suspension setup

[CR34TION]

What's the best non-coilover suspension setup for an r34 gtt?

Any experiences?

Cheers

[Roy]

Leaf springs worked well on my Valiant.

Any shock like Koni/Bilstein etc will do a good job if the valving is matched to the spring rate you are using. Talk to your local susp place, even better is if you talk to places that set up club cars etc

[CR34TION]

Yeah got offered TEIN HA for $2300, butg can't justify spending that much as i dont track it.

Might just get Koni shocks with King springs... cheap... *waiting to be flamed*

[hawks]

my bilsteins cost about 1300 bucks

add about 400 bucks for springs and your getting close to the TIEN price anyway.

[CR34TION]

but i heard the ride is too hard for the street with coilovers, even though they are adjustable.

what you think.. i'm gonna push it, but not to the extreme.

[Sydneykid]

try www.whiteline.com.au

[Roy]

Keep in mind that if you are buying your Teins new, then they offer an incredilbe range of springs, from the sort of spring rates you would expect of a race car (we've all heard the stories... Teins are rock hard) to spring rates more suitable for road.

Tein HA are height adjustable (and rebound only??? i think) and if the car is never going to see track work, do you really need such a susp setup for the road.

If your stock shocks are in good nick (R34 id imagine so). id suggest some King/Selbys lowered springs that are only a slight increase in spring rate over OE. Your OE shocks will still work well with them and spend the money left over on sway bars and some new bushes if needed.

[Ender]

I suggest for a start you should leave the oem suspension and install...adjustable caster rods, and get adjustable camber at least at the front....

Even eith the oem suspension This will arguably improve the feel of the car and the handling by a greater margin than aftermarket springs and shocks without these other mods....especially if the oem stuff is still pretty new and working properly...if it is shagged then different story...

Food for thought....

[Steve]

Ender, how does fitting adjustable camber to the front help if the camber is already ok? which it should be on a stock Skyline.

For not alot more, you could get an adjustable swaybar - much better bang for your buck.

[Ender]

What do you mean by OK camber? It may be ok, but not optimal for excellent handling?

I meant being able to adjust the camber to say Neg 2 degrees or so caster out to neg 9 or so ....gives the front of your car a stable predictable feeling and also increases the grip and turnin...

I agree, adjustable sway bar should be included in there. Prolly quite a bit cheaper than adjustable camber arms...upper or lower...very good bang for buck too...

I guess the point I was trying to make was that people imediatly go for springs and shocks which, dont get me wrong, improve the handling. There are however other alternative routes to upgrade suspension which IMHO offer better bang for buck and a better platform to later upgrade springs and shocks, wheels and tyres etc...

Anyway, blah blah blah...nothing everybody hasn't heard before...

Russ

[Steve]

Oops, perhaps a typo there? Neg caster?

I have 1.5deg neg camber with the the car lowered 30mm - that is what I meant by ok, from my understanding, it is only when you start dropping the ride hieght much over 30mm that camber starts to drift too far. Besides, if you upgrade your swaybar, doesnt this reduec the need (to a degree) for neg camber as it reduces body roll and therefore a change in the geometry during cornering. I also found a front strut brace helped in this are too.

I managed to get 7.5deg pos caster with poly bushes, and at 200 fitted, its alot cheaper than fitting adjustable rods, but I as they say 'you cant have too much caster':)

[Ender]

Yes...neg caster may not induce desireable handling characteristics hahaha...

On a 32 gtst I am of the opinion that there is almost no such thing as too much camber...within reason of course...I have run 3.5 with success...track yes....but if you are a spirited driver and like driving mountain rds quickly then I dont think 2-2.5 is unreasonable....

I am guessing though with standard suspension, camber may be around .5 or so?? and more neg would improve handling by a lot...

I should qualify a little too....I dont have hicas any more which means I need more grip in the front for a neutral feel relative to a car with hicas...

You can buy second hand adjustable caster rods for 250 or so....not too expensive.

I think we need to be mindful too that a roadcar often does not have the level of tyre grip to make use of nil body roll and an overly stiff suspension setup.....It can make a car quite skaty etc...

But overall I agree with what you say on the whole, there are a number of ways to approach suspension mods, depending on cash and what you want to end up with....

Cheers, Hope this is helping cre4tion?? Oh I have Tein HA and I dont find them to be too hard....They are hard but they are also very compliant, they do seem to soak up bumps quite well, they certainly do not crash at all.

Russ

[Sydneykid]

Hi CR34TION, have you read the article on the R33 GTST on the Whiteline site? All the same settings worked fine on the 2 X R34 GTT's we have set up. The HPI Project R34 GTT also has the same set up and Ben raves about it.

I my opinion the Japanese are not very good at shock absorber technology, particularly the subtleties of achieving a balance in damping, ride control and handling. The leaders in this field have always been the Europeans. So I would recommend Bilsteins or Konis. Shop around, you may pick up a lightly used set for a good price.

Hope that helps some more

[CR34TION]

Thanks dudes, this has turned into a more than helpfull discussion for me. After driving my car for 3 months with dodgy suspension, I am very keen to get something decent onto it... I now understand that power is nothing without the handling...

[Ender]

Cr34tion...I believe if you took your car on the track you would shave many seconds off your time with a few suspension mods...to get the same time from pure power mods would require significant increase in power....If you do a few of the things listed here to your car I gaurantee you will swear you are driving a different car....good luck with the research.

Russ

[CR34TION]

i found some Bilstein shocks and springs for my GTT but they are located in Sydney and I'm in Melbourne. Anyone know of if these are any good.. they are supposed to lower the car 2inches... is that too much as I wouldn't know cos mine is currently not stock.

cheers

[Sydneykid]

Hi CR34TION, the standard centre of wheel to guard measurements are 380 mm front and 370 mm rear. Don't go any lower than 350 / 340 mm. Rear camber goes to shit, not enough travel to soak up bumps, rear roll centre is screwed, drive shaft angle soaks up power and bump steer becomes an issue on the front under brakes.

Bilsteins are good, depending on spring rate (around 350 on the front and 200 on the rear is OK). Billies have circlip retainers for the spring seats, so you can have extra grooves cut in the damper bodies and set the height where you want it.

Hope that helps.

[ferni]

380mm front 370mm rear, is that for a GTT ?

Whats the Standard ride height of R33 GTR? I've searched around a bit with no luck..

What is the optimum ride height on a R33 GTR?

thanks

[CerealKiller]

try www.whiteline.com.au

:werd:

[ferni]

Can't find standard and optimum ride hight on there looking at the R33 GTR pdf... it has a reference to ride hight, but no figures