CableSrv Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 So bought a set of vogtland spring from a guy on ebay and finally got them installed.. However I ended up getting 2 different pairs of springs? One pair was slightly thicker gauge metal and the other seemed to have tighter wind near the end. When I first installed them I used the smaller gauge spring in the front and that resulted in a .5in gap!!! the car looked like it had no suspension left to travel for the front! So figured must have them on backwards since the back is about 3in gap... So few hours later and swapped springs cept now the back is .5in gap and the front is about 3in gap!! Anyone have vogtland springs? Did I mistakenly get one pair incorrectly? Both pairs are exactly the same length and other than size of the wire gauge I figured they were normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) There are (edit - three, see below) different springs you could have received. 240Z front or rear, and 280Z front or rear. Do they have numbers on them? You haven't really supplied much information. I've seen others report no problems and a suitable drop in height, for the 280Z. Edit 2 - the link below shows a common spring for the 240Z and 280Z front. Which means that the 240Z might sit higher in the front than the 280Z since the spring rates are the same. Don't know what rates are in the rear. The space for the springs is different in back between 240Z and 280Z so the springs have to be different. Maybe they only fit right for the 280Z. Edited September 22, 2015 by NewZed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Gadsby Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I have the 240Z springs on my 71 suspension. Car is still on the rotisserie, but the front does have noticeable play in it unloaded. Mayhaps it will disappear with weight on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/117631-new-s30-shock-and-spring-option/page-2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CableSrv Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 There were no part numbers or instructions in the box. I'm currently using KYB excel-g's for my shocks. I will take my wheels off and see if the springs themselves are marked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CableSrv Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 http://imgur.com/a/i7lYf part numbers are HA 9161031 <-- these have normal ride height... maybe slightly lowered. VA 9161031 <-- these are the ones that are not working at all.. wether they are on front or back instant down to .25 of an inch gap as you can see in the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Bummer. Search those part numbers and some interesting stuff comes up. I think that Stagg repurposed some Vogtland springs, and it looks like others have tried to copy their lead. You've been eBay'ed, maybe. Probably should have went through the channels shown in that link. Here's an eBay link mixing up Stagg struts with KYB part numbers, with Vogtland springs. http://www.ebay.es/itm/KYB-4-SHOCKS-SPRINGS-fits-NISSAN-DATSUN-240Z-70-to-73-early-260Z-361001-361002-/311009549336 Here's another that shows your part numbers, without the first letter prefix. http://www.ebay.es/itm/VOGTLAND-GERMAN-LOWERING-SPRINGS-fits-NISSAN-DATSUN-240Z-260Z-1970-to-1974-/400786157431 Both are jdmwerks13. Is this your guy? Maybe somebody with the parts that work will check their part numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Here's what milenko said in Post 38 of the other link. I'd guess that you had 280Z springs but they should actually be longer and of higher rate. Seems like they'd raise a 240Z, not drop it. You have an odd situation. "The Vogtland's that came with the strut kit for the 280z. VA front HA rear" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CableSrv Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 jdmwerks is the guy and when I called him... he initially said that these spring wouldn't work with a ls1 Z... not sure how that's even possible... either way going to call him shortly and see what he says and maybe I just got bad springs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CableSrv Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 doesn't matter if I have HA in the rear and VA in the front. As with that configuration my fronts are coil bind and the front suspension leaves .25in of a gap. The VA springs are the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Kinda sounds like somebody cut some 280Z springs and screwed them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 with that configuration my fronts are coil bind and the front suspension leaves .25in of a gap. The VA springs are the problem. You know that "coil bind" means the springs coils are touching? It means the coil can't compress any more. Doesn't really matter, but it would add a twist to the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 KYB's are about $200 for a set, or less. You could have got the springs from Brand for $180. http://brandcarparts.com/suspension-lowering-springs-nissan-240z Actually, they sell the whole set - http://brandcarparts.com/shocks-struts/select-by-car/nissan/240z-280zx/240z/1970-1973-nissan-datsun-240z-kyb-excel-g-shocks-full-set-and-vogtland-lowering-springs-kit-1-2-drop.html Doesn't help you but might help the next guy. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Do you a 240, 260, orca 280? Do you Have a LS1 installed? Do you have the VAs in front and the HAs in back or vice versa? In the pics the springs are not coil bound. Was the car jacked up when you took those pics? Jdmwerks is Stagg. Jack is probably the guy answering the phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CableSrv Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 240z 71 early production version. I've tried VA's in front first and doing so the fronts were coil bind and yes I know what coil bind means. There was no travel left. The back had over a 3in gap so I thought I had them on backwards and decided to swap them so now VA's are in the rear and same issue. The rears however are not coil binding however they are still insanely low.. so much that there is barely any travel left. the VA's on my fronts still leaves me with 0 travel left however the HA's on the rear or fronts gives me 3in gap in fender well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CableSrv Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 newzed I agree.. sadly by the time I noticed their price I had already ordered from jdmwerks. Originally I ordered the stagg struts with vogtland springs... however he said they are completely out of the rear stagg shocks for the next 5 months... I didn't want to wait that long and found a decent price on kyb's that I decided to just buy those and order the vogtland springs separately. However after ordering I noticed that brandcarp sells both for slightly cheaper..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Actually, what johnc is saying, combined with the other thread, I believe, is that they're all the same company/person. Something weird going on, beyond LS engine. To summarize what you're saying - one spring (the VA) is way too low both front or back, the other spring (HA) is way too high both front or back. So both springs don't work. One question that might clear some things up is - where did you start? With a stock 240Z spring and strut combo and LS engine? Where did it sit? Or are you piecing the whole thing together? Could be that you just have a mishmash of parts that don't work together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 To anyone who's followed the new Stagg/Vogtland spring/shock option, the Brandcarparts site is in much better shape than it was, with parts and packages listed by car. Pretty easy and looks promising. I'm mainly here because I'll probably buy the suspension package someday and like to keep up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 You guys have enough skill to build your own coilovers. That would solve all this once and for all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CableSrv Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 RebekahsZ lol if I had the money to do coil overs I would have.. sadly I'm not rich. newzed: she was stock with blown struts and old springs... I would say tire gap was around 3-3.5ins. So I decided to do a suspension overhaul and get new struts and springs to fix the bouncy nightmare it was to drive a ls1 Z with no dampening. A few notes to make first! HA's are perfect! they are not too high as my rear is currently unloaded... I've removed spare tire well and old gastank and installed a summit 16 gallon. So the rear end is really light and probably the only reason why the VA's are not coil binding in the back but are coil binding in the front. I would bet if I sit in the car and fill the tank up to full, it would cause the rear to coil bind as well with the VA's back there. However since most of the floor is cut out and all I have is a empty tank back there... it's probably light enough to sit higher up. I either got defective VA springs or wrong part number? Only JDMWerks can tell me that. I sent him an email on ebay with the pictures and part numbers. Hopefully he gets back to me soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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