Suspension Refresh

[bhbarr]

I just got finished having the the suspension re-freshed on my '72.

I went with KYB shock, Eibach springs, new tie-rods ball joints, wheel bearing and a mix of poly and rubber bushings for both front and rear. MSA, Black Dragon and NAPA were my suppliers.

While I "was in there" I media blasted years for grime and painted all the bits and pieces chassis black. It sits on 5" and 7" by VTO LeMans wheels with 205/55-15 Yokohama S-Drive tires.

The goal was a sporty ride, not "boy-racer".

It handles and rides wonderfully!

[rcb280z]

What, no pics?

[Captain Obvious]

I'm glad to hear your positive results as I'm doing pretty much the same thing on my 77. Wheel bearings, steering rack refurb, strut inserts, ball joints, tie rod ends, bushings everywhere...

To make matters worse on mine, I've found a bunch of things that weren't put together properly from my previous owner. I'm hoping (maybe even expecting) huge improvements over what I started with.

[eatingZ]

hey all,

i'm at a loss for which springs/shocks to use on my 77' 280Z since the tokiko's are seemingly unavailable..

i'm looking for a ride that's not harsh, not anything for the track, i live in pot-hole central. and i want to replace most of the front end suspension, steering, and other parts to get as tight of a ride as i can with rubber bushings.. no real need to lower if it makes any of this harder to achieve.

i'd be appreciative to hear the products used by anybody who's had success doing this to their late model Z. and the order of which parts done in which order, i'm hoping to put the car up and down in one shot..

[Captain Obvious]

Great timing! As of yesterday my 77 280 just saw it's first miles back on the road since last November. I did a whole bunch of suspension work during the off season and just finished. Keep in mind that I'm no suspension expert, but I'm very happy with the results. Biggest thing for me is that it's now "predictable". Not a road hugging track star, but it's doing what it's supposed to do now which is a huge improvement over what I started with.

First off... For struts, I put KYB struts on all four corners.

Then in the front, I did a whole bunch of work to my steering rack:

Lots of details in this thread: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/suspension-steering-s30/51640-steering-rack-disassembly-refurb.html

In addition to all the steering rack work, I also replaced the front control arm bushing, outer tie rod ends, and ball joints.

Front control arm bushing location:

Front control arm bushings from Raybestos. (Short side towards the front):

Front ball joints from MOOG (make sure all the mating surfaces are clean of rust and debris):

Front outer tie rod ends from MOOG (non-interchangeable between sides. Threads are opposite):

I'll post some info on the work I did to the rear suspension as well, but I have to get more pics uploaded first.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Captain Obvious

[Captain Obvious]

Here's some pics of the parts I used in the rear.

Rear control arm inner bushing location:

Rear inner forward side bushings from Nissan (sourced through MSA):

Rear inner trailing side bushings from Nissan (sourced through MSA):

Rear control arm outer bushing location:

Rear outer bushings from Raybestos:

I got the rear inner bushings from MSA. I got the rest of the bushings and hard front end parts from Rock Auto. And I got the KYB inserts from JC Whitney.