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Tokico spring question..


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Ok, might sound like a stupid question, but i need an answer on this. I installed one side of my new tokico struts and springs tonight on my 240z. My question is, on the coil springs one end has the coils closer together than the other end. Does the end with the coils closer together go twords the top or the bottom? I installed the drivers side front so far, and i put the end with the coils closest together twords the top. When i put the car on the ground to bounce the front end to see how it feels, it seemed to bottom out easily, and if i look under the car at the springs, seems like the coils that are closest together are almost touching. Did i put em in upside down?

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dude where the hell have you been...

 

from the cars ive done lowering springs on, the side with the coils closer together go on the bottom

 

 

Uhhh...i knew thats what i was gona hear :( Thanks alex. Ive been working my ass off here in Las Vegas. Havent been online a whole lot in the past year. I bought another 240z to play with about 3 months ago and ive been slowly putting it together. Ive checked out your site many times in the past year, you guys really have come along way. Your 240z is sweet and so are the cars you guys build. I gotta get on aim one of these days so we can catch up!

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I'm not using the Tokico springs, but I think the fronts are progressive and the rears are not.

 

Check out the H&R springs site: http://www.hrsprings.com/site/index.html. Every spring I saw has the heavy part on top except the cup spring for the rear, and if you notice it gets really small in diameter at the top, so that makes it very hard to put the heavy part at the top (smaller diameter = stiffer, but closer coils = softer).

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The fronts are progressive, and that sucks. Buts thats what i have right now and i'll use em for a while. It would be nice if tokico let you know about this before buying them. Fronts are progressive, rears arent. Lame!!!!! It looks like they will hit the msa bumps stops at any bump in the road, since i can bounce the front end pretty easily and bottom them out.

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spring saddle on top saddle on bottom compress spring thru bump and rebound. turn spring over it's still being pushed from same points compressing the spring in the same way.no difference.i was told this by kings springs here in oz when i asked the same question years ago. just get 'em the same way.hope this helps.

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as far as bottoming out, it shouldn't matter which way the spring is oriented, the spring can compress only so much. I've always installed them with the closer coils to the top for the unsprung weight, but if your bottoming out, sounds like you don't have enough spring rate, free height or both.

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Yeah, turning them over will not make any difference to whether they bottom out or not.

 

I guarantee the Tokico springs I bought were progressive front and linear rear, even discussed it with aTokico support tech. He was sympathetic to my situation when I wanted to return them but I had to return them to the distributor who was not so sympathetic, so I still have them.

I'll eventually convert to coil-overs.

 

Wheelman

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Trim down the bumpstops and you can get a bit more travel. Other than that, this is the reason why we suggest sectioning the struts when the car gets lowered more than about an inch. Coilovers won't help with the lack of travel if you have the height you want, sectioning will. Coilovers will get rid of the progressive rate in the front and will allow you to choose pretty much any rate you want in 25 in/lb increments.

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Mario,

Thats my car in the first picture you see as you scroll down. The top coils are fully compressed and I have about 2" before the spring is totally compressed. This was with all the front body work removed so it got worse when I put things together.

This is why I plan to convert to coil-overs in the future.

The ride height is to low and there is not enough travel before bottoming out. I'm going to cut the stops but haven't made the effort yet as I'll have to pull the springs to do it.

 

Keep in mind I'm running a V8 so there is more weight on the front, and believe me there is. I had the car weighed at the last Auto-X. It was 2540 total (Me not in it and 3/4 tank of gas), 1350 front and 1190 rear for a 53/47 distribution. I'm not sure the way we measured it was right but the numbers add up correctly.

We used a full car scale, weighed the front, then total, then rear. The scale was surrounded by a small concrete pad, when only the front or rear tires were on the scale they were very close to the edge of the scale in order to keep the other end on the pad and the car level.

 

So much for the idea the set back position makes for 50/50 distribution. I have an R200 which is a little heavier than the stock R180 and a 2001 Camaro fuel tank which is lighter then the stocker so it probably is a wash. I removed the tire well and welded in 18 gauge sheet to fill the hole, lost a little there but probably gained most of it back from the 1"x2" 18 gauge tubing I used for the the tank mounts.

 

All that to say that I'm not happy with the Tokico springs and will replace them. I like the spring rates, 165 front, 180 rear but the progressive fronts suck and they definitely lowered the car more than the advertised 1.5"

 

Wheelman

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