R33 GTST Series II Suspension Options Stock Upgrades

[niZmO_Man]

Depends what you want from your car, but if you want to keep it stock-ish, look for some good Nismo S-Tune suspension (no idea if they're available for your model). Or KYB dampers and Eibach/TEIN springs.

[mercyseat]

Basically something thats a bit stealth and won't be defected by VIC roads and street use.

Maybe a track day later down the line for fun.

Drifting looks fun but thats a totally seperate set up & prob cost big $$.

[mercyseat]

So what's going on with the suspension here?

Is is the HICAS eliminated spoke of earlier?

Is it roadworthy?

Looks a bit tired...well front looks tired, rear looks almost new.

 

 

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

nice HICAS junk has been eliminated, time for MCA Blue coilovers

Then a 1.5way LSD

Skip the anti roll bars, often incorrectly called sway bars. No need, just makes the car super twitchy. You need the slight roll for grip. I did the whole soft spring rates and stupid thick ARBs and the car was great for normal driving but on the track or at high speeds there would be no stability. Since then I've set both ARBs to the softest setting and run pretty stiff springs and the car handles very neutral.

[mercyseat]

Will it pass a roadworthy in VIC with that eliminator kit on it? Or you gotta put it back to stock?
Looks expensive venture to get a roadworthy.

[ausdrift]

Anti roll bar upgrade, especially to adjustable ones, are great bang for buck. They help your suspension do the job its designed for, rather than fighting extra lateral force. The great thing is that they firm up cornering without the harshness that hard spring rates would give for a similar effect. Id suggest coilovers first, then new sway bars and front and rear tower bracing bars: will transform the handling

[GTSBoy]

9 hours ago, mercyseat said:

Will it pass a roadworthy in VIC with that eliminator kit on it? Or you gotta put it back to stock?
Looks expensive venture to get a roadworthy.

That depends on what you mean by "roadworthy".

Assuming that you're talking about an annual/whatever mandated roadworthy by a day-to-day mechanic, there is every chance that he would not be bothered by the replacement of the HICAS components with stuff that deletes it totally.  You could go one step towards making it look like it is supposed to be there by rubbing an appropriate amount of grease and dirt onto all those bits to make them look like they are many years old.

If you're talking about taking it over the pits, like we have to here in SA at (very odd) intervals, then you may find the situation not quite as easy.  This is because the tech inspectors at the dept of transport usually are switched on and know what stuff is supposed to be on what cars.  They know that Skylines have HICAS because they've had 40000* defected Skylines go over the pits since they started coming into the country.  The reason that this is an issue is that modification to a steering system is not allowed unless it is properly engineered.  So this counts out even the simple HICAS lockbars, let alone the delete kits.  Having said that....I took an approach to your problem which is now proven to work, at least here in SA where the inspectors really are clever car blokes.  I transplanted a complete non-HICAS subframe and the appropriate other parts into my car.  Ripped out all the HICAS plumbing and other shit.  Looks like it was never there.  There are actually Skylines without HICAS, so unless you went looking very very closely, you wouldn't tell that my car had it to start with.  And it's all Nissan parts in the car, so it looks 100% legit.  And it passed inspection.

*That's actually only about 5000 cars, but 8 times each.

Of course, I haven't tested the alternative approach, which is to get a car inspected with a lock bar or delete kit.  It may be that they happily let them through.

[mercyseat]

I only use two mechanics that i know do a good job and both rebuild classics and/or race so there's no chance of it being ignored. Which i appreciate as i know the work done is quality.

VIC roads are quite tough now and they take photo's of the car's too for roadworthy,  they sift through everything.

Is it an expensive venture to remove the HICAS  eliminator for rego? What part's do i need to buy if any to restore it to stock?

 

 

Edited March 4, 2017 by mercyseat

[GTSBoy]

DO NOT remove that kit before you try getting a roadworthy.

If you do have to put HICAS stuff back on you'd be better off wrecking the car for parts than trying to put it back to stock.  To put it back to stock, all you'll need is the HICAS rack and tie rods.  But it will suck more than the Mardis Gras.