Lower the Z

[Amazombi]

Hello,
I`m asking for Help in this case.
I`m nearly coming to the End of my Z restauration and bought a set of Image Wheels to compete it.
But now the Wheels are out of the Body! And that much space between the wheel and the Body, its impossible to let it stay as it is. Its around 10cm = 4"!!!
The Wheel size is 8,5x16.

My Problems at least are two:
First: To lower the car. Right now there are springs at the struts which are already lowering the car for 1". These are brand new and from Victoria British.
Second: The wheels should come under the car. The original Owner of these Wheels used them on his 240Z and sendet me a pic of this. It did work! Why not on my car?
The last pic shows it.
Is it possible that, when I lower the car that much (around 10cm) that the wheels are going under the Fender?
What would I have to buy that for? Just new springs? The shocks are of course brand new too. But will they fit with lowerd springs? Do I have to change another part too (Bump steer spacer)?
Thank you very much for any advise or help.
Best regards.
Joachim

 

[twoforty]

Can you measure from the middle of the front cross member to the floor and from the middle of the rear diff support to the floor. It looks very high, the Camber on the wheels will go from positive to negative once the car has been lowered so they will probably fit...there is no reason why not of they were ok on another Z. Are the offsets the same on all 4 wheels?

 

[ollyc]

I hate to say I think if you try and lower her that much that you may end up throwing the geometry out by a mile and from what I can see of your pics I fear that the wheel will just end up hitting your wheel arch which is bad news for both car and tire. If you already have a 1" lower on her then I can't for the life of me see why suddenly it's jacked up so much as to be nye on 4" gap???? I know this is an odd question but you are positive that they are 16" rims? as they look like 14"'s with low profiles on them. May just be the pics but The pic of the car at the end as you say looks fine I fail to see why yours has increased arch gap changing the rims was the space the same on the last set you had on? I wish you luck matey.

 

[twoforty]

Maybe you have the later 260 style top mounts which add an extra 1" or the wrong springs have been supplied. Plenty Z's run fairly low without any mods other than short springs.

 

[SeanDezart]

There are a host of reasons why wheels on one car won't fit on another !

Mine's low, very low on 8" Minilites and the wheels (I know, different offset) fit snugly underneath.

 

[Rob Gaskin]

There is a fundamental problem here and my guess is that you have some 260 suspension components on your 240. Are you sure you have 240 struts and correct 240 springs?
I would think the wheels will fit a lot better when the ride height is correct. Take a spring off, compress the damper and see what the wheel does as you move the suspension through it's travel - if you know what I mean.

Edit: to expand on this and answer some more questions.

Bump steer spacers will not affect ride height just the angle of the wishbones.

If you lower the car by say 3" you will have to be careful with shocker travel and strut length but perhaps at the moment your shockers are fully extended to give that height. If they are, your wheels will leave the ground as soon as you jack it up.

Is the picture of the light blue car in your gallery this car - if so have you only changed the springs since taking it?

 

[dappastyle]

Sorry for the thread hijack, but it's just a simple quick one.

Just to pick peoples brains regarding wheels, what can fit underneath the arches before it starts effecting the suspension/bodywork?

It seems 15"/16" seem to be ok. Is it the case when you come to 17" territory you have to start being careful?

Thanks guys.

 

[Amazombi]

Thanks for all the replys.
Yes probaply it could happend that these are 260 struts.
I bought a lot of stuff and restorated all at once...
Maybe the springs are wrong? I`ll try at first to pump up the car and will check out what is happening with the springs and shocks.
No not all wheels have the same offset. In the back they are 8,5" and in the front I guess they are 7". I will check this out and give you answer.
Thanks a lot so far.
So the high of the struts is diffrent between 240 and 260?! Is it that much? I didnt know. What are the sizes ? So that I can check, please.
Yes, it is the lightblue car which I`m talking of. For me the problem is when I put the original 280Z wheels on it. Just to move the car in the garage everthing seem to be alright. Then I changed the Wheels and mounted the Image wheels it is looking awfull.
Thanks, I`ll let you know what is going on.

 

[SeanDezart]

I'm relieved - you mean that that grey car isn't yours ?

 

[dappastyle]

I quite like the grey Z in the first post.

 

[SeanDezart]

Witht the heavy front end, lost rear bumper and awful wing repeater indicator ?

Nice wheels.....full-stop.

 

[dappastyle]

You see, I noticed the side repeater indication but could overlook that and did see the rear bumper missing. I'm looking at what it could be i suppose.

My eyes aren't as skilled as yours in regards to Z's, didn't see/couldn't tell the front end being heavy. lol

 

[SeanDezart]

All is in the eye of the beholder !

Difference here is I look at what I see and not what could be. I also don't like grey for a sportscar - it might look smart, classy etc but it looks exactly that on an Audi diesel.

 

[Amazombi]

The grey is not my car. It`s the car of the Owner who sold me the wheels.
The blue one is mine. Sorry for the confusion. It was just to show you that the wheels should fit. But dosent on mine(blue) and with youre help I hope to find out why.
Best regards.
Joachim

 

[samuri-240]

You can check if your struts are 240 ones by the diameter of them the longer 260 ones are larger dia, then I guess if you've fitted new inserts that where supplied for a 240 you would have noticed there was a problem then. Where did you get the struts from ? & are the springs from the US ? I ask because spring platforms are at different heights for different markets & years of car. If you could measure from the base of the strut to the spring platfom let me know & I'll measure different ones I have here.
The other option would be to fit adjustable spring platforms or purchase the 240 struts I will be selling soon with them already fitted .
The more I think about it, it must be the springs that are too long, cannot really see you fitting 4 x 260 rear top mounts.

 

[Amazombi]

I really beliefe that I have the right, the 240struts. Its cause when I started to built new everything there was only 240Z parts. From 2cars but, only 240`s.
So I think this will be right.
Yes I got the springs from the US as I told from Victoria British.
My struts are shown as below.
Notice the second pic where the front strut is in and the spring is allready compressed. The Weight from the car will not going up that much anymore.
So it looks like you said, the spring are to long. What could I do? Cut them off? One circle? Two, three?
But that is like we say here "The russian Style".

Oh man how I hate to take everything apart again.

 

[SeanDezart]

Yes I got the springs from the US as I told from Victoria British.

So it looks like you said, the spring are to long. What could I do? Cut them off? One circle? Two, three?
But that is like we say here "The russian Style".

Victoria British.............nuff said !

No cutting of springs - that was the style over 20 years ago and wasn't ideal then ! Buy Gwyns' set-up or speak to Mr F here !

 

[samuri-240]

So it looks like you said, the spring are to long. What could I do? Cut them off? One circle? Two, three?
But that is like we say here "The russian Style".

Oh man how I hate to take everything apart again.

I can see in the picture the top mounts are correct 240 ones so no problem there , so I would chop the springs you have by probably two coils but try one coil first on one rear corner or better still order the correct springs from mjp.

I know exactly what you mean about taking things apart again, it happens to us all .
Did you have to compress the springs along way when fitting them ? as US ones are quite abit longer.

 

[Mr.F]

U.S.A. spec springs are different to U.K. spec springs. We had the "hard" suspension set-up. USA springs are really soft by comparison and, I think, longer (certainly on the front). USA suppliers sometimes sell our "Euro" springs as an upgrade...
My one and only USA Z(X) spring purchase was totally wrong for a UK car, so never again!
Safest way is to let a spring manufacturer have a sample of one front and one rear and have them calculate the required modified specification and manufacture to order. You may have such a company locally.

We have a supplier who does this regularly for us, but our specs are based on the U.K. market spring. As I discovered recently, you cannot guarantee that this will work for other market cars, e.g. the front end of a recent customer's Australian 240Z had much longer springs (and consequently lower positioned spring perches) than I would expect on a UK car - more like the early 260Z fronts which are different to the 240...

If you want to send me spring samples I can get the job done, but obviously there is extra cost and time involved by not being resident in the U.K.! You can specify then by how much you want the car lowered from the position of the original springs and also by what percentage you want the rate increased.

 

[SeanDezart]

Do we agree then NOT to cut springs but fit shorter ones with uprated rates ?

Or adjustable platforms ?