Koni Yellow Questions on a budget

[floodo1]

OK man, I'm a poor college student and my springs (sprint) and struts (kyb gr2) on my s14 are both shot (front sags so it has like no travel and bottoms out all the time.

so obviously there is no way i can afford 86xx setup right now. So what im thinking of doing is starting simple and working my way up to more complexity each summer (summer is when i make real money).

So to start this journey i want to get koni yellows front and rear. for the front i hope to be able to cut the internals out of my gr2 housings in order to put the koni insert inside. Will the Koni's fit in here, or do they ONLY fit in OEM struts? I'm sure I could get someones blown oem struts for cheap enough if they wont fit in my KYB's

Then I need a set of springs. Again being cheap and just starting out this project I thought I should get some sort of lower spring, because its only a couple hundred (or less if i find some used ones to hold me over) and I can run them for a year, then next summer upgrade to ground controls. problem is I don't really know what springs would be good. My current sprint springs supposedly had 1.8" of drop front and rear, and before the fronts got worn out I liked the height of the car.

Finally I need to get some sort of front upper mount that will fit yellows because my car doesnt have enough camber right now.

Again, i'd like to try and buy stuff that i'll be able to continue to use as i upgrade. Hopefully I can keep the cost under 1000 to begin with. But really i have to do something because of the horrible condition of my current setup

Any suggestions or help about what to do would be great. Even after searching and reading a bunch on this forum, i haven't been able to piece together too much info about yellows.

[veilside180sx]

Sorry I hadn't responded to your PM yet. Measure the GR2 and shoot me a PM, but I would imagine they should work just fine.

I'll put together what I could get the stuff for you for...and you can decide from there.

[floodo1]

Sorry I hadn't responded to your PM yet. Measure the GR2 and shoot me a PM, but I would imagine they should work just fine.

I'll put together what I could get the stuff for you for...and you can decide from there.

not even a problem man, it will probably be a few weeks before i do anything anyway, and i'm sure your busy. plus maybe other peeps had some insight anyway.

def let me know about your pricing, because i wouldnt want to buy from anyone else anyway :)

THANKS!

[floodo1]

big issue really is what lowering springs would be good? i realize that none are really all that great, but the main thing is i want the car to sit level front to rear and probably be as low as possible for lowering springs.
like i said my sprints are rated at 1.8" drop front and rear and the car always sat higher in the back, but the front was at a height i liked

[Def]

You can get used Ground Control setups for around $100-150 a set that'll have 90% of what you need. I'd definitely go that route over more lowering springs. Then you can buy what rates you want as you get a little more cash.

[floodo1]

You can get used Ground Control setups for around $100-150 a set that'll have 90% of what you need. I'd definitely go that route over more lowering springs. Then you can buy what rates you want as you get a little more cash.

i wish i could find some now, they seem to be decently rare as per my search of zilvia 240sxforums and sr20powered (i think thats it) and ebay. guess i'll check nico.

i guess i should do research on using some circle track type coilover sleeves as well, but i dont think i'd be able to save much....roughly looks like 35 ea sleeve and top hat......
can anyone tell me the lenth of GC sleeves?

also what camber plates work with yellows? do cusco work? seems like from what i've read that tein's have an ID too big for the yellow shaft and would require adapters?

[ckcadavona]

You should be able to get a Koni OTS/GC setup for a 950 shipped and get some ebay camber plates for 100 shipped. You may even be able to get eclipse rears for that price that way you'd have external adjustment in the rear. I think you could get away with staying within 100-200 dollars of your budget.

If you're patient wait for used stuff to come up. The adapters are cheap veilside180sx should be able to get the ones you need along with everything else you'll need for the setup.

[Def]

GC sleeves for 240SX are 4" long up front, 2.5" in the rear.

[floodo1]

You should be able to get a Koni OTS/GC setup for a 950 shipped and get some ebay camber plates for 100 shipped. You may even be able to get eclipse rears for that price that way you'd have external adjustment in the rear. I think you could get away with staying within 100-200 dollars of your budget.

If you're patient wait for used stuff to come up. The adapters are cheap veilside180sx should be able to get the ones you need along with everything else you'll need for the setup.

what adapters are you talking about?

also whats the deal with eclipse rears vs 240sx rears? never heard of this before?

[RanciD]

I'm running koni yellows and ground controls all around. I've been told the tein camber plates will work with them if you run a 14-18mm spacer. I have a set on order so once they come in I can let you know for sure what has to be done. I have the fronts in modified stock housings so not sure about the GR2 thing but this likely applies to both. I milled off the entire stock lower spring perch and welded the new D rings about one inch below where the weld on the stock perch was. Now with the car on the ground I had to screw the front perch about 2 threads from the bottom and the rear perch about 2 threads from the top to level out the car. I guess that's cool if you're going for the neon srt-4 look but I'm probably going to swap to a shorter spring in front or reweld the perch so I can actually get some adjustability back. Learn from my mistake and weld the new perch a few inches lower if you go that route. :) I am running a brand new 240sx setup from GC so no mismatch parts.

[floodo1]

I'm running koni yellows and ground controls all around. I've been told the tein camber plates will work with them if you run a 14-18mm spacer. I have a set on order so once they come in I can let you know for sure what has to be done. I have the fronts in modified stock housings so not sure about the GR2 thing but this likely applies to both. I milled off the entire stock lower spring perch and welded the new D rings about one inch below where the weld on the stock perch was. Now with the car on the ground I had to screw the front perch about 2 threads from the bottom and the rear perch about 2 threads from the top to level out the car. I guess that's cool if you're going for the neon srt-4 look but I'm probably going to swap to a shorter spring in front or reweld the perch so I can actually get some adjustability back. Learn from my mistake and weld the new perch a few inches lower if you go that route. :) I am running a brand new 240sx setup from GC so no mismatch parts.

yeah please do take some pics and keep me posted dood. i'm hoping that this thread (or a new one in the future) can contain all the info someone would need for koni yellows. theres tons of info about 86xx but basically nothing about yellows, other than how to cut the front oem struts to use the inserts.

[ckcadavona]

The adapters are flanged sleeves that compensate for the different ID's of different camber plates.

I have a thread about the eclipse rears.

Search...both of these topics are covered.

[RanciD]

Here are some pics I have on hand taken before I put it on the ground and adjusted the height:

rear setup, just bolts up
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/coreyrancid/car/IMG_0408.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/coreyrancid/car/IMG_0399.jpg

front, this one gives you a good idea of where I welded the spring perch. Keep in mind this is about 1" BELOW the weld on the stock perch. If I reweld it it'll probably be about 1.5" below where it is now, I'll know for sure once I get a better idea of the suspension travel I'm working with now.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/coreyrancid/car/IMG_0403.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/coreyrancid/car/IMG_0413.jpg

I forgot my digi cam when I got everything back together this weekend so I don't have any pictures of it on the ground yet but to give you some idea of the ride height now, this is the car sitting on 100% stock suspension before I did all this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/coreyrancid/car.jpg
super 4x4 action :o

I'd estimate it's sitting 1.5-2" lower now with the front perch just about as low as it will go. There is still a bit of wheel gap but I'm probably going to have to roll the fenders for my new wheel/tire setup (225/50s on 16x7.5 +22). If you have any questions let me know.

[floodo1]

The adapters are flanged sleeves that compensate for the different ID's of different camber plates.

I have a thread about the eclipse rears.

Search...both of these topics are covered.

i have s14, so eclipse rears are not an option. ok just checking what you meant by sleeves.

[floodo1]

will cusco camber plates work directly? aka not like tein with a bunch of spacers and adapters?
from what i read cusco plates are made to work for stock suspension so they should work fine with koni's?

[Def]

A sleeve bushing to get the ID of the camber plate down is an exceedingly minor detail - I wouldn't let that sway your decision on which plates to get.

[ckcadavona]

A sleeve bushing to get the ID of the camber plate down is an exceedingly minor detail - I wouldn't let that sway your decision on which plates to get.


I agree...especially when trying to stay within a budget.

[floodo1]

well i guess i'll really be able to help myself find good deals cuz im going to have at least 1 year to get the parts pieced together :( :(

about 2 months ago my car got egged in my neighborhood and last night it got broken in to, so im going to send it to my parents garage while i finish out my lease here. Then if i can find a place with a garage i'll bring it back up here, but no more parking it on the street :( :(

anywayz, i still need infoz!

[Def]

What exactly do you need to know? Pretty much everything you'd need should be available in this forum with some searching.

[turtl631]

Haha, what kind of neighborhood do you live in?

I street park here and know people with stock boring cars like Camrys, Accords, etc. who've had cats cut off with sawzalls, car put on milk crates and STOCK wheels stolen, etc. No issues with mine yet tho :) Moving to an even sketchier place this summer, might be time for a real alarm system with like 4 extra sirens.

[floodo1]

a decent neighborhood :(

yeah my alarm went off like an air raid, which is why they didnt steal anything, but still :(

DEF- yeah right now i think I have all the info i need.

[RanciD]

I garage my car an hour and a half from me for peace of mind. :(