Suspension and Brake swaps
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 44
Suspension and Brake swaps
Hey fellas, (and ladies),
Hey does anyone know if we can swap out the rear suspension from another Maxima (maybe newer) with out having to do to much and if so, what are we talking about. I have a friend who has done a lot of swapping on his 240sx and is sitting on some stock infiniti rims and q45 brakes that have cost him way less then buying an aftermarket kit. I was thinking since we have all had a hell of a time finding suspension parts for the third gen that maybe something we could convert with and make it easier on ourselves.
Hey does anyone know if we can swap out the rear suspension from another Maxima (maybe newer) with out having to do to much and if so, what are we talking about. I have a friend who has done a lot of swapping on his 240sx and is sitting on some stock infiniti rims and q45 brakes that have cost him way less then buying an aftermarket kit. I was thinking since we have all had a hell of a time finding suspension parts for the third gen that maybe something we could convert with and make it easier on ourselves.
I don't mean to be a **** but don't you think if we could do a swap or something "to make it easier on ourselves" that we would have done it 10+ years ago?
Have you even looked at the 3rd gen rear suspension compared to the newer ones?
Have you even looked at the 3rd gen rear suspension compared to the newer ones?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 44
Yeah it sucks *** and your not being a ****, I was just wondering if anyone had done any fab jobs or something, I love the car but it sucks that we can not find any aftermarket suspension. I am good at fab jobs myself but if someone had already done was looking for some info.
Yeah it sucks *** and your not being a ****, I was just wondering if anyone had done any fab jobs or something, I love the car but it sucks that we can not find any aftermarket suspension. I am good at fab jobs myself but if someone had already done was looking for some info.
Well if you going newer gen then this info may help narrow your search. The 3rd gen has independent rear suspension. The 4th & 5th gen have beam (solid rear) suspension. Maxima didn't go back to independent til the 6th & 7th gen. The 3rd gen has old skool hubshock design as one. The 6th and 7th have hub bolted to shock.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 44
Thank you james that helps a bit, and hectic, if there are still aftermarket options out there please feel free to enlighten the rest of us that have been looking, not trying to be a dousche but if you didnt read, i am about to try and perform surgery on a couple of cars to see if I can create and option for us with 3rd gens that refuse to give up the car. Worse comes to worse though, I will have my daily driven 3rd gen slightly moded and go and pick up a 240 and put a vg30e in it and go to town on that.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 44
Thats what I thought Joe. I thought we had that discussion where there were no longer offering anything in the aftermarket world for our suspension setup. Well I will be getting with you soon on that stuff we talked about yesterday, got to budget some stuff so I can afford to keep her rolling. That divorce took alot out of me if you know what I mean. I am still looking into what the possibility of putting a newer rear suspension in with a coil over setup. I am trying to do some prefab research that James helped with and I may go to the local junk yard to look for some stuff and get some measurements.
this is what i saw from shox.com's online catalog. maybe they still have some left? give them a call and see. unless they are saying the GR-2s are excel g's...
025. KYB Shocks/struts 1989 - 1994 GR-2 non-adjustable shocks, price is for a set of 4 F&R. 224.00
036. B & G Springs 1989 - 1994 Lowers car 1.6 inches. 199.00
038. Suspension Tech. Springs 1989 - 1994 Lowers car 1.5 inches. # 60175 190.48
040. Suspension Tech Sway Bar Kit F&R 1989 - 1994 Kit contains front 1 1/4, & rear 3/4 inch bars with Urethane bushings. # 52115 279.22
045. Addco rear sway bar 1989 - 1994 .875" dia. with Urethane bushings #454 139.00
025. KYB Shocks/struts 1989 - 1994 GR-2 non-adjustable shocks, price is for a set of 4 F&R. 224.00
036. B & G Springs 1989 - 1994 Lowers car 1.6 inches. 199.00
038. Suspension Tech. Springs 1989 - 1994 Lowers car 1.5 inches. # 60175 190.48
040. Suspension Tech Sway Bar Kit F&R 1989 - 1994 Kit contains front 1 1/4, & rear 3/4 inch bars with Urethane bushings. # 52115 279.22
045. Addco rear sway bar 1989 - 1994 .875" dia. with Urethane bushings #454 139.00
Last edited by DanNY; May 8, 2012 at 06:57 AM.
I got my shocks directly from KYB and i thought i had ordered GR-2's but got the Excels instead. I wasnt gonna try and return them since i was waiting almost 2 weeks for them to get here so maybe GR-2's are no longer available. Installed the ones they sent me and its alright.
I got my shocks directly from KYB and i thought i had ordered GR-2's but got the Excels instead. I wasnt gonna try and return them since i was waiting almost 2 weeks for them to get here so maybe GR-2's are no longer available. Installed the ones they sent me and its alright.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 44
I will keep that in mind. I am going to try one more time to get the rear cartridge out and just to a delete kit for now, but now I just looked under an 06 maxima with independent rear suspension as well and i am almost certain I can make the rear end fit under my 89. I am sure I am going to have to weld a few things but it looks very doable. The cool thing about that is too, that if and when I get it in, means I can put a coil over under the rear. Once I get this done, I am then venturing to see if a newer setup will work for the front as well. Then its time to hit some power adders..
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 44
It will probably be after the summer when I actually see if it will work. They look very similair and it looks like alls i have to do is some welding of the body mounts for the rear. I am having to check to see if the shocks, struts will work or if I am going to just go straight coil over
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 44
Alright guys, just an update, I have just got off the phone with KYB, I am the commercial sales manager for Pep Boys and we are a vendor for KYB and they have plenty of front struts and the rear cartridges for the sonar delete. I have sonar and I am going away from it but now I am looking for a set of lowering springs that works good. If you havent read the thread on the suspension refreshments autozone is carrying some of the poly for the third gens too.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 44
Ok, I did confirm with my vendors that I can get plenty of the KYB struts and cartridges for our third gens. I am going to order them as soon as my summer vacation and visitation with my kids is done. Its going to cost me about 280.00 which is not bad, but I do get a discount since I am with Pep Boys. Just making sure yall know that they are readily available.
They're readily available and they're also crap.
Tokico blues are better.
Koni Reds are even better, but they're pretty much gone.
The rear suspension on our cars is actually quite good. The problem is the super-short front Mcstrut. the hood lines are nice and low on our cars, but that means a short strut and little suspension travel.
By the time you lower the front of the car enough to make it "look good", you've ruined steering geometry, and you only have about 1" of shock travel. that's WAY too little for a heavy FWD car. you need at least 2" of compression on a street-driven FWD car. for a track only car where you can jack up the spring rates, it's not as big of an issue.
the rear suspension is easy. replace all of the rubber joints in the back with poly or with heim joints. with heim joints, the thing rattles some at lot speeds, but it handles WAY WAY better. Once you do that, give it a couple degrees of camber, drop the rear about 1.5" over stock, and use a ground control coilover kit on the factory strut body with an 8" 450lb spring.
For the front, ground control coilover kit, 8" 550lb/in springs, Koni red or 8610 inserts delrin bushings in the control arms, lower tie bar- build your own since I don't have any 3 gen bars anymore, and nobody makes Delrin bushings for 3 gens.
you'll need to find a solution for upper strut mounts too. I used 4/5gen upper mounts, but mine kept eating the stupid plastic bearings. real camber plates from a 4/5gen would be better, but I don't know who makes them anymore. Many places sell them for WRX, EVO, 240SX, and things like that but the bolt pattern is different. it's easy enough to drill a few new holes in the strut tower though and make them fit.
Keep in mind with these types of spring rates, you need GOOD shocks, not OEM-style KYB inserts. Koni red or 8610 inserts. Bilstein also makes some you could steal from a 3000GT or Eclipse or something, but you'll have to do your research to get the proper dimensions and lengths.
All that said (and about $4k spent on my suspension), my bone stock S14 handled better. If you insist on building a Maxima, just keep in mind that it's tall, heavy, FWD, and has poor weight distribution, bad front end geometry, and very little shock travel.. If I had it to do over again, I'd have spent that money on my 240SX and kept the Maxima closer to stock so I had something more roomy to drive on longer trips. Instead, I spent a ton of money building the sh** out of my Maxima and had something I was constantly working on and uncomfortable to drive around, while I had a bone stock 240SX sitting in the driveway..
fast forward 10 years, and the Maxima (still has all that suspension on it) is parked in my barn next to my 240SX race car that's 10sec a lap faster with 100less HP and was MUCH cheaper to build.
Tokico blues are better.
Koni Reds are even better, but they're pretty much gone.
The rear suspension on our cars is actually quite good. The problem is the super-short front Mcstrut. the hood lines are nice and low on our cars, but that means a short strut and little suspension travel.
By the time you lower the front of the car enough to make it "look good", you've ruined steering geometry, and you only have about 1" of shock travel. that's WAY too little for a heavy FWD car. you need at least 2" of compression on a street-driven FWD car. for a track only car where you can jack up the spring rates, it's not as big of an issue.
the rear suspension is easy. replace all of the rubber joints in the back with poly or with heim joints. with heim joints, the thing rattles some at lot speeds, but it handles WAY WAY better. Once you do that, give it a couple degrees of camber, drop the rear about 1.5" over stock, and use a ground control coilover kit on the factory strut body with an 8" 450lb spring.
For the front, ground control coilover kit, 8" 550lb/in springs, Koni red or 8610 inserts delrin bushings in the control arms, lower tie bar- build your own since I don't have any 3 gen bars anymore, and nobody makes Delrin bushings for 3 gens.
you'll need to find a solution for upper strut mounts too. I used 4/5gen upper mounts, but mine kept eating the stupid plastic bearings. real camber plates from a 4/5gen would be better, but I don't know who makes them anymore. Many places sell them for WRX, EVO, 240SX, and things like that but the bolt pattern is different. it's easy enough to drill a few new holes in the strut tower though and make them fit.
Keep in mind with these types of spring rates, you need GOOD shocks, not OEM-style KYB inserts. Koni red or 8610 inserts. Bilstein also makes some you could steal from a 3000GT or Eclipse or something, but you'll have to do your research to get the proper dimensions and lengths.
All that said (and about $4k spent on my suspension), my bone stock S14 handled better. If you insist on building a Maxima, just keep in mind that it's tall, heavy, FWD, and has poor weight distribution, bad front end geometry, and very little shock travel.. If I had it to do over again, I'd have spent that money on my 240SX and kept the Maxima closer to stock so I had something more roomy to drive on longer trips. Instead, I spent a ton of money building the sh** out of my Maxima and had something I was constantly working on and uncomfortable to drive around, while I had a bone stock 240SX sitting in the driveway..
fast forward 10 years, and the Maxima (still has all that suspension on it) is parked in my barn next to my 240SX race car that's 10sec a lap faster with 100less HP and was MUCH cheaper to build.
They're readily available and they're also crap.
Tokico blues are better.
Koni Reds are even better, but they're pretty much gone.
The rear suspension on our cars is actually quite good. The problem is the super-short front Mcstrut. the hood lines are nice and low on our cars, but that means a short strut and little suspension travel.
By the time you lower the front of the car enough to make it "look good", you've ruined steering geometry, and you only have about 1" of shock travel. that's WAY too little for a heavy FWD car. you need at least 2" of compression on a street-driven FWD car. for a track only car where you can jack up the spring rates, it's not as big of an issue.
the rear suspension is easy. replace all of the rubber joints in the back with poly or with heim joints. with heim joints, the thing rattles some at lot speeds, but it handles WAY WAY better. Once you do that, give it a couple degrees of camber, drop the rear about 1.5" over stock, and use a ground control coilover kit on the factory strut body with an 8" 450lb spring.
For the front, ground control coilover kit, 8" 550lb/in springs, Koni red or 8610 inserts delrin bushings in the control arms, lower tie bar- build your own since I don't have any 3 gen bars anymore, and nobody makes Delrin bushings for 3 gens.
you'll need to find a solution for upper strut mounts too. I used 4/5gen upper mounts, but mine kept eating the stupid plastic bearings. real camber plates from a 4/5gen would be better, but I don't know who makes them anymore. Many places sell them for WRX, EVO, 240SX, and things like that but the bolt pattern is different. it's easy enough to drill a few new holes in the strut tower though and make them fit.
Keep in mind with these types of spring rates, you need GOOD shocks, not OEM-style KYB inserts. Koni red or 8610 inserts. Bilstein also makes some you could steal from a 3000GT or Eclipse or something, but you'll have to do your research to get the proper dimensions and lengths.
All that said (and about $4k spent on my suspension), my bone stock S14 handled better. If you insist on building a Maxima, just keep in mind that it's tall, heavy, FWD, and has poor weight distribution, bad front end geometry, and very little shock travel.. If I had it to do over again, I'd have spent that money on my 240SX and kept the Maxima closer to stock so I had something more roomy to drive on longer trips. Instead, I spent a ton of money building the sh** out of my Maxima and had something I was constantly working on and uncomfortable to drive around, while I had a bone stock 240SX sitting in the driveway..
fast forward 10 years, and the Maxima (still has all that suspension on it) is parked in my barn next to my 240SX race car that's 10sec a lap faster with 100less HP and was MUCH cheaper to build.
Tokico blues are better.
Koni Reds are even better, but they're pretty much gone.
The rear suspension on our cars is actually quite good. The problem is the super-short front Mcstrut. the hood lines are nice and low on our cars, but that means a short strut and little suspension travel.
By the time you lower the front of the car enough to make it "look good", you've ruined steering geometry, and you only have about 1" of shock travel. that's WAY too little for a heavy FWD car. you need at least 2" of compression on a street-driven FWD car. for a track only car where you can jack up the spring rates, it's not as big of an issue.
the rear suspension is easy. replace all of the rubber joints in the back with poly or with heim joints. with heim joints, the thing rattles some at lot speeds, but it handles WAY WAY better. Once you do that, give it a couple degrees of camber, drop the rear about 1.5" over stock, and use a ground control coilover kit on the factory strut body with an 8" 450lb spring.
For the front, ground control coilover kit, 8" 550lb/in springs, Koni red or 8610 inserts delrin bushings in the control arms, lower tie bar- build your own since I don't have any 3 gen bars anymore, and nobody makes Delrin bushings for 3 gens.
you'll need to find a solution for upper strut mounts too. I used 4/5gen upper mounts, but mine kept eating the stupid plastic bearings. real camber plates from a 4/5gen would be better, but I don't know who makes them anymore. Many places sell them for WRX, EVO, 240SX, and things like that but the bolt pattern is different. it's easy enough to drill a few new holes in the strut tower though and make them fit.
Keep in mind with these types of spring rates, you need GOOD shocks, not OEM-style KYB inserts. Koni red or 8610 inserts. Bilstein also makes some you could steal from a 3000GT or Eclipse or something, but you'll have to do your research to get the proper dimensions and lengths.
All that said (and about $4k spent on my suspension), my bone stock S14 handled better. If you insist on building a Maxima, just keep in mind that it's tall, heavy, FWD, and has poor weight distribution, bad front end geometry, and very little shock travel.. If I had it to do over again, I'd have spent that money on my 240SX and kept the Maxima closer to stock so I had something more roomy to drive on longer trips. Instead, I spent a ton of money building the sh** out of my Maxima and had something I was constantly working on and uncomfortable to drive around, while I had a bone stock 240SX sitting in the driveway..
fast forward 10 years, and the Maxima (still has all that suspension on it) is parked in my barn next to my 240SX race car that's 10sec a lap faster with 100less HP and was MUCH cheaper to build.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 44
Thank you for all that info bud. I plan to build a 240, some day. I want to drift and just thought that maybe if I hooked up my daily with some better after market stuff would be easier to do a 240 with a more reliable car. I will stick with the KYB, maybe lower the rear a little, go poly on the bushings, go with some strut and anti roll bars and see if thats what I am looking for in my daily. I am also setting up a set of rims (18s) with a little bit of a bigger tire to get rid of some of the room between tire and fender. I just want to make the engine a little stronger, not a ton but wanted a suspension that can handle a little better. Not going to be a track car ( the maxima). I may take on a bigger Fab job if I get bored of the other things I am planning but just thought " since I am in here myswell." I will keep all that in mind though bud. And always, thanks guys
If I had it to do over again, I'd have spent that money on my 240SX and kept the Maxima closer to stock so I had something more roomy to drive on longer trips. Instead, I spent a ton of money building the sh** out of my Maxima and had something I was constantly working on and uncomfortable to drive around, while I had a bone stock 240SX sitting in the driveway..
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 44
Let me know how it works for you Shiloh because like i said, the maxima is going to be a daily because i want to drift, cant drift a fwd, but maybe once some things change and I get the money to just mess around then the maxima might be a autocross or something when I can fab in a suspension worthy enough. Be safe boys.
Let me know how it works for you Shiloh because like i said, the maxima is going to be a daily because i want to drift, cant drift a fwd, but maybe once some things change and I get the money to just mess around then the maxima might be a autocross or something when I can fab in a suspension worthy enough. Be safe boys.
Member
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 117
Always a good write up
They're readily available and they're also crap.
Tokico blues are better.
Koni Reds are even better, but they're pretty much gone.
The rear suspension on our cars is actually quite good. The problem is the super-short front Mcstrut. the hood lines are nice and low on our cars, but that means a short strut and little suspension travel.
By the time you lower the front of the car enough to make it "look good", you've ruined steering geometry, and you only have about 1" of shock travel. that's WAY too little for a heavy FWD car. you need at least 2" of compression on a street-driven FWD car. for a track only car where you can jack up the spring rates, it's not as big of an issue.
the rear suspension is easy. replace all of the rubber joints in the back with poly or with heim joints. with heim joints, the thing rattles some at lot speeds, but it handles WAY WAY better. Once you do that, give it a couple degrees of camber, drop the rear about 1.5" over stock, and use a ground control coilover kit on the factory strut body with an 8" 450lb spring.
For the front, ground control coilover kit, 8" 550lb/in springs, Koni red or 8610 inserts delrin bushings in the control arms, lower tie bar- build your own since I don't have any 3 gen bars anymore, and nobody makes Delrin bushings for 3 gens.
you'll need to find a solution for upper strut mounts too. I used 4/5gen upper mounts, but mine kept eating the stupid plastic bearings. real camber plates from a 4/5gen would be better, but I don't know who makes them anymore. Many places sell them for WRX, EVO, 240SX, and things like that but the bolt pattern is different. it's easy enough to drill a few new holes in the strut tower though and make them fit.
Keep in mind with these types of spring rates, you need GOOD shocks, not OEM-style KYB inserts. Koni red or 8610 inserts. Bilstein also makes some you could steal from a 3000GT or Eclipse or something, but you'll have to do your research to get the proper dimensions and lengths.
All that said (and about $4k spent on my suspension), my bone stock S14 handled better. If you insist on building a Maxima, just keep in mind that it's tall, heavy, FWD, and has poor weight distribution, bad front end geometry, and very little shock travel.. If I had it to do over again, I'd have spent that money on my 240SX and kept the Maxima closer to stock so I had something more roomy to drive on longer trips. Instead, I spent a ton of money building the sh** out of my Maxima and had something I was constantly working on and uncomfortable to drive around, while I had a bone stock 240SX sitting in the driveway..
fast forward 10 years, and the Maxima (still has all that suspension on it) is parked in my barn next to my 240SX race car that's 10sec a lap faster with 100less HP and was MUCH cheaper to build.
Tokico blues are better.
Koni Reds are even better, but they're pretty much gone.
The rear suspension on our cars is actually quite good. The problem is the super-short front Mcstrut. the hood lines are nice and low on our cars, but that means a short strut and little suspension travel.
By the time you lower the front of the car enough to make it "look good", you've ruined steering geometry, and you only have about 1" of shock travel. that's WAY too little for a heavy FWD car. you need at least 2" of compression on a street-driven FWD car. for a track only car where you can jack up the spring rates, it's not as big of an issue.
the rear suspension is easy. replace all of the rubber joints in the back with poly or with heim joints. with heim joints, the thing rattles some at lot speeds, but it handles WAY WAY better. Once you do that, give it a couple degrees of camber, drop the rear about 1.5" over stock, and use a ground control coilover kit on the factory strut body with an 8" 450lb spring.
For the front, ground control coilover kit, 8" 550lb/in springs, Koni red or 8610 inserts delrin bushings in the control arms, lower tie bar- build your own since I don't have any 3 gen bars anymore, and nobody makes Delrin bushings for 3 gens.
you'll need to find a solution for upper strut mounts too. I used 4/5gen upper mounts, but mine kept eating the stupid plastic bearings. real camber plates from a 4/5gen would be better, but I don't know who makes them anymore. Many places sell them for WRX, EVO, 240SX, and things like that but the bolt pattern is different. it's easy enough to drill a few new holes in the strut tower though and make them fit.
Keep in mind with these types of spring rates, you need GOOD shocks, not OEM-style KYB inserts. Koni red or 8610 inserts. Bilstein also makes some you could steal from a 3000GT or Eclipse or something, but you'll have to do your research to get the proper dimensions and lengths.
All that said (and about $4k spent on my suspension), my bone stock S14 handled better. If you insist on building a Maxima, just keep in mind that it's tall, heavy, FWD, and has poor weight distribution, bad front end geometry, and very little shock travel.. If I had it to do over again, I'd have spent that money on my 240SX and kept the Maxima closer to stock so I had something more roomy to drive on longer trips. Instead, I spent a ton of money building the sh** out of my Maxima and had something I was constantly working on and uncomfortable to drive around, while I had a bone stock 240SX sitting in the driveway..
fast forward 10 years, and the Maxima (still has all that suspension on it) is parked in my barn next to my 240SX race car that's 10sec a lap faster with 100less HP and was MUCH cheaper to build.
Newbie - Just Registered
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 7
From: Houston (The land of opportunity, Texas
Hey fellas, (and ladies),
Hey does anyone know if we can swap out the rear suspension from another Maxima (maybe newer) with out having to do to much and if so, what are we talking about. I have a friend who has done a lot of swapping on his 240sx and is sitting on some stock infiniti rims and q45 brakes that have cost him way less then buying an aftermarket kit. I was thinking since we have all had a hell of a time finding suspension parts for the third gen that maybe something we could convert with and make it easier on ourselves.
Hey does anyone know if we can swap out the rear suspension from another Maxima (maybe newer) with out having to do to much and if so, what are we talking about. I have a friend who has done a lot of swapping on his 240sx and is sitting on some stock infiniti rims and q45 brakes that have cost him way less then buying an aftermarket kit. I was thinking since we have all had a hell of a time finding suspension parts for the third gen that maybe something we could convert with and make it easier on ourselves.
start a new thread...don't jack this one.
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