I've been meaning to change my sway bars to a performance one but yet to find out what is the best brand for the price to get? any suggestions?

also, as I drive my car and makes turns, I hear dings n pings.... Kinda sounds like most of my bushings are worn? could it be that is worn since they are original since i bought the car brand new? What is the suggested time to replace these bushings?
please advise...

thanks :p

If you're considering swaybars, just get a rear bar and leave the front piece stock. A thicker front bar will make the car harder to rotate, and the money saved could be better put towards AGX struts and ES bushings. As far as rear swaybars go, you can chose from the Suspension Techniques bar or the N-Tech adjustable unit. The ST is cheaper (~$130 at Stranos, NOPI, etc.) and much easier to find. I've read impressions that state the ST handles similarly to the middle setting of the N-Tech.

Searching would probably turn up a lot.

There are a million things that can rattle in the front end of an old SE-R, and you'll go broke trying to find out. One that drove me nuts was a piece in the front strut assembly called the "thrust bearing." Replacing the two of them will quiet the car for a while, but they wear out quickly and start popping again (no ill effects, otherwise). It's just a given.

Thanks Jim for the info

yeah, thanks, that's good info *** these bumps in Alabama make me think my whole front end is in shambles!

Is changing the bushings to ES a fun task or is it a PITA? I have experience with the struts but not the bushings.

Thanks,

Originally posted by JimR
... and the money saved could be better put towards AGX struts and ES bushings. ...
How do the AGX struts work with stock springs? It's about time for new shocks, I think they springs are fine and I don't want to lower the car, so that leaves coil-overs to retain the height which I don't want to spend the money on.

Jason92Classic - I've heard some of the bushings are a major PITA, others are just hard or annoying. I have a set of ES just sitting at home waiting for me to put them in.

I've been running on stock springs and AGXs for over a year now, including some autocrossing on that setup. If you want to keep stock height by keeping the stock springs, but want to replace the struts, AGXs are the way to go. The AGXs, even on the softest setting, are still enough to dampen the stock springs, so I don't turn the shocks up unless I need to for racing, to keep the wear on them down.

Of course, you could just get in on the custom spring deal thats going on, which would be a great way to go if you want to lower it without worrying about bottoming out all the time.

Aaron

This 300/200 spring deal is a rare shot at getting a suspension setup we all really want. It's not going to slam the car in the first place, but the rates will keep the car off the bumpstops.

Whether or not you'd want to install them right away, I think these springs should be considered over swaybars and bushings if for timing alone. Once this contract has been produced, it's never happening again. After that, it's either catalog slammer springs or GC coil-overs, no middle ground.

Jim,

Tell me a lil bit more about the 300/200 deal... whats involved..

First link in this section:

http://www.sr20deforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14576

There was a discussion on the SE-R List a year or two ago about what would be the best/highest spring rate you could run on AGXes without overextending their dampening ability. Based on experience and some suspension smarts from Mike Kojima, 300lbs. front and 200lbs. rear were decided on as a setup that would be safely streetable, not tricky to control at the limits, and compatible with the AGXes.

Lew Shadoff and some others tried to get an outfit called Spring Valley to make a run using the specs in the current deal. They were never responsive to calls, and the prototype set wasn't very high quality. The deal faded after that.

A certain company, which may or may not be Hyperco ;), made some street springs for B13s a while back that turned out well. They weren't as stiff as the specs everyone wanted, so we've been pushing them to make them ever since.

Approximately how many people are in this deal already? the pricing is kinda steep dont you think? what brand is this gonna be? do you think it wil be a good product? i have heard many of these kinda stuff before and fell through since the product were bunk... so they say.. i dunno if it is a good deal or not.. what do you think?

The company making these springs, who have asked that their name not be used, make springs for many F1 and Nascar teams. They make some of the highest quality suspension springs in the world. There should be *no* worry about the quality of these springs.

By the way, does anyone know if there are any shops buyng a few sets of these springs for resale? I have wanted exactly this spring for a long time, but I have a tuition payment due the same day the deal ends, and I just don't see any way I will be able to scrape up the money by the due date :(.

Josh

Originally posted by MEclassic
By the way, does anyone know if there are any shops buyng a few sets of these springs for resale?
Josh

There is a shop buying a few sets, but they're going to go very quickly once the deal is over.

Chris

Originally posted by Dlove3:16
Approximately how many people are in this deal already? the pricing is kinda steep dont you think? what brand is this gonna be? do you think it wil be a good product? i have heard many of these kinda stuff before and fell through since the product were bunk... so they say.. i dunno if it is a good deal or not.. what do you think?

This should answer most of your questions, it's from this thread, http://www.sr20deforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14576

I suggest you take some time, and go read the complete thread. I've already covered most of the things you've been asking. ;)

The company has produced a similar spring in a lower rate for the B13 chassis. When this company was contemplating getting into the street performance market, they actually took the time to engineer a spring for the B13. This is the reason why we're able to get a B13 spring made, but not ones for a B14, or 15.

Using the engineering data gathered from that set of springs, they have re-engineered the spring to the higher rate, with (edit 3/14) less of a drop, and a dual rate design. Be assured, they did not just smack this together, the engineering group needed to put some real effort into calculating the proper specifications to produce this spring with the new parameters. Since they already had the characteristics of the car, and had produced the earlier run, the have the engineering expertise, and proprietary software to do necessary calculations to make the new springs.

The specs on the original springs they made are:

Approximate Lowering:
• Front: 1.40” (35 mm)
• Rear: 1.25” (30 mm)

Spring Type:
• Front: R3 progressive helical compression, coil over Strut.
• Rear: R3 progressive helical compression, coil over Strut.

Spring Rate:
• Front: 110 lb./in. – 180 lb./in. working range 160 lb./in. – 180 lb./in.
• Rear: 75 lb./in. – 174 lb./in. working range 160 lb./in. – 174 lb./in..

I don't know of anyone who has these that aren't satisfied with the ride and quality of that spring. As a matter of fact, my neighbor has them on his (my old) '91 SE-R, and he loves them. I, on the other hand have ProKits on my car and I don't like them at all. (By the way, we both have brand new AGX's, all new mounting hardware, and full ES bushing kits.) The ProKits are way too soft, and drop the car to much. Because they are so soft, you will be hitting the bumpstops more often with the ProKits, than with a high rate spring. ProKits are not a performance spring, they are a progressive rate lowering spring. As far how stiff the ride will be, if you search through the Forum, and the SE-R mailing list, you will see that people are just about universally pleased with the Ground Control/AGX setup at 300# front / 200# rear. That's why that rate was chosen for this design.

Why was the original spring made in a lower rate? God only knows. We tried to get them to make the 300/200 springs, but the person who we were dealing with at the spring company at that time would not do it. It took allot of work to get these springs made at this rate. So, in reality this is a 'Gen2' design of the spring, using data from the first set, combined with the real world experience of many B13 owners running a similar rate and drop using Ground Control springs.

Chris

I am cross posting so don't hurt me...

If autocrossing in STS, is it not still better to have the GC coilovers? Cross weighting and height adjustments and the like.

My car is not a daily driver. It is a once per week driver just to keep it running well.

Mean

Originally posted by Mean
I am cross posting so don't hurt me...

If autocrossing in STS, is it not still better to have the GC coilovers? Cross weighting and height adjustments and the like.

My car is not a daily driver. It is a once per week driver just to keep it running well.

Mean

If you read the messages, you'll see that nobody is saying these will be better for a daily driver. You want adjustability, you want tp be able to change spring rates easily, you're willing to live with the possibility of noisy struts, by all means get the GC's. These springs are based on what most people who are runing GC's have, which is 300/200 with a 1" drop.

Chris

If you read the messages, you'll see that nobody is saying these will be better for a daily driver.

As long as these will give me a better ride than my Pro-kits with better handling I'll get them.

Originally posted by RED 91 SE-R
As long as these will give me a better ride than my Pro-kits with better handling I'll get them.

I think they will. They should ride the same as 300/200 GC's which many people are happy with. Also, my neighbor has the original Hyperco springs (which are stiffer than ProKits) on his SE-R, and he's happy with them. I know what you mean about the ProKits. I have them with AGx's and they're way too soft. I'm glad I put on the Koni bumptsops, because I hit them sometimes. I'm looking forward to the new stiffies. :)

Chris