Spring Length For Bilsteins On A R34 Gtt

[darksky34]

Ordered a set of Bilsteins from SK, they're on the way. Now, i want to source a set of springs for them.

Requirements: they will go in a R34 GTT, I'm looking for a little lowering (not slammed) and a comfortable ride for the street ONLY.

Current options are King springs (lowered) which have been recommended to me by SK but I'd also like to explore other options, so: I'd also seen on Nengun and RHDJapan there are other springs available - RSR, Ohlins/Eibach, Cusco ... etc.

Would you recommend any of these? OR just stick with King springs?

Furthermore, for example here http://www.rhdjapan.com/nissan/r34-skyline-gt-t/springs you can see that there are many different spring lengths ranging from 180mm to 250mm - i'm assuming this therefore indicates how much lowering I'd get from the spring itself? Difficulty right now is finding what length the stock spring is so that I know which spring to buy!

Edit: just got a reply from King springs themselves about the length of their springs.

KDFL-101 305mm

kdrl-61sp 320mm

Now if you look at the RHD link I have there, you'll see that nothing comes close to that length...so...what is going on?

Help would be much appreciated. Cheers! Chris

[GTSBoy]

Be very cautious. You are probably talking about two completely different types of springs.

The Kings Springs are meant to go on stock (or equivalent to stock) struts/suspension units. As such, they are large diameter (the coil, not the wire) and they are not a lot stiffer than stock. They are stiffer, but given that the stockers are only a few kg/mm, the Kings units are unlikely to be much more than 5 kg/mm.

The Cusco etc springs could well be to suit coilover struts. As such they are about 63-65mm coil diameter and usually are quite a lot stiffer. Common coilovers for Skylines have spring rates starting at 6kg/mm (for the fronts) and many, particularly the Jap brands like Cusco are ridiculously stuff, up around 12 kg/mm. Sure, you can buy 63/65mm springs in all sorts of rates, down to more sensible levels like 5 kg/mm easily enough, but that's not the point. The point is that these types of springs will not fit onto your standard dampers, nor will they fit on SK's Bilsteins, assuming that these are effectively replacement of the same type as standard - ie, meant to take standard sized springs.

If any of the other springs you have been looking at are actually supposed to go on standard type dampers, and they are very short free length, it is probably because they are very stiff. Stiff springs means less suspension travel per kg of load, and if you want to run a low ride height the spring must be short, otherwise the car will sit a million miles up in the air.

I strongly suggest you work out exactly what you are looking at before making any decisions.

FWIW, SK put his Bilstein spec together to work with the Kings Springs rates and I think you would be foolish to use anything other than what he recommends with them.

On a related note, how did you contact SK to get a set of his Billies? I thought he a) wasn't on here any more and b) wasn't doing the Skyline dampers or suspension packages any more. Also, what is the $$ for 4 of his Billies? And, I assume these are not just off the shelf, these have been fiddled with to put his valving in, yes?

[GTSBoy]

I just had a quick look at your link. I think the RSR set is the only one suited to normal struts, and teh rates are not a lot different to stock. I don't know why that product even exists except for gratuitous lowering.

[Risking]

Buy the springs Gary has recommended.

It's still possible to deal with Gary his not disappeared from the entire industrie.

I don't believe his doing "kits" like he was anymore but his still building shocks etc.

A lot of people have gone the MCA route now days. Murray's stuff has become the new SK gear. Hopefully Murray doesn't have the same dramas with the skyline community Gary did.......

Murray is more interested in the circuit orientated side and is always extremely busy.

[darksky34]

Thanks guys. Yeah I think that I'll just get the Kings, simplest option for now anyway - and if I really want different springs later on I can get them. As recommneded by Gary himself - and yes he hasn't disappeared he's just very busy with his team but he's definitely still doing 'kits' to some extent as he's helped me get my stuff together. I'll have to have a look into this MCA...

[simpletool]

IF they are valved anything like the R33 Bilsteins then they will prefer a slightly firmer spring than Kings. I put on the Tein S-tech (medium) springs which are ~20% firmer than Kings and it rides BETTER and handles better. Another member said identical same thing when I fitted mine.

Even better you could sleeve the shocks and get 2.5" ID springs - something like 5kg/mm front, 4kg/mm rear.

Edited April 16, 2013 by simpletool