jaime240z Posted August 10, 2002 Share Posted August 10, 2002 I have a '72 240z and plan to use the ground-control coil over kit on all four corners. I also plan to section the struts about 1.5" Has anyone who has done this had problems with camber spec./tire wear. I guess my question is Do I need to use the offset camber bushings and/or camber plates? I drive the car regularly on the street. No racing or track use. Thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 10, 2002 Share Posted August 10, 2002 With coilovers and a 1 1/2 section ,, you are going to get about 4 inches closer to the ground. One way to adjust camber is to move your lower control arm pivot holes 3/4 inch higher up on your crossmember by following the instructions in the JTR manual. If after lowering your car and the control arms are horizontal to the ground . your camber is not that far off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaime240z Posted August 10, 2002 Author Share Posted August 10, 2002 Thanks, Tomahawk. 4 inches sounds like alot. From what understand does sectioning the struts help the car ride smoother? If not should look into keping the stock length struts.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 10, 2002 Share Posted August 10, 2002 It would be safe to say that the coilovers will give you a built in 2 inch drop with the the adjusting sleeves being able to be adjusted back to stock height. I would not section the struts unless going for a real low car and would use 5 inch adjusting sleeves. I was forced to go with a 2 inch section on my Tomahawk because of the reduced weight of the car and to position the body over the tires properly and a Velo Rossa (Nezzie 76) was also lowered with a 2 inch sectioned struts after a simple coilover did not lower the car enough. The Velo Rossa has alot of negative camber while the Tomahawk does not due to moving the pivot holes for the front control arms up a 15/16 th an inch on the frontcrossmeber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted August 10, 2002 Share Posted August 10, 2002 The reason struts are sectioned is to get back some of the bump travel that's lost when a Z is lowered a lot. As the 'hawk said you'll be lowering the car 4" which, with the stock length struts, will leave you with about 1/2" of bump travel before hitting the bump stops. That's not enough for track use and is absolutely not enough for the street. Sectioning the strut 1.5" will get you about 1 to 1.25" more bump travel. You'll have to use either the MR2 or VW Rabbit sized shocks up front (with spacers) and the 240Z front shocks in the rear. IMHO... coil over kits and sectioned struts are really a track only modification (and I know a number of folks here disagree). For a street car I would run 1" lowering springs, offset control arm bushings, and maybe slot the strut towers if I needed more camber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaime240z Posted August 10, 2002 Author Share Posted August 10, 2002 Thanks John. Currently I have the S/T lowering springswith stock struts. That's how I bought the car anyways. Tire wear isn't a problem now with regular rotations. I'm looking to do a complete overhaul of the suspension for two reasons. 1 It rides like crap right now and 2 I don't like the stance the car has. It looks lower in the rear than in the front. I would like to do the coil-over conv. to make it sit the way I like, but I don't want it too ride any worse and I don't want to buy new front tires every six months because fo -camber. I'm pretty sure the struts in there now are shot. So i THINK replacing them would solve the bouncing problem.... Anyone Have any thoughts on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 11, 2002 Share Posted August 11, 2002 John C. is no doubt an expert on this subject. Since your suspension is bouncing.. all you may need is some good strut cartridges like Tokico. Since your car is lower in the rear for no apparrent reason , Someone may have switched the front and rear "bearing mounts" or the part that fits on top of the struts with the three threaded studs that attachs to the strut tower. The front bearing mount is a lower unit and will lower a car another inch if placed on the rear struts. I mounted some spare front bearing mounts on the rear of a 280 Z Velo Rossa which gave it a rakish lower in the rear look. The light weight Velo Rossa is really low with the 2 inch section and 150/175 # coilovers with a good firm ride and to my knowledge it does not bottom out and the 280 Z struts are longer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaime240z Posted August 11, 2002 Author Share Posted August 11, 2002 Cool. Thanks guys. I'm going check the basics first before I get in over my head! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 11, 2002 Share Posted August 11, 2002 Do some research on this forum for sectioning struts, There are some good posts and pictures that I learned from and also there was a lengthy explaination from my evil twin brother, ljohnson, on how to do a strut section and control arm pivot hole to a new location. My friend Ocbaar bought a 240 Z with camber plates that I hope to duplicate and make diagrams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted August 11, 2002 Share Posted August 11, 2002 I don't think an early Z can have a 3" ride height and still any suspension travel left. Most track early Zs that aren't limited to the ITS mandated 5" ride height run about 4 to 4.5". Any lower and you just cannot get much bump travel not matter how much you section the struts. My 240Z has completely custom built Penske 8760 shock/struts with custom length shock shafts and my ride height will be between 4 and 4.5". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted August 11, 2002 Share Posted August 11, 2002 to give you an idea... the front of my car is 3 1/2" off the ground w/ stock struts and slightly stiffer springs drop about 1/2" i got that low by dropping the tire series. currently running 14x6 panasports, looking to find some spacers and run some 17x7 Konigs. So what exactly is the point of sectioning the strut if you don't gain anymore suspension travel? isn't that kinda a waste of time and money? Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted August 11, 2002 Share Posted August 11, 2002 ok... i still have this Camber problem... in the new MSA catalog they sell a camber kit that adjusts 1.5 degrees of camber change. it installs on the top of the spring into the strut tower, has anybody seen this? Will it work w/ Ground Control Coilovers that i plan to get next week? btw... i have 78 280z 2+2 if it matters Thanx Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted August 12, 2002 Share Posted August 12, 2002 HI... i have a 78 280z 2+2 i'm tryn' to get the whole car about 3" off the ground.. right now the car has performace springs on it.. about 1/2" drop, and i put lower profiles on the front went to a 60 series... my car was on the jack the other day and i noticed my fronts are going bald on the inside only about 1" this means some serious camber adjustments right? will the control arm kit from MSA fix this? of do i order the one that goes ontop of the strut from them or both... i don't wanna drop my car till i get the camber fixed. any thoughts or suggestions? also... could somebody kindly send me an email explaing how to "section a strut" ? i'm a little lost here thanx ED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted August 12, 2002 Share Posted August 12, 2002 To Jamie240z; If your struts are shot, then how old are the springs? If the springs are old the car will sit lower (i.e. not the stock height). New springs designed to lower the car may actually raise it. Know this from personal experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted August 12, 2002 Share Posted August 12, 2002 > So what exactly is the point of sectioning the > strut if you don't gain anymore suspension > travel? You do gain more bump travel (from 1 to 1.5"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaime240z Posted August 12, 2002 Author Share Posted August 12, 2002 So if I want my car say 2-3 inches lower than stock I the ride quality on the street would benefit from coilovers and sectioned struts? Right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 13, 2002 Share Posted August 13, 2002 If you want your car 3 inches lower than stock, section the struts 1 1/2 inches or two inches, 10 inch coilovers (200#s front/225#s rear) 5 inch coil over sleeves. Try Ross Corrigan or SCCA (Mike) for your coilovers-etc These guys have good competitive prices on quality products and offer customer support. Relocte your lower control arm pivot hole upwards 3/4 of an inch in the front cross member. When all this is done, then you can check your camber and see what is needed to correct (if any thing). I found on my 2 inch sectioned front "280 Z" struts KYB GR2 VW Rabbitt strut cartridges # 364014 ($50.00) fit like a glove with no spacers. Coilovers 10 inch... 165 front/ 185 rear five inch adjusting coilover sleeves with Ground Control adjusting nuts (really good from Ross C) 280 2+2 front roll bar. poy urethane bushings for steering rack. Put the front Z car front struts in the rear with spacer. If you want ride quality stay with stock parts, the coilovers are performance options with a wide variety of spring rates with the ability to adjust the ride height. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaime240z Posted August 13, 2002 Author Share Posted August 13, 2002 Jim. I bought the car from a kid I used to work with. And I actually helped him install the springs. At that time I didn't know he would sell the car. So the springs are about two years old now. And I'm positive the stuts were not changed the entire 4 years of previous ownership plus the two years I've had it. I'm only guessing the struts are shot since I've ridden in a friend's 240 with the same springs and tire size. It rode alot better than mine.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 where did you find 10" coilovers? all i've found are the kits from Ground Control and the stuff that Arizona Z car makes... (not really impressed). is Ross C the name of the company or just a guy? need help... thanx Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaime240z Posted August 14, 2002 Author Share Posted August 14, 2002 Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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