Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Lowering GTT Coupe / Coils & Springs

Alright gents, I need some genuine advice on something that must've been covered 1,000 times and I'm still hearing two arguments after doing some reading for the past two hours.

Objective: lower my stock R34 GT-T to maximum legal limit (legit, it's like a patrol at the moment)

Budget: $800-$1000 including install

Want: lowered look with comfort but not wanting race-quality stuff. Car is a daily and I do a lot of highway driving

Conflict: springs are cheap and will lower to what I want but will kill my shocks. Coilovers are great but don't necessarily want to spend 2k on suspension just for a daily

Really really unsure which way to go here, but I see a ton of lowered 33's around my town and they all go springs/shocks and have no complaints. I'm smart enough to know that the poor man pays twice so I need some suggestions with the above information.

Is there an in the middle option between spending bugger all on lowered springs to achieve what I want then getting smashed around and paying later for it, and entry level coilovers that'll probably do things I don't necessaryily need them to do? Thoughts?

 

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/468278-lowering-gtt-coupe-coils-springs/
Share on other sites

If you just want it a little lower for looks, have a small budget, and aren't taking it racing, just put in lowering springs.

It won't "kill" your shocks, they just won't be matched perfectly to the springs anymore.....although in any case since it left the factory the springs will have sagged and the shocks will be slowly dying just from age so they aren't exactly what nissan intended any more anyway

Kings or Lovells or just about any equivalent coil springs.  Easy.

Best choice for dampers is a set of Bilstein B6s, especially if bought from SydneyKid as he sets them up to suit Skylines fairly well.  But....this will blow the budget, as the dampers are >$1k on their own.

So, read the damper thread again,

and then decide if you're happy to compromise on price and buy something that has twin tube innards, or if you want to stretch a bit more money for something single tube.  Your options include KYB and even some of the lower end Bilsteins.  It is my firm opinion that there has never been a decent damper manufactured here in Australia, so do not be tempted by Monroe, or Gabriel, even though they're probably no longer made here anyway.  Cheap shit is cheap shit no matter where it's made.

8 hours ago, niZmO_Man said:

KYB and your choice of off the shelf springs.

Don't supposed you could link me KYB'a for a 34/GT-T?

KYB part locator wasn't helpful and an eBay/net search gets me as close as an R33.

Im looking into a set of TEIN S lowering springs from the UK instead of the Kings.

You can probably find a set of nismo S-tune shocks and springs for pretty cheap these days.

I run them all round, low-ish, comfortable and stiff enough for twisty roads, you'll feel the limit of them at a track day though but it doesn't sound like that's what you're after so I'd add them to the list of options to consider.

20 minutes ago, Jordy32 said:

You can probably find a set of nismo S-tune shocks and springs for pretty cheap these days.

I run them all round, low-ish, comfortable and stiff enough for twisty roads, you'll feel the limit of them at a track day though but it doesn't sound like that's what you're after so I'd add them to the list of options to consider.

Still achieve the lowered legal limit and be okay handling-wise for what I need?

Might look into this if so!

NB: Teins from the UK we're gonna set me back $300 + $160 postage


Yep Jesse will do springs but can get exxy with shipping because heavy metal
29 minutes ago, Duncan said:

just buy local on this, it's not a top line motorsport application, just a slightly lower car. Kings, Lovells, whoever has them at your local repco....

That'll do the trick on stock shocks for now? I was thinking about springs on stock shocks for a month or two, then fitting some aftermarket shocks (KYB I'm yet to track down for a 34)

for sure, and even KYB is just an OEM replacement.  If you buy a set of specific shocks you will get the springs to match (or vice versa, but the point is they come as a set once they move too far outside standard parameters).

I ran lowered springs on stock shocks then KYBs for years on my 33 GTSt including track days and it was fine for a cheap upgrade. In fact probably better than most $1000-1500 spring and shock sets because they tend to use really cheap shocks and overly hard springs.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Also, I logged some data from the ECU for each session (mostly oil pressures and various temps, but also speed, revs etc, can't believe I forgot accelerator position). The Ecutek data loads nicely to datazap, I got good data from sessions 2, 3 and 4: https://datazap.me/u/duncanhandleyhgeconsultingcomau/250813-wakefield-session-2?log=0&data=7 https://datazap.me/u/duncanhandleyhgeconsultingcomau/250813-wakefield-session-3?log=0&data=6 https://datazap.me/u/duncanhandleyhgeconsultingcomau/250813-wakefield-session-4?log=0&data=6 Each session is cut into 3 files but loaded together, you can change between them in the top left. As the test sessions are mostly about the car, not me, I basically start by checking the oil pressure (good, or at least consistent all day). These have an electrically controlled oil pump which targets 25psi(!) at low load and 50 at high. I'm running a much thicker oil than recommended by nissan (they said 0w20, I'm running 10w40) so its a little higher. The main thing is that it doesn't drop too far, eg in the long left hand fish hook, or under brakes so I know I'm not getting oil surge. Good start. Then Oil and Coolant temp, plus intercooler and intake temps, like this: Keeping in mind ambient was about 5o at session 2, I'd say the oil temp is good. The coolant temp as OK but a big worry for hot days (it was getting to 110 back in Feb when it was 35o) so I need to keep addressing that. The water to air intercooler is working totally backwards where we get 5o air in the intake, squish/warm it in the turbos (unknown temp) then run it through the intercoolers which are say 65o max in this case, then the result is 20o air into the engine......the day was too atypical to draw a conclusion on that I think, in the united states of freedom they do a lot of upsizing the intercooler and heat exchanger cores to get those temps down but they were OK this time. The other interesting (but not concerning) part for me was the turbo speed vs boost graph: I circled an example from the main straight. With the tune boost peaks at around 18psi but it deliberately drops to about 14psi at redline because the turbos are tiny - they choke at high revs and just create more heat than power if you run them hard all the way. But you can also see the turbo speed at the same time; it raises from about 180,000rpm to 210,000rpm which the boost falls....imagine the turbine speed if they held 18psi to redline. The wastegates are electrically controlled so there is a heap of logic about boost target, actual boost, delta etc etc but it all seems to work well
    • hahah when youtube subscribers are faster than my updates here. Yes some vid from the day is up, here:  Note that as with all track day videos it is boring watching after the bloopers at the start.  The off was a genuine surprise to me, I've literally done a thousand laps around the place and I've never had instability there; basically it rolled into oversteer, slipped, gripped and spat me out. On the way off I mowed down one of the instructor's cones and it sat there all day looking at me with accusing cone eyes as I drove past. 1:13:20 was my fastest lap, and it was in the second session, 3rd lap.  It (or me!) got slower throughout the day as it got hotter.      
    • It sounds like you want what the Toyota Landcruisers have for their roof racks. Wanna know what you end up with? Rust holes in the roof, and water everywhere...
    • Discovered today that if I select reverse first and take my foot off the brake, then select drive, the drive indicator light works and so does the tiptronic gear indicator. 
    • Ok so after much research and talking with knowledgeable people I've got my turbo conversion done and it's all running great other than 1 small issue.  Car has remained auto with the na auto and tcm, I've used a stagea ecu with. NIstune board and everything is great other than my gear selection on the dash. It illuminates park, reverse, neutral, 3rd and 2nd. But nothing drive or what gear your in when you pop it into tiptronic.  I'm sure there is maybe 1 wire in the ecu plug I need to move to rectify this. Does anyone here have any ideas?   Cheers guys
×
×
  • Create New...