Need help with s130 Eibach / tokico springs

[BIGJIM]

Ok ive done the search and found tons of s30 info but not much s130 info. I have a 1980 with Tokico blue struts and Tokico springs. The car handles great but has a very stiff ride. This car is a rust bucket so i purchased a 1981 280zx with a bad engine. So i plan to swap the 1980 engine into the 1981. Now the 1981 (new car) has Eibach springs on stock struts all the way around. The ride height looks good but i can put my knee on the bumpers and move the suspension a good 4 inches, but on the 1980 (old car with tokicos) it barely moves at all. I worry ill have a less sporty ride if i leave the Eibach's in, but the stiff ride the Tokico's give is a little much for a daily driver. What should i do? Im thinking use the Eibach springs with the Tokico blue struts??? I need an experts opinion. Thanks in advance!!

[Gollum]

Struts don't carry any weight of the car. The difference in how easily the car's move compared to each other is 100% spring difference, possibly a bit from the bushings, but not much if any.

 

I'd say keep what you have in the currently running car, and work on making it work better for you. Get lighter sway bars if you can, go with stock if you have thicker aftermarket sway bars. What rims are you running? Reducing unsprung mass almost always improves ride quality, not to mention improving tire to road contact over bumps.

 

It seems to me a lot of times when a ride seems harsh it's not just due to a harsh suspension, but also a weak chassis. Any chassis flex makes a car feel like it's falling apart to me when you go over harsh bumps. A good solid chassis will just beat your ass to jello while feeling very solid and planted. Installing some good strut bars can go a long way in improving chassis flex at the suspension points, and if you're making a cage I find it pointless to do all that work and not tie in the cage to the shock towers, which will improve overall rigidity immensely.

 

There's several people on these forums with highly modified S130 cars, and I'm a huge fan of them. If I lived in a state where I didn't have to smog them, and land were cheap enough I could own many inexpensive cars, I'd own many more S130 cars. They're a blast to work on and have lots of potential.

 

Oh, something else, what's your ride height? Some of the poor suspension manners might not be due to the spring rate, but screwed up geometry from too much drop. I owned a CRX for about 8 months that was a long term loan from a friend. He had over 2K into the suspension and only handled marginally better than stock, even with nice tires on it. All I did was take the time to raise the car up a bit and make sure the geometry looked fine. When I took the previous owner for a short test ride he couldn't believe how well it handled. Sure it didn't feel as "sporty" in some ways, but it had loads more grip in the corners and was overall much faster. It also didn't bottom out so easily...