R33 Gtst Whiteline & Bilstein Suspension

[JD_R33]

Thanks SK,

Springs and shocks arrived early yesterday - much quicker than I was expecting.

For anyone else contemplating getting in on this group buy before it ends - I can confirm this is quality stuff and worth every cent......

[Fly_With_Sky]

hey i was interested in the camber kits for the front and rear of a r33. This question is directed at sydneykid as he was the one who organised this group buy and recommended the settings.

for the 1.0 degree of adjustment of camber for what ride height (how much has the car been lowered) would this be suitable. My car is lowered 2inches so am wondering this would be enough adjustment to stop my inside of the tyre wear problem. Or would more be needed?

Thanks.

[Sydneykid]

hey i was interested in the camber kits for the front and rear of a r33. This question is directed at sydneykid as he was the one who organised this group buy and recommended the settings.

for the 1.0 degree of adjustment of camber for what ride height (how much has the car been lowered) would this be suitable. My car is lowered 2inches so am wondering this would be enough adjustment to stop my inside of the tyre wear problem. Or would more be needed?

Thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You really need to measure the heights, centre of wheel to guard and quote them. The "2" lower" is not much use, 2" lower than what? There are 5 standard Skyline heights, so which one is it 2" lower than?

There is only one camber kit for the front, every Skyline so far (all sorts of heights) that I have fitted a kit to has been able to achieve the desired camber settings. So I don't think you wil have a problem with the front.

The rear camber is more tricky, there is a standard adjuster on the upper control arm at the inner mount. If this is set at max positive camber and it still has too much negative then you replace that bush with an adjustable one which gives 3 times as much adjustment. This is pretty easy to do as the bush is actually located in the arm, so you can remove the arm and push the old bush out and the new bush in with a press (around 10 tonnes).

If you need more adjustment, than just replacing the inner bush gives, you need to replace the outer bush as well. This is not as easy as the bush is located in the upright, so you have to remove the upright (drive shaft, shock, rotor calliper etc) and put the whole upright in the press. This obviously involves far more labour cost or time if you DIY. A few suspension workshops around have special tools that they can use to remove the outer bush with the upright still in the car. Check your local workshops.

Armed with the height table you can easily tell whether you need 1 or 2 rear kits. I should mention that if you need 2 kits, then the car is really too low for good handling, ride comfort or power (poor drive shaft angles). So it will pay of to raise it to a more realistic height.

Hope that helps

chers

[Fly_With_Sky]

thanks sydneykid, i'll have to check the heights, the back should be fine there is still a little gap between the top of the tyre and the guard, so the car isn't super low.

Are the camber kits still for sale under this group buy?

[Sydneykid]

thanks sydneykid, i'll have to check the heights, the back should be fine there is still a little gap between the top of the tyre and the guard, so the car isn't super low.

Are the camber kits still for sale under this group buy?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep, the Group Buy is still open for all parts.

cheers :

[dezz]

hey sydney kid, are you still selling the complete suspension setup ?

[Sydneykid]

hey sydney kid, are you still selling the complete suspension setup ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep, the Group Buy is still open

cheers

[Fly_With_Sky]

sydneykid, i just meaured the hieght from the centre of the wheel and the guard and front and back was around 320mm. I assume this hieght is too low for good handling, but the handling is fine for road use (as you cant take on street corners as you would a track corner!) Would these camber kits be able to help with the inside tyre wear do you think?

Also, excuse my dumbness concerning suspension as i dont know too much about it, but for the settings that you posted when you started the group buy you have the camber setting at 1.0degrees and 0.5 degrees.

Does this mean that this kit will make a lowered car with 2.5 degrees negative camber have only 2.0degrees negative camber when using the 0.5 degrees setting?

Also you said there is only one kit for the front which is that? the kit with the 0.5 degrees setting or with the 1.0degrees setting?

Cheers.

[Sydneykid]

sydneykid, i just meaured the hieght from the centre of the wheel and the guard and front and back was around 320mm. I assume this hieght is too low for good handling, but the handling is fine for road use (as you cant take on street corners as you would a track corner!) Would these camber kits be able to help with the inside tyre wear do you think?

Also, excuse my dumbness concerning suspension as i dont know too much about it, but for the settings that you posted when you started the group buy you have the camber setting at 1.0degrees and 0.5 degrees.

        Does this mean that this kit will make a lowered car with 2.5 degrees negative camber have only 2.0degrees negative camber when using the 0.5 degrees setting?

Also you said there is only one kit for the front which is that? the kit with the 0.5 degrees setting or with the 1.0degrees setting?

Cheers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The camber kits (both front and rear) are adjustable, within their range of adjustabliity you can dial up whatever you want. Because of Nissan's design of the front upper control arm, the front bushes are much larger in diameter, so there is room to get more adjustment. The rear bushes are much smaller in diameter so there is much less room for adjustment, that's why you need to use 2 kits. One to replace the standard (rubber, non adjustable) inner bush on the upper control arm and one for the outer bush on the upper control arm.

The settings I recommend are achievable using the adjusters in the Group Buy, in your case KCA348 X 1 for the front and KCA347 X 2 for the rear.

Hope that helps

cheers

[JD_R33]

Just had the Whiteline springs and Bilstein shocks fitted by Chris at Inline in Queanbeyan yesterday, he also fiddled with the adjustable swaybar settings, wheel alignment etc and wow - it's like driving a completely different car!

Can't wait to drive it again tomorrow.......

[Blk33]

Feedback on the R33 Group Buy

My R33 GTST came from Japan with teeth shattering hard suspension. In an effort to soften the ride for Melbourne’s roads, 18 months ago I bought a set of Whiteline springs. The softer springs certainly helped the ride but the Apexi shocks fitted were way too stiff for road use (even on setting 1 of 1 to 10).

I have been looking round for quite a while for a decent set of shocks. A few weeks ago I saw the SK group buy for the R33, so I thought I would give the Bilstein shocks a go. I checked with SK and I was advised the new shocks are valved for the Whiteline springs. No need for additional springs.

I fitted the shocks yesterday and I would like to provide some feedback for other interested members.

50 KPH side streets

Old Settings - Stiff

New Settings - Choppy

Comment - Could be better

Highway cruising

Old Settings - OK

New Settings - OK

Pot Holes

Old Settings - Teeth rattling

New Settings - Fantastic

Comment - Stiff but good

Blackburn Railway Crossing

Old Settings - Teeth rattling

New Settings - Fantastic

Comment - Stiff but good

Speed Bumps

Old Settings - Teeth rattling

New Settings - Fantastic

Comment - Stiff but good

All areas so far has been an improvement. Every time I venture from home I have to cross the railway line at Blackburn. The car now glides over the crossing, not as compliant as my XR6 but quite acceptable. The same goes for speed bumps that are everywhere in Melbourne, slow down to 40 – 45 KPH and over we go.

The only area is travelling at 45KPH round the backstreets where the ride is what I would describe as choppy. Seeing the car has an empty tank of gas, I am expecting the ride will improve with a full tank of gas which will add extra weight over the rear wheels. Anyway I can live with that for the increases elsewhere.

SK, thanks for organising the group buy.

Anyone want to buy a set of Apexi shocks? – maybe good for drifting!

Cheers

Rob

Edited December 13, 2005 by Blk33

[Fastrotor]

Hi Guys,

My stuff arrived today. Nice big job for after Christmas.

Would like to thank Gary very much for his time and effort put into running this group buy, and for the engineering that went into this kit also. Could you wish for a better forum member !

Merry Christmas to all, have a safe one !

Gary

[Fly_With_Sky]

pm sent to you sydneykid regarding payment for the camber kits

[danzbeast]

i'm thinking about buying into this but i'm moderately concerned by a few things....

how do we know your "engineered" rate is suitable ? is it a case of "trust" me or have you actually spent time building and testing shock absorbers before ?

what is the spring rate you are suggesting ? (i did read all 8 pages but i think i missed it somewhere....)

what was wrong with the b6 sports originally (i assume its b46-1873 & 1916 your using) did you make them softer or harder for general travel or was it simply a softening of the bump to reduce initial shock ?

obviously this is a for sale post so i'm trying to keep it sale based not technical based....

Danz

[Sydneykid]

i'm thinking about buying into this but i'm moderately concerned by a few things....

how do we know your "engineered" rate is suitable ? is it a case of "trust" me or have you actually spent time building and testing shock absorbers before ?

what is the spring rate you are suggesting ? (i did read all 8 pages but i think i missed it somewhere....)

what was wrong with the b6 sports originally (i assume its b46-1873 & 1916 your using) did you make them softer or harder for general travel or was it simply a softening of the bump to reduce initial shock ?

obviously this is a for sale post so i'm trying to keep it sale based not technical based....

Danz

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Danz, I spent 3 months working on the engineering of the kits for Jamex early last year. I tested heaps of springs, shock rates, stabiliser bars, wheel alignment settings etc. I also do lots of driver training days and suspension set up clinics, so I get to drive many many cars.

I was paid by Jamex to do the engineering months ago, so I don't make anything from this Group Buy. The knowledge gained from this belongs to Jamex, not to me. The Group Buy philosophy was to give the best value road suspension kit around, with sporty handling but without a harsh ride. As you can see from the favourable comments of the guys on this Group Buy thread (and its brothers for other Skyline models) that the engineering has been pretty successful.

Whiteline indicate that their spring rates are around 25% increase from standard. The Bilstein valving was pretty good "out of the box", so it was mostly left alone. Some models required more work than others, none of them required a total revalve. The work concentrated on achieving good handling without sacrificing ride comfort, hence mostly high frequency damping. The Bilstein (NSW) shock dyno was used for this purpose, all work (including the extra circlip grooves) is done in house at Bilstein by their technicians.

The current NSW Speed Event Champion used (basically) this kit, so it is quite at home on the track. Our R34GTT fitted with this kit did an 11.9 at 120 mph (with 265 rwkw) so it is also quite at home at the drags.

Hope that answered your questions

cheers

[dezz]

do you still do these kits sk?

[Sydneykid]

do you still do these kits sk?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep, still available. Delivery is 4 days at the moment.

cheers

[skykidmad]

hi i was just wondering if this group buy will still be around for a while

[Sydneykid]

hi i was just wondering if this group buy will still be around for a while

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It will stay open as long as the current stock of Bilsteins last, a small shipment of a few part numbers arrived just before Xmas and that is the last until Japan reorders (we don't have enough volume to get a production run done just for Australia). They are selling quite quickly now that everyone is back at work, so maybe a few weeks stock left. Then I will close it, I will open a new Group Buy (with new prices) once the production schedule is confirmed, that could be 3 to 6 months.

cheers

[grepin]

It will stay open as long as the current stock of Bilsteins last, a small shipment of a few part numbers arrived just before Xmas and that is the last until Japan reorders (we don't have enough volume to get a production run done just for Australia).  They are selling quite quickly now that everyone is back at work, so maybe a few weeks stock left.  Then I will close it, I will open a new Group Buy (with new prices) once the production schedule is confirmed, that could be 3 to 6 months.

cheers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Sydney kid.

I have just been having a quick look through this thread and am about to return to Adelaide from OS and want to fix up some issues with my Skyline.

I have Bilstein shocks fitted and what I believe is far too heavy springs.

I have 1.5 degree camber on the front and .5 on the rear.

I am wondering if the whiteline springs may help my issues or I might have missmatched shocks.

I still run standard sway bars. I couldnt see the specs on the spring rates etc however from the pics on here they are a lot thicker and tighter. Might be in the 400lb region.

I enjoy my track days at Mallala with the occasional drag meet. Car not used as a daily driver except runs through the hills.

Also can I find out if my shocks are suitable to be matched up with the rest of the setup. Is it as easy as maybe seeing a part number maybe. Mine actually have a threaded ajustment instead of circlips if this is any help.

I currently have all the camber and caster ajustments a strut brace.

I guess I would need springs, sway bars and the cradle kit.

One final question. If I want a set of dedicated track wheels are 17 inch instead of 18 inch wheels OK as I am thinking tyres would be more accessable cheaper.

Thanks for any help.

Edited January 23, 2006 by grepin