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Megan S13 coilover review after 7 years of use


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The most important component of a strut suspension is the shock. Period. The camber plate, spring perches, springs, etc. are secondary. Spend 50% of you suspension money on the shocks. Koni, Bilstein, Penske, Ohlins, JRZ, Moton are better then anything sold by Megan, Stance, etc. orders of magnitude better in some cases.

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Alright... I partially retract my statement on Megan products.

 

260DET is correct, the rear s13 coilovers do not work well with 240z rear suspension. This is because the upper mount does not allow the spring to pivot as suspension compresses, possibly putting side load on the shock.

Although I could fix this by adding an upper perch to isolate the spring from the upper mount and make it pivot as suspension compresses, i still feel the Megans have too small of a shock diameter to be used on a Macpherson strut setup. I also dont feel like the pillowball is up to the task.

 

Although I made a few adaptors and sold them here on the site a long time ago, I was emailed by Mckinney to start mass producing them but didn't want to jump the gun as I wasn't sure if the design would work. I think Mckinney ended up making them anyways?

 

To those of you who installed s13 coilovers into your Z, the rear upper mount needs addressing. If you installed rear camber plates along with them, you may be ok.

 

Yikes. Time to start looking for new coilovers.

 

 

Edited by rickyellow zee
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Rickyellowz, you are quoting somethign I said, but I do not remember saying that. You have a link to that post?

 

EDIT*** USing s13 rear shocks with stock top hats may be an option... ANyone have any experience and can comment on the reliability of this setup?

 

Anyways, since I  like to do things propreley and have been rebuilding my car from the ground up, fixing all of my past mistakes:

 

I am now debating purchasing two s13 front coilovers from Megan and running them on the rear, buying a set of Stance S13 front coilovers X4, or going back to the sectioned strut and GC combo in either Bilstien or Koni and camber plates.

 

I dont like the idea of using s13 rear shocks, regardless of whether or not I use stock tophats, because I feel the shock diameter is too small for a MAchpeherson strut.

 

All three options will take considerable work.

I am also looking  into adapting higher end shocks such as Penske or Ohlins

 

Boy am I glad I didn't start mass producing those s13 coilover adapters when I thought of them and I am sorry for the three people i sold adapters to a while back. As far as the guys who bought them from Mckinney, keep an eye on your rear shocks. I went through 3 rears in no time.

Edited by 240zdan
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Hmm, something to look out for, how many miles in the 7 years? 

 

Along the same lines, there were a couple members posting about DC2 coilovers welded onto our cars, I think around the same time if not a little before or after. They also reported similar results, shock shafts bending, blowing shocks etc. I saw a recent conversation between them on another forum, they both agreed it is not the way to go at all.

 

McKinney has said time and time again, that their shocks are not from the S13, they are made for their application. Would be interesting to see if they have had any reports.

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Mckinneys new set of coilovers are probably s13 fronts all around, or similar. But the old adaptor kit they used to sell, which I originally came up with, uses s13 off the shelf coilovers. The fronts are fine and work great with a simple spring swap (form 8k to 5k) but the rears are a no go. This was a while back, and everyone who purchased that is going to have issues. I believe zcjdm offered it as well.

 

305.jpg

 

Those rear upper strut mounts are a no go. the spring needs to be isolated from the chassis and allowed to pivot.

 

seattlejester: One started leaking after 1 month. A replacement was put in, then it started leaking out of the top of the shaft after 1 year. The other side weeped for the last 7 years and finnaly developed a dead spot. I put two new shocks in but dont expect them to last, but more importantly, there is massive coil defelction under suspension compression. This is what concerns me most. The top of the shock NEEDS to pivot.

 

Anyhow, I will be ordering two shock inserts in correct length and thickness from Megan, and will be placing them on the back to solve the issue for now. I will use the original 6k spring and machine some bolt in camber plates on the rear to use the Megan s13 front pillowball setup, or perhaps see if Sakura garage will sell me just their plates. They should work fine on the megan coilover pillowballs.

 

 

Again, using the stock tophats with a rear s13 coilover is better, although still not ideal because of the smaller shaft diameter.  A thicker shaft such as the ones found on the fronts is best, or even better an inverted shock. (my opinion, although some may feel an inverted shock isnt necessary.)  Shock quality, like johnc has mentioned, is a whole separate issue. I am not going to get into that anymore.

Edited by 240zdan
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Mckinneys new set of coilovers are probably s13 fronts all around, or similar. But the old adaptor kit they used to sell, which I originally came up with, uses s13 off the shelf coilovers. The fronts are fine and work great with a simple spring swap (form 8k to 5k) but the rears are a no go. This was a while back, and everyone who purchased that is going to have issues. I believe zcjdm offered it as well.

 

305.jpg

 

 

 

 

Again, using the stock tophats with a rear s13 coilover is better, although still not ideal because of the smaller shaft diameter.  A thicker shaft such as the ones found on the fronts is best, or even better an inverted shock. (my opinion, although some may feel an inverted shock isnt necessary.)  Shock quality, like johnc has mentioned, is a whole separate issue. I am not going to get into that anymore.

My Upgarage coilovers are inverts and have the thicker diameter shaft so I had to drill the top hat to make it fit. 

 

20160106 114017

Edited by rickyellow zee
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