring rates, even with a roll cage. The rear suspension uses inboard cantilevered shocks, which traditionally increase effective spring rate via the lever arm. This spring selection guide from Viking Performance indicates that the spring rate for a car with IRS and axle weights of ~1200-1400# is a lot lower than the supplied springs. I'm hypothesizing that the high rates were chosen to prevent the shocks, which are short to fit the Z’s narrow frame and tight packaging within the front wheel wells, from bottoming out. I’ve reached out to Apex Engineered to clarify the wheel rates for this setup and will update this thread when I hear back. Let me know if any of you have run this kit or high wheel rates.

Good post. I was frustrated for a long time with companies not sharing spring rates on these parts. FWIW, Viking is legit, lots of fast SCCA guys run those things with good results. IF those spring rates were chosen to prevent bottoming out of the shocks, that's pretty poor design. My guess is that the motion ratio of the bellcrank will be the limiting/bottoming out feature here, and that the conversion to pushrods has resulted in some high force multipliers. My guess would be Viking starting point is mounting in a "muscle car" front end, where the motion ratio is fairly low. I'll be interested to hear what the APEX guys say!

Thanks Leon!! Really happy to have the car back out. Dug into the car over the weekend, found a couple loose nuts, and some unexpected and unwelcome suprises! The big one was my front rotors are not handling the heat very well. The car is stopping pretty nicely, but it seems that's coming at a cost. I'm not sure if this is new, or if it's an old crack that I hadn't noticed before, but it's here now and it's a problem. If I get a second crack, that means I now have a mostly disconnected piece of rotor flying around, and generally not a great idea. I've had these on the car since 2021, so I guess I can't be THAT mad at them. Anyway, rather than sinking $450 into new rotor rings, I'm taking the opportunity to go full floating rotor. Wilwood has been making a lot more lug-drive setups, and it will let me get away from the bolted hat/rotor combo. This will hopefully help fight some of the pad knockback issues I've been having, and generally improve braking feel. Consumable cost is about the same, the big cost of upgrading is new hats. Got some routine maintenance done as well, fluids changed etc. Filling the transmission is a pain in the neck, but a little hose and some creativity made it a little easier. I probably could make this a permanent feature if I wanted to. Modern problems require modern solutions. Ordered up some fresh-ish tires, going with a Pirelli slick, 325/660 rear, 305/660 front. Might be a slight challenge fitting the front, but I think this is the tire the car will run from here, so it will be nice to set it up for one size and call it a day.

Welcome back, Carlton...and congrats on the major life changes/accomplishments! Following, as I'm super interested to hear how about the installation and how you like it. Thanks for documenting the process! 👍

Part 2-More 240Z Restoration- Body Work is mostly done utilizing Oxygen Acetylene Gas Welding. This method of welding was mainly used to repair automotive body repair. I learned this method when I was 15 years old and used it until the 1970s when Mig Wire Welding came in. The Mig Welding is a much productive method as it applied the heat faster and welding with less heat distortion to surrounding metal. However, I still use this method in certain applications to this day. Notice- Use a Small Torch Flame and Thin 1/16" Brass Rod. More Bodywork to come-

Love it Ben, great to see the car back on the road and being used as it should be!