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I have FINALLY finished just about everything for my coilover conversion in my 1978 280z with Stance coilovers. I also have TTT control arms. I am at the point of dialing-in the ride height. Stance gave me four 6" threaded sleeves. I had them welded right to the hubs in the front and 3" above the hubs in the back. I was hoping to maintain stock height or maybe 1" lower than stock. Well after getting everything on and lowering the car, it looks like the front was lowered around 1" and the back was lowered around 2". I would like to crank the rear up another inch. The problem is, the threaded sleeve is currently only on by about 5 threads in both front/rear. I am afraid to crank it up in the back because I feel like the coilover will sheer off if I go any higher with so few threads holding. So my questions are... How many threads are "safe" when screwing the sleeve into the coilover? I have not done anything with alignment, track width, etc. Will any of these affect my ride height? What are my options for raising the car if I can't unthread the sleeves anymore? Can I use a top-plate spacer or something?

Hey guys, not sure if there will be any interest but I want to post up my build here just so I can look back through it for whatever reason. I am starting with an almost completely rust free 240z I picked up for a decent price here in phoenix and have plans to daily it, more or less stance, and eventually make it a nice little track rat I won't feel bad about beating up on when I go road racing. Just recently sold my c5 Corvette after feeling bad about beating it up around the track and the high expenses of everything motor and trans wise so I found this and immediately knew I was going to have a blast driving it (outside of summer, it just got to 115 F here . Working outside yesterday in that was NOT fun. Bought the car a few weeks ago and it was running and driving, albeit it smokes a little which I think is because it is running very rich, and the radiator leaked so I couldn't drive it before buying, just hear it run. Body is in great shape with the exception of the roof which has some dents. Don't ask me how they got there I have no clue haha. Guessing it wasn't treated right as there is a trucker lady front license vanity thing, HUTCH written on the back, and mud flaps when I got it.. Here are the pics of where I first got it and then of me using my first AAA tow. I was amazed at how fast they got there to pick it up! Definitely hasn't been moved in a while, but that will change! First order of business was getting it running and making sure it wouldn't overheat in the brutal Arizona summers. I originally was going to get the original radiator fixed and save me some money. $75 to clean it and get it going so I figured sure why not, save myself some money. Got called back and apparently it would be another $125 to rod it out... so $200 into an old brass radiator when I can get a nice aluminum 3 core for $140. Easiest decision ever! decided now is a good time to put new hoses on as well and I found these gems... Totally rotted out and broken.. so time for a new replacement! Ordered those in along with a new thermostat and were ready to go!... or not. Temp gauge wasn't working so after checking all the wiring I found the gauge was bad and more than likely the sender too. So after trying to get it out unsuccessfully, sorry no pics of this, It was so badly gouged I needed a new lower thermostat housing and temp sender. Yay! Got those in and found a 280z gauge on craigslist and swapped out the front so it would fit behind the cluster like my original gauge and then now we have temp! Does not overheat! I will not mess with cars that overheat, after having severe issues with my big block cutlass and a number of other cars, it just isn't something I like to touch anymore. After this I decided it was time to get keys for the car as I was given none when I bought it. Looking online and at local auto part stores I was not able to find any door lock cylinders for a 240z that could get here in a reasonable amount of time and I was not about to spend bookoo bucks on a full complete set. SO I found that lock cylinders from a 80's 510 fit perfectly if you do very minor work to it. I can take pictures of this if anyone is interested in a cheap way to get new door locks. Onto the hatch lock... I was able to take it out and find a guy on craigslist who makes keys by feel alone! He had a few blanks and a file and in under 10mins made a perfect key for my trunk. What an art! I now have a car I can start and lock Here is a few more pictures of the car and a pic of the seat I will be putting in it out of my c5. Sparco Sprint V and I fit SNUG. Totally holds you in around corners. The old seats are roached and this will be perfect. I will be making a bracket soon to fit in in. I also took the rear bumper off and cut the ridiculously long muffler off! I've always loved the look of ZG flares and only ever had deep dish wheels on one other car and those only had around a 2 ish inch lip so this time I wanted much more. I had thought about getting diamond racing steelies and ZG flares but there are already so many of them and being as cheap as I am there had to be another way. I was able to find some Eagle 028's for $130 on craigslist off of a Cherokee and they had the dish I was craving! I was hoping they could just be redrilled to 4x4.5 but they already had so many bolt holes there was no room to drill. These are 15x10 with -44 offset (3.5 backspacing or 3.25 I forget exactly). They stick out quite a bit! I decided I am either going to spend a lot of money on rims that I like that fit or spend a little bit more on 5 lug swapping the car. I like the 5 lug look a little more anyways and this would let me inspect a the car a little more and keep me occupied over the summer. I have some of the extra wide ZG flares and 5 lug front hubs on order and they should be in soon! I will be taking pics of the rear soon. For the rear the drums were shot and I don't want to get old drums redrilled. After looking at the prices of how much new drums and pads were.. around $150. Thats assuming everything else was still good. Not going to happen. I decided a disc brake conversion was in order. I bought new rotors for $22 each, both front calipers off a 1985 Maxima for $15 and $6 for some 1/8 inch sheet metal. Just finished building the bracket and it looks... interesting.. but it will work and hold everything exactly where it needs to be. Only downside to this is I no longer have an E-Brake. Which to me is a plus because I would just pull it and try to do something stupid anyways.. Another forum member Jmai86 I believe did a coilover conversion using cheap ebay Emusa coils and that is the option I will be doing. They are on order and should be in soon and I can take pics of the conversion as well if anyone is interested. I can post pics of the disc brake conversion as well if anyone wants to convert the rear to disc for under $100 depending on how much the proportioning valve runs me I should be able to keep it right around there. Also just got my tires in! 225/50/15 khumo ecsta. $86 each from online and they look cool. Will post pics soon. Actually a very minor stretch, I wish I went to 205/50/15s to be honest. Cheaper tires like $50 each so thats a plus. Well I will go take a few more pictures of the conversion and the tires all mounted and interior stuff. Let me know if you guys want to see more or any questions and if there is interest I will post the build as it happens!

Hi all, I'm tackling suspension and chosen to go with a coil-over conversion. I've looked into companies such as Stance, BC Racing, Ground Control, and Arizona Z Car. I notice that a big selling points for some of these companies is the inverted strut design they use for their shocks. From my research I've pulled the following pros and cons to inverted struts. Pros: -Shock is less prone to leaking -Shock body (sort of) acts as a suspension arm (in the MacPherson Strut design) -Even compression within the shock -Lower temperature of shock oil during compression Cons: -Clunking (a lot of Subaru guys get this, is it just an OEM shock thing?) -Cost -Adjusting the stiffness of rebound/compression is less convenient Because I don't foresee myself ever using stickier rubber than street-able r-comps (think Advan A048) and considering my car is my daily (I go to Laguna Seca twice or three times a month), would it be wiser to go the DIY Ground Control conversion route or would it be worth it to drop ~1500 dollars on Stance/Arizona Z Car coil overs? Thanks, Liam

Hello Everyone! My name is Tate, I'm 16 years old, and this my 1983 S130 Turbo! I purchased the car 6 months ago with my own money that I had saved up from my job at a local pizza parlor. I saw the Z on craigslist for $2k and I had to get it. When I first got it...I knew nothing about how a car worked or what the hell a turbo was. The previous owner had installed an AEM Methanol Injection Kit (which I'm currently running water in...I know my turbo thanks me for that.) He also had installed an AEM Boost Controller with the setting set to 14psi on the stock Garret AiResearch T3 Turbo. I haven't changed it since I bought the car and I don't plan to. I know I don't have an intercooler yet and that I'm still on stock injectors...all very bad things to do with a high Psi setting on a stock turbo but that will all change soon. I actually just purchased an intercooler kit from CXR Racing. The best part about this car...only 75k orginal miles. I have done all the body work and painting myself on this car, as well as putting on the new wheels and tires and other upgrades. I have purchased everything myself and I can't wait to get her up to the high 300 range of whp...that is, if the Xenon S130 L28ET guide isn't lying to me (; I'm very proud of myself and this Z is nowhere near done...so please stay tuned and follow my progress! Here is what the Z first looked like when I bought it...God, I don't even know how I thought that ugly ass wing and those turbo decals were attractive... I still have this Center Tail Light panel by the way if anyone wants it...I know they are pretty rare. The first modification I did was rip out all the ugly 80's maroon interior and respray everything gloss black because #racecar Then I took off that ugly wing that worked better as a lunch table and order a custom JDM Plate Yeah....maybe I should move that JDM Plate to the front... But first...let me paint my tailights black... Here are some front shots I took... My buddy who has an R8 met up with me... Then one day...it dawned on me. I HATE THIS UGLY FADED 80's RED. LET'S MAKE THIS CAR RATTY. SO I DID. First...I resprayed the whole thing in primer grey... It was better...but I still wasn't loving it. My wheel and tire choice bothered me. It didn't scream agressive...it whispered "please don't hurt me." Not my thing. YES I KNOW THEY ARE EPSILONS BUT THEY WERE SO HORRIBLY CURBED FROM THE PREVIOUS OWNER I HATED THEM ANYWAY. So I traded with my buddy for some nice 'hipari' 195/55 tires and some pretty sweet steelies. Mmmmm....MUCH BETTER. Group Photo with me and my JDM Buddies... Fixed the JDM Plate by the way...(: It still wasn't doing it for me though...something was missing. I had seen something on, HybridZ...at least I think was HybridZ...where some dude with an s130 bought a Victory Spoiler for an s30 and put it on there...it looked pretty good and he said it fit fine. Good enough for me. SO I went down to MSA and demanded that they sell me an s30 Victory Spoiler...however to my dissapointment they were out. SO I got a BRE one instead. The salesman at MSA said "Are you sure you know what you're doing kid?" And I said "No but I saw it on HybridZ so, I'm sure I can figure it out." AND BAM IT LOOKS SO GOOD. Then I decided...hmmm...I've had it primed for the longest time...maybe I should try painting it black myself... Yeah...bad idea. You can't tell in the photo but I did a really shitty job. So I decided to do what any 16 year old boy would do...rat it out again. The new paint you're about to see is heavily inspired by Gage Kerr's 280z. That thing is so flipping sweet... Then I got my tsurikawa chain...a real one from Japan...because honestly, I love shakotan and bosozoku culture. I also got this sweet windshield banner made that says "party gang" in Japanese. It is the name of the car club that me and my friends created. Got my Crown Royal shift boot... GALLARDO And this is the most recent photo I have of her...taken today...stay tuned for more progress! Love it or hate it...I really don't care. This is my Z and I love what I've done to it!

I am looking to buy a ground control coilover kit (Pre-fabbed to struts or not), Mckinney motorsports, T3, or or Sakura Garage Stance Coilovers prefereably used.