How Hard Is It To Install Suspension?

[RUF033]

Can anyone let me know how hard it is to install suspension? pretty sure i can work it out, but not sure if there a trick to it

[NISSAN GTR]

Can anyone let me know how hard it is to install suspension? pretty sure i can work it out, but not sure if there a trick to it

im guessing your talking about coilovers , if so yes they are pretty easy takes patience and some decent tools . I took time with my GTR over two weekends with no help , the hardest thing for me was manufacturing brackets for the ABS which i made out of 2.7mm thick galv plate. You will require a wheel allignment afterwards - Try not to lose a finger putting suspension in

[Count Grantleyish]

Also on hot day, work under shade unless you want to sweat it out!

Installation is straightforward with these Skylines but setting a height you want take fair bit of work as I've discovered a fortnight ago.

Also a can or 2 of WD40 would be recommend, along with some muscle.

Cheers

Grant

[shyr33]

Ye to change the shocks/springs is pretty easy. 1 bolt down near the hub and two up the top in the strut tower/engine bay. Does give a bit of a kick when you knock it of the bottom stud thing. Front sway bar is also pretty easy I just needed to remove the castor rods which were 3 bolts total from memory, and then remove the exisiting one. These two things were a good introduction to installing suspension products yourself.

[blind_elk]

Don't know why you need to undo the front swaybar. If you jack BOTH front wheels at the same time, the swaybar isn't a problem.

And don't understand about the ABS thing, NISSAN GTR. But then I don't have a GT-R, although I do have ABS.

And I understand in the 33s, you need to remove the rear seat to get at the top bolts for the rears.

[Munkyb0y]

yep, r33 gtst needs rear seat removed and parcel shelf too.

[seraphyn_r33]

Very Straightforward to do, just takes time, and in terms of adjustments, a LOT of patience. Adjusting new coilovers out of the box took me forever. We installed them, put in some rough settings, tried it, jacked the car back up, took the wheels off again, readjust and repeated the process about 5 times.

Have a look around on the forums for what most people set their coilovers too, because it is very possible to make your car handle worse than the stockies with a bad setup. Also keep in mind you will need to pull out the rear seat to get access to the rear suspension.

Took myself and a friend a full afternoon to take out the stock suspension, put in the newies and adjust them very basically. It then took a few hours the next day to adjust some more. I ended up going to a specialist to give them a once over, double check the settings, make some adjustments etc and also wheel alignment (which is a must when installing new coilovers regardless) which made the car handle 10000 times better than the stock shocks.

Best to try it yourself! Even if you just wanted to whack them in and take them to someone to set up properly and give a wheel alignment, you will save quite a lot then compared if you just took them to someone to do it all for you.

[Bunta]

Provided you have a good jack and can get the car quite high off the ground i would give it a 2/10 on the hardness scale, my girlfriend managed it on my r33 gtst one day while i was at work!

[BASHO]

Why do you need a wheel align when you change shockys ? maybe a camber adjust if you change hight, if the camber is adjustable that is , but a wheel align ?? my logic says if it was right before the change it'll be right after.

[blind_elk]

Why do you need a wheel align when you change shockys ? maybe a camber adjust if you change hight, if the camber is adjustable that is , but a wheel align ?? my logic says if it was right before the change it'll be right after.

Changes the angle of the lower control arm, and pushes the ball joint outwards, the tie-rod stays the same, resulting in the front end going to toe-in.

[Dani Boi]

I installed the suspension with a mate and it was fairly simple, took a bit of time to do but well worth it. Just remember be safe with the jack and try not to rock the car to much when getting the bolts off.

If your adding adjustable camber arms etc. I would try getting your hands on a ratchet gun or arnold schwarzenegger.

Make sure you get a wheel alignment after you do it.

Edited February 23, 2010 by Dani Boi

[BASHO]

Changes the angle of the lower control arm, and pushes the ball joint outwards, the tie-rod stays the same, resulting in the front end going to toe-in.

Ah Ha , thanks for that , lowering , I inherited KingSprings on mine which I don't think had been on long when I bought it, I also inherited stock shockys which promptly proceeded to spit at the rate of one a month, hardly surprising 80.000ks, spring hight change and good ole Aussie roads , that'll do it.

As I liked the ride hight (25mm lower than stock front & rear) I decided to replace the OE with OE and as I'd had a wheel alignmant F&R after replacing the front castor rod bushes I haven't bothered with a further alignment, but I hadn't changed the ride hight either.

[NISSAN GTR]

Ah Ha , thanks for that , lowering , I inherited KingSprings on mine which I don't think had been on long when I bought it, I also inherited stock shockys which promptly proceeded to spit at the rate of one a month, hardly surprising 80.000ks, spring hight change and good ole Aussie roads , that'll do it.

As I liked the ride hight (25mm lower than stock front & rear) I decided to replace the OE with OE and as I'd had a wheel alignmant F&R after replacing the front castor rod bushes I haven't bothered with a further alignment, but I hadn't changed the ride hight either.

Whatever get back on the subject