Front Suspension shock tube modification

[RTz]

It is common for someone to lower their car 1" and still use the stock SHOCK and strut tube

 

J,

 

Its probably VERY common... however, In my experience, its not the best move.

 

IMO, if a Z is lowered ANY, shorter dampers should be a consideration.

[Careless]

Jolane,

 

to remove all doubt as to whether that 2 inches of strut travel is important, I'm going to illustrate it in photoshop.

EDIT:

 

I think this is what happens, and I hope i don't confuse anyone anymore than they already are. And if this diagram is incorrect, let me know and I'll remove it to make sure it's out of everyone's sight.

 

 

Now, even though the measurements aren't true to real-life casings, I hope that you realize that the lost travel on the strut rod is far greater than what is shown in this example. You will "top out" faster, instead of bottoming out, and you cannot use the full extension of the strut now...

 

does that make sense or am I just off on a whim on this boring morning?

[Jolane]

Careless,

 

Tanks for the diagram. I had this pictured in my head. The part missing from your picture though is the piston location inside the shock body. I guess the point I was trying to get at was that I don't think it is universally better to space the shock off the bottom of the strut. At some point the shock is too short in compression travel anyways, and the piston will run into the bottom of it.

 

This stuff is important when building 4X4's as well. In that application, the rebound travel (droop) is usually less than compression by a good bit. Trying to cram the longest travel shock in there is important, but get too long a shock and the benefit is negated since the piston will bottom out instead. There is a balance to this. The longest travel shock is not always the best universally.

 

In the end I think the best thing to do is section the strut tube and run a shorter shock.

 

Joshua

[johnc]

For the shocks that I've had experience with in a 240Z racing application (Tokico BZs, Koni 8610/8611s, Penske 8760s) the total shock travel is 6 to 6.75". The T3 solution is not ideal and seems like an extra expense when you can run, as you said above, a stock sized shock inside an unshortened strut and acheive the same thing.

[Jolane]

Jon,

 

Thanks for the travel. I guess this has been the long way on how to learn about the specific Z application. I guess if the stock length shock does not bottom out internally, then you might as well run that. If it does bottom out, the best option is to section the strut tube and run a shorter shock. Seems pretty straight forward now.

 

Thanks for a good (at least for me) discussion...

 

Joshua