Good suspension for S13? Street and Drift

[DJ_Sunrise]

Wassup guys.. I might be buying an S13 HB soon(DOHC), and ill need to replace the suspension soon. Ive been looking for information on the KYB AGX, or any budget/entry system. Im lookin to have a fast street car, and something that'll allow me to drift. To drift is to break stuff, i know ;-) But what would be a good suspension setup in all four corners? Power will be stock until I can pick up a Injen intake and a nice exhaust.


-Sunrise

[Yoshi]

Originally Posted by DJ_Sunrise

Wassup guys.. I might be buying an S13 HB soon(DOHC), and ill need to replace the suspension soon. Ive been looking for information on the KYB AGX, or any budget/entry system. Im lookin to have a fast street car, and something that'll allow me to drift. To drift is to break stuff, i know ;-) But what would be a good suspension setup in all four corners? Power will be stock until I can pick up a Injen intake and a nice exhaust.


-Sunrise

Alrighty man, be ready for some people to be flaming you.

Suspension is a HUGE arguement here, always has been, prolly alway will be. It's good that you understand that you will constantly break stuff by drifting. It goes with the sport. As far as suspension you want, you're looking at opposite ends of the spectrum. Drift needs to be adjustable once you develop your own style, but in general, the stiffer the better. Here's the catch, that's exactly OPPOSITE of street. You can't have both; so decided which you'll spend more time doing (that should be a no brainer since u said you'll be driving it around, street is for you).

Like we tell everyone. Don't go ballz out before you learn the characteristics of the car. Everyone's setup is unique, I can drive my friend's 240, and it feels nothing like mine. Save your money and learn to drive the car stock, then decide which direction you want to push it. It's one of those things you need to do by feel and experience

1 other thing. 240s (in general) are not fast. Please don't expect it to be. We drive them cuz they're fun, can take a beating, and have a good following (FR is nice too)... even an intake and exhaust won't get you more than 12-17whp at best (no matter what the company's dyno chart tells u).

That said... Welcome

[no-face]

First you might want to indicate your budget to use, might help us with giving you advice. Personally I would say get the car and just drive it for a couple months, do track events and stuff like that so you get use to the car.

If you have a unlimited budget then just email Sam at www.jspec.com, Say you want some Tein HEs, Tein Tie rods, and the whole Battle version line of products. Besides that get your self some swaybars(white line, sus Tech) and some strut bars and heck why your at it get ladder bars for the beast as well.


Now for the person living in the real world where mom and dad dont fund their toys I would suggest after a couple autox events in your stock beast to move to some KYB shocks, some ebay springs, and either adjustable T\C rods our atleast upgrade the bushings in your current TC rods. By the time you have to down you should understand how to use the search function and all your worries will be over

[Brian W.]

around the month of June Tanabe will be offering there S-0C line of Coilovers if your intereted in height adjustment. The AGX w/ "spring of your choice" combo works well for alot of people also. As the other guys are saying... figure out how far your gonna take it, if you think you may be using the car for competition then id save my money and get a nice set of coilovers from Tanabe, JIC, Cusco etc...

[Daemos]

Originally Posted by Yoshi

1 other thing. 240s (in general) are not fast. Please don't expect it to be. We drive them cuz they're fun, can take a beating, and have a good following (FR is nice too)... even an intake and exhaust won't get you more than 12-17whp at best (no matter what the company's dyno chart tells u).

That said... Welcome

That's why mine will be powered by a Potato Snail

[DJ_Sunrise]

LoL. Nah, im definetly not rich, and mommy and daddy only put a roof over my head(and im not even 18 yet) The car im looking at (S13) has a blown rear suspension, so.. i really need some suspension i have about 1K to spend on suspension.. any ideas? i guess drifting can wait.. what about a good setup for a good handling street car?


-Sunrise

[Yoshi]

haha! The full coil nazi's haven't jumped in yet!
for 1k, I'd recommend getting short stroke KYB dampers with Ground Control coilover sleeves. Pretty much the best you can get in the sub $1k category. I run them myself (only I have the older AGX dampers). Ground Control will give you any spring rate you specify, and they're interchangable, so if I were you, I'd get some stiffer springs for street and some stiffer yet a while from now when you car is is in better track shape. This way you'll be able to drift/drag/street/autoX or whatever. KYB+GCs = adjustable dampening, spring rates, and height adjustment.

[aznpoopy]

in case you want to fix this and have some money left over for other repairs that you'll invariably need:

kyb agx + eibach pro kits ~ $640 dollars from Tire-Rack shipped. (I think)
kyb agx + whitelines ~ $660 dollars from PDM-Racing. (not sure shipping)

that's the cheapest i could find them for (no hookups) T_T ... stock suspension is ok for learning but if they are blown like you say might as well swap em out i guess. both are fine for a little aggressive driving, street and maybe a bit of race duty. plenty of ppl have had them b4 so i don't think there are any major concerns.

coilover heads will say that u might as well save yourself 700 down the road and get full coilovers now (or save up for them). however to buy coilovers and the stuff to mount them properly, then get alignment and what not... add in typicaly car maintenance that you should be doing... i would say this is way beyond your 1k budget. this is a very expensive hobby so i hope u have a job!

intake and exhaust is optional - the performance gains are eh. i would say use the money for track time / repairs.

edit: nice to see someone else from nj! im from fort lee.

[DJ_Sunrise]

Lawrenceville NJ (Near princeton) . Hmm.. common sense tells me there isnt too much of a difference in springs.. cept for spring rates. What is a decent spring rate to have? The roads where i live arent too bad.. who am i kidding.. they're shit in some places.. but avoidable. I dont care about ride quality too much, as long as its not rubbing ur ass on a pile of rocks..you know? Yeah, i have a job.. $8/hr, but not enough hrs :*( . So.. think i need to go back working at Worst Buy..*Sigh* I hate being so damn poor..Any ideas for a good place to work at the age of 17?! Snoopy, thanks for the info w00t.. im this much closer to a nice 240.


-Sunrise

[berngtr]

what do u guys think of the JIC Magic im looking at an S13 with that set up on it already they have under a 1,000 miles on 'em i here they are supposed to be pretty good but have never known of anyone with 'em

[Salty_X]

Originally Posted by aznpoopy

coilover heads will say that u might as well save yourself 700 down the road and get full coilovers now (or save up for them). however to buy coilovers and the stuff to mount them properly, then get alignment and what not... add in typicaly car maintenance that you should be doing... i would say this is way beyond your 1k budget. this is a very expensive hobby so i hope u have a job!

I guess I'm a coilover head... It's just my opinion, but to me you can't beat the tuning adjustability that coilovers offer.
If you're on a budget you don't have much choice but to either get new shocks and springs or a nice used set of coilovers if it's possible. Personally I would (and did) choose the latter.

I don't understand what stuff you need to install coilovers properly... jackstands? a torque wrench? It's the same stuff you need to install shocks and springs. If anything installing coilovers is easier than installing spring/shock combos because there's no need to deal with spring compressors... And you really should be getting an alignment after installing either, alignments don't just apply to coilovers.

[B16OnTop]

WOw first pizzost right here mofos!

anyways i am also a younging (18) and i will be purchasing an s13 coupe this up coming tuesday and well yea the shocks on that are blown as well, so i was thinking about something from Tein? im just getting into the whole nissan deal (big honda guy, came from Honda-Tech.com) and was just wondering what your guys output on Tein stuff for the S13's are

[nightwalker]

Tein, good start. I'm a COILOVER nazi! Wait till I can afford my Apex N1s, or Kei Office (still in research mode) then we'll see!! hahahaha!!! ...Koni's and springs (whatever you want) are a good combo too. Double height adjustment owns joo though! hahaha. Specificly for catching air and not bottoming out!! Go ahead and try it Salty, or other Tein owners! It's quite fun

[aznpoopy]

Originally Posted by Salty_X

I don't understand what stuff you need to install coilovers properly... jackstands? a torque wrench? It's the same stuff you need to install shocks and springs. If anything installing coilovers is easier than installing spring/shock combos because there's no need to deal with spring compressors... And you really should be getting an alignment after installing either, alignments don't just apply to coilovers.

basically i meant if i was going with full coilovers i would want to do the suspension right... i.e. bushings, t/c rods, control arms, pillowball mounts camber correction etc etc etc. springs and shocks is decent performance but certainly not worth all of the above. on a budget i would get springs shocks and go ahead and start stiffening up the chassis and get better brakes. after driving on that a while i would get coilovers after the rest of suspension is in good shape. i mean, what's the point of blowing all your money on coilovers and be driving around with stock brakes, a soft chassis, leaky bushings etc etc. if he doesnt have jackstands, a jack, wrench and equipment to install then that is only more of a reason he shouldn't blow all his money on coilovers. as for spring compressors we all know how to 'rent' them from your local autostore. edit : typically i would just recommend them to drive around stock and learn on it but since the suspension seems to be fukked from what he's saying this is what i think would be best on such a narrow budget.

dj sunrise : i went to college in rutgers so i was down there for a good 4 years. i think there is a FAQ on freshalloy or nico that will tell you spring rates for most of the popular springs. oh and agx shocks are adjustable so you can set your own balance between comfort and performance.

best way to make money that young is be a waiter that gets fridays and weekends or bartend (illegally). anything with tips or pure cash is the best bet.

[mbmbmb23]

Originally Posted by aznpoopy

in case you want to fix this and have some money left over for other repairs that you'll invariably need:

kyb agx + eibach pro kits ~ $640 dollars from Tire-Rack shipped. (I think)
kyb agx + whitelines ~ $660 dollars from PDM-Racing. (not sure shipping)

that's the cheapest i could find them for (no hookups)

Theres a guy on ebay who sells the S13 AGX for $330+shipping....($360 total). Sportlines....new on ebay..I got mine new for like $200 shipped. I've seen Prokits go for like $160+shipping on ebay also. Keep in mind that with the Sportlines/Prokits you'll want to order the protective boots for the struts also....like $10-$14 I think each from Tire Rack.


-m

[aznpoopy]

ah mb u're right... i priced for my car (s14) which is a little more expensive. thanks for the ebay tip... might've saved me some money