As some of you may know, I am building a Nissan 240SX into a Group 2 rally car (check my sig).
During my build I have run into a few issues due to the lack of rally history surrounding the 240SX. One of the major hurdles, is the availability of rally capable suspension. Everybody and their brother is trying to lower their 240s, I want to raise mine. Instead of spending $5000 on custom DMS, Ive decided to build my own.
I got started building my coilovers by taking the OE strut/springs to work to press off the springs.
The spring and all the mounting stuff on the left, is useless to me.
I started by drilling a small hole in the bottom of the strut tube to drain the oil. These struts were blown, so there was no pressure left in them. If you have unblown struts, be very careful.
After letting what oil I could out, I cut off the factory spring perches. It helps if you cut them in half.
With the seat off, all thats left is a bead of weld, this will serve as the support for the new seats.
With the seat off, I then cut around the top cap.
And I slid out the old damper.
Bare tubes. Man they are dirty.
Cleaned off all the nasty old paint, and rust buildup. The tubes themselves are actually in pretty good shape, despite all the surface rust.
As you can see, the new inverted monotube Bilstiens i am using are not quite as long as the factory dampers. This is not ideal for rally, as I would like to have as much travel as possible but I had to start somewhere. At a later date I may switch to a longer unit, though I need to do more research. For the price I can afford to play around. The benefit to everyone else is, a damper this long is perfect for most S chassis owners as it makes lowering the car easier.
I decided to chop the bottom of the tube off. This will allow me to make the most of the travel I will have, while also increasing ride height slightly.
chopped.
Thats better.
I cut a 2" disk out of 11 gauge steel. This will be the new cap.
The I drilled a hole. The new dampers are bolted to the bottom of the tubes.
Tacked in place.
Solid as a rock. I ran the welder real hot to get good penetration.
Cleaned up.
Stock vs shortened.
Test fitting the damper. Fits like a glove.
I will need to modify the upper spring seat, and pillowball mount, but just for fun I put everything else together temporarily. I am using ground control coilovers, Eibach springs, and Tein pillowball camber plates.
Once I have both tubes modified I will paint them. Im thinking silver, what do you guys think?
I hope to pick up new hardware tomorrow or Tuesday. Hopefully I can get both tubes modified and painted by the end of the week. Then it will be time to start on the rears.
