2eighTZ4me Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Have a Ground Control kit I bought off a forum member here. Going on a 78 280. Car will be mostly street, but some AutoX and an occasional track day (when the real racecar is down). Stupid me ordered a pair of BZ3099 Tockico's for the fronts after all that I had read up on the coilover conversion - and then it hit me.....I'm dealing with a 280 this time - NOT my 240. Knowing the strut tubes are larger on a 280, I think I may have screwed myself. I've got a buddy that can section/weld my 280 tubes for me, and I'd prefer to use the stock parts I already have, so I'm wondering what my options are here? The 3099 is not going to fit snug in a 280 tube. I don't plan on slamming the car to the ground - I just want some adjustability for corner balancing. I plan on running 16" wheels for street - and I have a set of 15x8's wrapped in Hoosiers for the track. So - either I take the hit on selling the 3099's, or make them work somehow. I see all the recommended strut cartridges in the 'sectioning sticky' for 240, but it doesn't mention anything about the 280. What cartridges would I be looking for in a Tokico that would work in the 280 tubes and satisfy my requirements? I see a number of you have gotten really creative with your 280's...... I'm going blue in the face from searching! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockerstar Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) BZ3099 is the correct strut application for the fronts of a sectioned 280z suspension. BZ3012 is the part # you'll want for the rear. Run the BZ3099 up front with the 280z Illumina gland nuts (MSA sells these separately! You just have to call and ask for them.) and section to the length provided for the 240z fronts given by JohnC. 280z front tubes are the same length as 240z front tubes and have about the same ID. The 280z tubes have a thicker wall with the same ID to give a larger OD. The 280z rear tubes are longer than the 240z ones. You need to measure the front tubes before and after sectioning to know how much material you removed. Remove the same amount (or very slightly more) from the rears and make a spacer out of aluminum round stock to take up the slack in the bottom of the tube while giving the right fit on the gland nut (1-2 threads showing when fully tight). The last set of 280z tubes I did for a customer I ended up removing about 1.5" from the fronts and 1.7" from the rears. These dimensions will vary from set to set though! Don't blindly remove these amounts on your suspension without measuring first. The overall front length is the important dimension. Then remove the same amount from the rear to keep an even drop at all four corners. Make sense? Edited April 5, 2012 by cockerstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 You're fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 Sweet - thanks guys. I'll get the 3012's on the way today. Guess I'll have a full set of Blue's for sale here with springs in the not so distant.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 On the topic - I notice that 3012 and 3013 have the same body, with the 3013 having the spacer pressed on to the bottom. Without the spacer they look identical. But one is labeled with DF2 and the other with DF3. So are the damping curves different between the two also, or do DF2 and DF3 mean nothing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 The BZ3012, 3013, 3015, 3016 are all the same shock - same body length, same shock shaft, same total travel, and same damping. Tokico just ships different gland nuts and/or spacers to make different part numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 So - will I need 4 of the gland nuts from MSA or just 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockerstar Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just two, but they're cheap enough that I would order 4. My last set of 3012s shipped with 240z gland nuts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just two, but they're cheap enough that I would order 4. My last set of 3012s shipped with 240z gland nuts... Thanks Belshore, Inc. for that. They are the Tokico product distributor for Hitachi here in the USA. Frickin' morons... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockerstar Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 At least I had the guys over at MSA pull all of the covers and check to make sure the red adjusters were there before they shipped them out! From now on I will be asking for every component of the set to be verified before they ship... Not to get too far off of topic here, but any word on those new Bilstein shocks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 No word yet on the Bilstiens. I just haven't had time to do the research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.