Phantom Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 I'm on my second set of blown struts and my current springs have about 77,000 miles on them so it's time for some new parts. I'm looking at the front and rear suspension kits Techno Toy Tuning offers that utilize the Tokico Illumina's. My question at this point, and for Techno Toys is what would be good spring rates. The car is a 1977 280Z that weighs 3,000 lbs. It weighs 1,440 lbs on the front and It weighs 1,560 lbs on the rear wheels - yes, it is tail heavy. The car has an LS1 that dyno'd 325 HP at the rear wheels and it's backed by a T56 and an LSD R200. Tires are 225/50-16 Dunlop Direzza's on Centerline 16x7 aluminum wheels. Brakes are Willwood 4 piston calipers on the front on 12.2' vented rotors and 240SX claipers in the back on 11.4" solid rotors. The car is primarily a daily driver with occasional trips to a drag strip, a crooked track or a spirited hill climb. I do not intend to lower the car more than 1" from stock ride height to maintain it's drivability. I've read the FAQ's section on this and have seen recommendations of 115 to 200 lb/in in the front and 145 to 250 lb/in in the rear. Any experts out there that want to get me a little closer? REMEMBER - this is NOT a full time track car. I just want a good all-round set-up so I can have fun wherever I am. Thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooquick260 Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 I gave that info to Gabriel at Techno and he gave me the recommendations.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trackzpeed Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 200 front. 220 to 240 rear. IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 I gave similar information to Greg at Techno Toy and asked them for a recommendation. I appreciate feedback from folks on this site to compare against what he may recommend. I sent them the information the end of last week and I'm still waiting on a reply. They must be pretty busy or else not realize I'm serious about getting a set. One of my concerns is that the weight bias of the car changed with my modifications. I started out with 1,400 lbs on both the front and the rear. The drive-train conversion pushed it to 1,400 on the front and 1,430 on the rear - the T56 is a heavy beast. When I did the interior it added another 170 lbs and pushed it to 1,440 on the front and 1,560 on the rear. I would think that would call for slightly stiffer springs in the rear vs the front than a set up for the original weights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 Ordered the kits. 200 front/250 rear since car is tail heavy. Height is going to be adjustable from stock height to maybe 2" lower. Since I didn't have camber adjustment I'll stay real close to stock ride height. Should have it on by mid July. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted June 24, 2013 Author Share Posted June 24, 2013 OK - so the shortage of Tokico Illumina's in the US has Techno Toy sourcing other mfg's. They have settled on the Koni 8610-1437. It is an infinitely top rebound adjustable strut cartridge. Anyone with experience with this strut? If not it looks like i'll be on the pointy end of the spear again. I'll have to map my settings carefully as they do not have "click' but are infinitely adjustable throughout their range. I need to determine the exact positions they work best for me. With the amount of track time I get that should only take maybe 10-12 years. At least they are top adjustable which works well for my 280. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srgunz Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 I was wondering what shock they were going to change to. Did the price increase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted July 3, 2013 Author Share Posted July 3, 2013 Nope. He held the price which was really good of him. So far they've been a good vendor. Had an issue with a missing part and a slightly damaged part and they no questions Fedex'd me new parts on their nickel. The fun part now, though, is that there is a nationwide back-order on rear wheel bearings for the S30. MSA is saying they are probably 4 weeks out. That really sucks because there is no way I'm putting the new struts in and trying to reuse my bearings. That would be just plain stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harvey Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Zcarsource.com has them just got a pair last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 No backorder on the bearings if you give the bearing number to a bearing supplier. And the 8610s are not infinitely adjustable. They have a top rebound adjustment that has a full range of 3.5 turns. Also, that are valves for spring rates over 250 lb. in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1ghtymaxXx Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 (edited) No backorder on the bearings if you give the bearing number to a bearing supplier. . Not to mention huge savings. I got my diff carrier bearings directly from SKF (albeit through a friend who's employer has a commercial account with them) and they were 12 bucks a pop and dirt cheap priority shipping, vs 80 bucks/ea IIRC through an online autoparts vendor. Edited July 25, 2013 by m1ghtymaxXx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted July 31, 2013 Author Share Posted July 31, 2013 (edited) OK - some updates - First - John coffee -The Koni's definitely are rebound only adjustment but only 1.5 turns from one extreme to the other - or at least the ones I have are. Maybe these are a bit different from what you've worked with and will work ok with my 200/250 spring rates. What I meant by infinitely adjustable was that they aren't a 5 specific location adjustable like the Illumina's but can be set anywhere in the 1.5 turn range. Second - Found the bearings at www.partsgeek.com so cancelled bearing order with MSA and asked for only the seals which Parts Geek didn't seem to have. MSA sent seals and a pair of outer wheel bearings. ??? Still waiting on the returned goods stuff to send those back. Evidently a lot of places have the bearings but the main distribution warehouses for the local parts places here and for MSA were out and have the bearings back-ordered. I thought I might find some floating around somewhere so a quick internet search found them. Parts Geek actually had them from several different manufacturers but I went with SKF even though they were the most expensive. Fronts went on pretty well considering the car is 35 years old but rears were a different story. The passenger side spindle pin and spindle pin nuts were cross threaded or gauled or something, Anyway they were a beast to get off and the spindle pin threads were toast afterwards. SO - another order to MSA for a pair of spindle pins, four bushings, 4 nuts and rubber washers. Car has been down for almost three weeks now and I'm getting a bit frustrated. Hopefully this is the last of the surprises and I'll get it back on the road soon. Edited July 31, 2013 by Phantom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted August 3, 2013 Author Share Posted August 3, 2013 Well - the gift just keeps on giving. Turns out that the bearings that Parts Geek sent me were mislabeled and wouldn't fit. Fortunately not only did a local bearing house have the right bearings but they swapped straight across for the ones I had as they had a customer for them. Passenger side spindle pin had to be cut out which buggered up the lower control arm so now that needs to be repaired too. In the process of getting it up on the rack it appears the chassis has flexed a bit by where the drivers side tension/compression rod attaches and may need a little TLC. Have any of you frequent flyers on the crooked tracks had experience with that problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 If the TC rod bucket is bent it's most likely front a wreck or a hard curb hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted August 5, 2013 Author Share Posted August 5, 2013 Jon, Well, That would mean I've been driving it this way for 21 years as I haven't had a wreck, hit a curb or deep chuckhole since I got the car. Oops - I did hit a pallet on the interstate once. I wonder if that could do it? I'll have a local frame shop look at it once I get the suspension done and make sure everything is properly lined out and nothing is tweaked. It doesn't look too bad to me but I'm definitely not an expert in that area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 Suspension is done. Finally got the car back on the road today. Lots of good things. Found a bad rear brake caliper - leaking - so got that replaced. The e-brake is functional again - 4 hours worth of skinned knuckles and four letter (crap!, darn!, Ooww!!) words getting it wound in above the torque tube setup. Oil pressure sender is replaced and LS1 oil pressure is now showing correctly. Interestingly I have a late model '77 but the oil pressure sender is the one for the '75-early 77 model. Car feels really taut and well planted. I'm going to shake it down over the next week and see if anything shows up. At this point I'm definitely happy with the feel of the Techno Toys set-up with the Koni's and the 200/250 springs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted August 27, 2013 Author Share Posted August 27, 2013 Took the car on a run in the local area. $ consecutive 6,000 RPM shifts quickly had me at 130+ and the car felt solidly planted. Slowed back down to legal on the 4-lane and then jumped across the bridge and came down the edge of the river. Road was crooked, rolly and lumpy. Really worked the suspension and managed to smack my head a few times on the roof on some particularly rough areas. Wouldn't have been bad but I was running about twice the posted speed and that tends to accentuate the road imperfections. Bottom line -well pleased with the suspension. Car is firmly planted and very controllable. LS1 is singing a beautiful song and I have a grin form ear to ear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchiez Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 OK - so the shortage of Tokico Illumina's in the US has Techno Toy sourcing other mfg's. They have settled on the Koni 8610-1437. It is an infinitely top rebound adjustable strut cartridge. Anyone with experience with this strut? If not it looks like i'll be on the pointy end of the spear again. I'll have to map my settings carefully as they do not have "click' but are infinitely adjustable throughout their range. I need to determine the exact positions they work best for me. With the amount of track time I get that should only take maybe 10-12 years. At least they are top adjustable which works well for my 280. Yeah...i had a heck of a time sourcing mine for my project. I did find some from shox.com in the winter. I am one of the lucky ones I guess. I've still yet to put them on the car. I have too many projects on the go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted August 30, 2013 Author Share Posted August 30, 2013 Going to back the shock settings off from full firm and adjust the front height a bit to give the car a slight rake. Never did like the "down at the tail" look of the S30's. We'll see how that works out. I know my kidneys will breathe a bit easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 Amazing the difference in the ride quality with the struts set at their midpoint. Also lowered the front about 3/4". Jacked the passenger side rear up a bit as some combination of 36 years of stuff had the car sitting lower on that corner than the drivers side with the same set points. Now it sits level. Anyway, car still handles really well and feels well planted but is no longer busting my noggin or my kidneys. Looks like the midpoint is a good daily driver setting and I'll save the full firm for the track - as long as it's relatively smooth. Something like the Maryhill Loop might still require a less stiff set-up since it's essentially a 90 year old paved road. 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.