Tuner Galleria Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) Has anyone installed the Cusco Pillow Ball Upper Strut Mounts on their S30 chassis Z? Its a center lock type with part #246 411 A. Internet pricing is about $290 for the front pair. These Cusco mounts appear to replace the factory strut insulators and are made of a 6mm thick plate using 2017S dur-aluminum. I have a late 260Z, which has the 280Z rear larger strut insulators. According to the info gathered while searching this forum, if I switched the rear strut insulator to the 240Z style, it should lower the car about 0.75 inch in the rear. The 240Z rear strut insulator is the same as the front, with Nissan part #54320-E4100. This Nissan Insulator is $63.85 each from Courtesy Nissan. I want to lower my Z about 1.75" all around. I have the Tokico ILK254 Illumina Suspension Kit for the 280Z, which provides a 1.00" lowering all around. I am hoping the ILK254 with Cusco Pillow Ball upper mounts in the front, combined with the 240Z rear strut insulators can net 1.75" drop. Any input on whether this would work? Edited December 30, 2012 by Tuner Galleria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 The uppoer mounting point on the BZ3015/3016 shock shaft is about 21mm in diameter. You would need to nachine that down to fit inside the sphericla bearing int he HKS upper mount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuner Galleria Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 John, thanks for sharing that critical info. Are there any alternatives to netting a 1.75" lowering using the Tokico ILK254 Illumina Suspension Kit for the 280Z? Cutting the springs would work but would that negatively affect the working range of the strut shaft? Is a better solution to use the Tokico Illumina BZ3099 front and BZ3015 rear with the cut Tokico 280Z springs with shortened strut bodies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 For a street car you need to see at least 2" of shock shaft above the strut tube before the bump stops engage. Given that limit your best bet is shorter top hats as you've figured out. The BZ3099s have a 15mm mounting point on the top of the shaft and they work with the 5/8" monoballs in most of the camber plates sold in the USA. Check the ID of the spherical bearing in the HKS top hats to see if they will fit over the BZ3099s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuner Galleria Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 (edited) Great info, 5/8" monoballs equates to about 15.88mm. Good to know that the BZ3099 will work with US based camber plates. It appears though that most if not all camber plates on the market work with smaller ID springs as found in coilover setups. Is there a manufacturer that makes a camber plate that works with Tokico springs? The pillow ball top hats are actually from Cusco, not sure if HKS makes something similar. According to the Cusco site: For straight type springs. Use with optional spring upper seats necessary. Various pillow collars available to suit your needs. It appears that Cusco offers the spherical bearing/pillow collar in various ID sizes. Edited January 2, 2013 by Tuner Galleria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuner Galleria Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share Posted January 8, 2013 (edited) Photo of the Cusco Pillow Ball Mounts used on a coilover setup from Japan. Edited January 8, 2013 by Tuner Galleria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfer.tech Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 ^ that's the aragosta coilover for the S30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 If you're willing to look outside of the JDM/Tuner world you'll find at least three vendors here in the USA that sell the correct camber plates for the S30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuner Galleria Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 Hi John, could you provide the names of the three US vendors? It seems through attrition, some are no longer in business. On a side note, as I consider wheel options, how much extra width on the inner barrel can I get with a coilover setup vs standard strut with Tokico springs? It seems the rear would be more an issue than the front in terms of clearance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Techno Toy Tuning, Ground Control, and DP Racing. I sell the DP Racing parts and you can find the others through Google. And possible wheel width has to do with backspacing and your desire to flare the car (or not). Stock OD springs limit your backspacing to 3.5". 2.5" springs let you run up to 5" of backspace and 2.25" spring let you run up to 5.5" of backspace. You only have about 3.5" of clearance from the hub face to the wheel well lip on an unflared car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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