Lowering options

johnymd

Club Member
Been a bit quite on here so I thought I'd start another thread about current options for lowering your S30. It's already been discussed but if we all just read old threads there would be nothing new on here.

From talking to the new owners of the zeds I've sold, the first thing I'm asked by every single one of them is how do I lower the car but not spend a fortune? One also said he loves 240's but doesn't like the 4x4 look that they have as standard. Most would like to lower the car a little but still retain a bit of comfort and the majority are lower for aesthetics and not so it goes round a track quicker. After all, the majority of these cars are only used on the road. The people using them on the track would generally go for a setup from GAZ, T3, AZ ect. So whats the alternative if you just want to improve the look?

1. Lowering springs - MJP sells them as do eibach amongst others. These will probably cost you around £200 and may lower the car a bit. In my experience they can be a bit hit and miss with how much they lower it. If you want to be able to set the ride height then this just wont work. Unless you use them and trim a bit at a time off the spring to get it as you want. You could also just cut down your old springs and this has been the common method for years. I've done it in the past and would probably do it in the future but you have to be careful not to take too much off and find the spring is loose when you jack the car up. This will also stiffen the suspension base on the percentage of spring you remove. From my experience you could take a coil out of the front and half a coil from the back and this would lower the car just about right. If you look at my old rad 240 in my gallery, that's what I did to this car back in the late 80's and was pretty happy with it. This will only work on a UK car though and the US cars will require too much to be removed to get the front low enough. The backs have often sagged enough at the back to look correct so generally only the front needs doing IMO. You could heat up the coils with a torch and let the spings deform to get a lower ride height. Please note - I am not recommending modding your springs as above but just pointing out what could be done.

2. Adjustable spring platforms - Often called coilovers but zeds have coil over shock from the factory so could be misleading. The strut would normally be sectioned at the same time but if your only lowering it an inch or 2 then you could just remove the lower spring perch and weld on the threaded tubes. A very easy mod and will cost you about £200 plus modding the strut. If you need to pay someone to modify your struts then this could be another £200. If you need to change the dampers as well and go for adjustable then there's another £600 so you may as well go for a complete coilover kit.

3. Coilover kit - May be overkill for the road but you as you can see from option 2, it could work out cheaper or the same sort of money to go this route.
GAZ - I use these and you just send them your strut and they custom build you just what you want. You can have fully adjustable or fixed damping. Adjustable is nice as you can wind it down for comfort and if in the future you want to get out on a track you can ramp up the damping to suit. The prices have gone up by 20% since I bought mine so they are around £1250 for adjustable damping. The fixed damping is a few hundred less so probably around £820. T3/AZ/BC - Never uses any of these but I'm guessing you will be hard pushed to tell the difference if they all had the same spring rate/damping setting. BC is the cheapest at £875 so that's probable the one I'd go for. Really easy to fit as you just cut your strut tubes off and weld the supplied tubes on. T3 kit comes already assembled with their struts and you can either send in your old struts or just pay the core charge(best option) Their kit is $2000 which equates to around £2000 with shipping duty and vat. Maybe a bit over that with the current rate. AZ was always the kit of choice before T3 came along but they are more like the BC kit in that you have to fit them to your struts in the same way. Couldn't find a price for this but I guess its somewhere between BC and T3.

This is just a quick guide so please add too or correct if I'm wrong.
 
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shak130

Well-Known Forum User
Thats great thanks JohnnyMD. Im looking at lowering further I did buy springs from MJP but want to go lower.
 

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
Great write up!

Last I checked the non adjustable GAZ version was:

The total cost of the new kit will be £628 + carriage & VAT and as I’m sure you’re aware from last time you ordered dampers for your Datsun 240Z we will need your donor struts sent in.

These will be 2 ¼ “ coilover dampers with fixed bump and rebound and height adjustable platforms.

Current lead times are 3-4 weeks upon receipt of your donor struts

This was June 2016. Bargain I think!

Dan
 

johnymd

Club Member
Thanks Dan. I've updated my post to reflect the price and yes they are a bargain. I've included VAT in all my prices as I hate being quoted pre vat prices. I like to hear the price I actually pay.
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
Great info for those who wish to lower/change the stance. There are some I am sure (me for one) happy with the 4x4 look! I've spent a fortune before modifying suspension on cars to get a lower stance, just ended up with a ride as hard as rock, every bump felt and a very empty wallet. Happy to watch others shell out though!

I like better handling and a lower stance as much as the next bloke, but my 944 offers me that! Never say never though, I might end up going full circle ...
 

zNathan

Well-Known Forum User
Nice write up John :)

I mentioned this on another thread but as a side note I believe the popular Tokico Illumina inserts have been out of stock for quite some time and the Tokico HP inserts are either limited or out of stock for the 240Z..

Would it be worth mentioning camber etc. options too? I've got little to no idea on what hardware options there are and it's something some (myself included) may want to do in the future
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
Good stuff John.
A couple of extra points on option 1:
a) Mike doesn't have lowering springs for all years - I think the period late 74 to late 75 is one such period (my car for example). I think this covers 240 & 260. (I hope Mike will correct me if I have this wrong.
b) There are some good companies (like springcoil ltd and coilspring ltd!) will make you a set of springs to your spec for about £50 a corner. Working out your spec is of course the hard part. I have the specs for mine if anyone wants them.
 

status

Well-Known Forum User
The other/older alternative was the Leda set-up which I had on my 260,always seemed a bit too hard,never really looked into it,the green 240 ex Mike b had the Leeds set up and was brill,I am currently using adjustable platforms so my ride height is spot on how it sits,eibach up rated springs and tokiko adjustable inserts,just have to avoid the potholes
 

status

Well-Known Forum User
That's why I said was Franky as we don't hear Leeda mentioned anymore,are they still around do you know ?
 

Mr.F

Inactive
I think the period late 74 to late 75 is one such period (my car for example). I think this covers 240 & 260. (I hope Mike will correct me if I have this wrong.

The problem year in the late '73 / '74 260Z coupe. They use the 240Z inserts but spring spec and seat position were changed. Getting a set of unmolested stock springs has proven a problem. We have patterns for 240Z, late 260Z and all 2+2 and lowering / stiffening requirements can be calculated for those.
Would not recommend more than 1.5" drop with standard height cartridges and struts as the piston is pushed out of its favoured operating range. Tokico HP are officially OK with this, others not.
 

Mr.F

Inactive
BTW - we also hold patterns for all 280ZX models, Z31 300ZX and Z32 300ZX. Also Sunny / Pulsar GTi-R.
 

johnymd

Club Member
Mike - do you have any patterns for LHD 240z's? Also can you specify an increased front drop compared to back for those of us that prefer a slightly nose down look as opposed to the opposite factory stance. Plus a guide price would be good. Thanks
 

Mr.F

Inactive
240Z specs are based from UK "hard" spec. You can specify any drop and uprate in stiffness you require. All are £175 + VAT a set plus carriage (usually a tenner).
 

johnymd

Club Member
I'll compare a few struts tomorrow and try and document their differences. I have spare sets of 240z: RHD and LHD standard, coilover converted uk standard height, and Leda built sectioned struts. That should cover most of the bases.
 
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