List of everything:

3rd gen Koni reds (front only)
new Progress springs
new spring insolators/front upper mounts (OEM)
new strut bearings (OEM)
ES poly front sway bar bushings (frame and endlink)
KYB dust boots all around (should have gone OEM, I know)
Progress rear sway bar

Amsoil 10W30 synthetic
Amsoil GL4 synthetic

woot!

 

very nice. also, where did you find new spring isolators? ive lost one and cant seem to find a replacement.

 

I ordered them through Cattman Performance. I think they get them through Pinnacle Nissan. $40 a pop IIRC. p/n 54320-40U02

 

thx =) btw what is your current suspension setup?

 

Right now I'm actually on Koni yellows and progress springs, but the setup has about 100k miles on it and the front Konis are blown + dust boots are gone. I didn't shorten them so they've been bottoming out in front. The third gen reds will give me a slightly better ride and give me 3.5" more travel.

 

nice setup

 

Are the reds inserts? Or are they complete struts?

It is hard to tell from the pics.

My Konis are going on tomorrow, sitting inside Nismo springs. 1 of 5 known sets in the country.

 

Inserts... if they were complete they'd have a spring perch + the flange to attach to the spindle/steering knuckle.

1 in 5 sets of KONIS!? Or 1 in 5 sets of Konis + Nismo springs?

Anyway, I'll race ya.

 

That is what I thought, but you weren't EXPLICIT in your describing them. Are you usung stock struts as the base, or the Koni Yellows?
Nismos springs around Konis. The Nismos come as a package with KYB-made struts. The combo is $1000. The Konis are complete rears and front inserts, which run $600ish.

I got them from a guy who had blown the Nismo struts. Mike Kimoja (sp?) discussed this as an option for B15 owners, btu the cost hel dpeople back until the Nismo struts started dying. I would guess that we may see more of them in the near future, but for now, they are 1 of 5 known combinations of these parts.
Sure. Just not in a straight line.

 

The Yellows are also inserts.

Ah. Well you made a good choice. Yellows or Reds?

I meant installing the suspension.

 

My rears are complete. Only the fronts are inserts. SOME Koni fronts are complete (I think) but obviously not for our application. I learned somethign new.
Yellows. They make reds for B14s and 13s that some people have modified to run on a B15, but I am not that ambitions...
I'd probably beat you quite handily...

I have already assembled mine. The Nismo complete kit comes with all new mounting hardware, all of which I reused. Everything from tophats to bottom mounts are already bolted up. All that I have to do is remove the 14 bolts that hold the suspension to the car, remove the old, install the new, and go.

The best part is that going back to stock is the same process. I don't even have to compress the springs.

 

All at once. That's the only way to handle this.

 

Yeah, my rears are complete as well. But I'm not changing those out.

Well I think (hope! ) that this will be a straight drop-in, from 4th gen yellows to 3rd gen reds. Given, I'll have to cut some off the top of the strut body, but other than that I should hopefully be good.

Well then you'd mop the floor with me. I think last time we changed out springs it was 2.5 hours though, not bad. Then again I'm also doing oil and tranny fluid + RSB and FSB bushings this time.

 

Yeah, I was waiting on the reds for awhile, they were holding me up. They just came in yesterday. Were waiting at my doorstep for me after a cute girl accepted a date. It was a good night. I don't know though, I've got a suspicion that my passenger tie rod will need replacing, I'll check it when I'm down there but it's a real bummer that I can't get it all done at once.

Now, hopefully my buddy's still available...

 

Well... ran into a few complications that led to me only getting one strut done (and no bushings). We got the front passenger side suspension out, which was the one with the boot that was torn to shit and the strut that bottomed out the most.

WOW, was this thing blown to shit. The second we pulled it out, oil started leaking everywhere. We quickly put it in a plastic bag.

Now for the complications:

1) the 3rd gen reds would not fit at first. We did a good bit of grinding. We only wound up cutting maybe 1" off the top of the strut body (keep in mind they were already cut for Koni yellows). We got a rat tail and filed down the inside of the strut body a bit, but then figured out that there were just small bumps on the insert itself that were keeping it from fitting (was a very tight fit). Wound up grinding quite a bit, then using a small sledge + wood to get it in there good.

2) since the reds are significantly shorter than "regular" struts and at the top of the stroke don't extend nearly as much, compressing the springs enough to get the strut rod nut on was a HUGE pain and took probably an hour plus. We had sh!tty spring compressors that wound up actually coming off once, which was very fun.

In the end, though, we put it all back together and WOW. I think with progress springs the strut is sitting about in the middle of its stroke when it's under the car's weight, which is perfect. The car is out of alignment now and I didn't do anything crazy because I had three people in the car plus a bunch of tools, but suspension noise was gone and the car's ride improved dramatically. And I mean DRAMATICALLY. The old Koni was SHOT.

Since the front driver's side of the car has the old setup (probably 100k miles on the Koni yellow and Progress spring) it was very interesting to compare. The passenger side sits probably a whole finger length higher than the driver's side now, which is fine by me as it means I get even MORE travel. But even my friends noticed a HUGE difference in the ride of the car. We had the front up on jackstands on the side of the street for a good portion of the day.

SO worth it. Doing the next side as soon as I can, but that might not be for another week.

I'm excited as all hell now. I still have the rear springs and dust boots to change out, plus the front sway bar bushings (poly) and rear sway bar to add. The car is going to kick ASS.

 

Friggen 300zxtt wheel guys..

 

Damn wheels broke my suspension.

 

Mine went on w/o a hitch. No pics yet.

 

Because there are SO many of those guys.

 

Screw shipping you the MEVI, I'll just hurl it at your head.