[bluebomber]

Need to know how many are interested in solid rear strut mounts for their cars. One question I have is: Are all the rear strut mounts the same from 91-99 Sentra, 200SX and NX? If not thats not a problem we will just have more versions to offer. I would think the independent setup might be different from the solid rear? All mounts will include Energy Suspension isolator bushings and spherical bushings for those running an independent setup.

I know you are all looking to gain some suspension travel, I believe I can get 1.25" in additional travel by decreasing the thickness of the mounts but it will also lower the vehicle slightly.

I need to know the diameters of the struts that people are using as well as the coil over spring diameters and factory spring diameters so I can start ordering bearing and isolators.

Any comments ...

 

[bluebomber]

bump ... what nobody for these??

 

[SuperblackZ]

Idk squat about these. How would they differ from what I have now on my Progress CO's? Can you tell anything from this pic?

 

[TommyD241]

I think there would be a market for some Motivational Engineering style rear mounts for the B14 guys looking to gain some suspension travel.

 

[bluebomber]

Well what I found out through the parts store is that the 95+ non independent setup doesnt have a traditional bushing like the independent setups that have a spherical bushing.

I wasnt able to find many pictures of the what the tops of the progress coilovers look like but most good coilovers come with a pillow mount for the front and like teins they are all one unit.

How do these attach to the car?? do they use the factory mount in the rear?

Can we get some pictures of the mounting setups for different types of suspension setups?

 

[klobbersaurus]

i would be interested, got some motivational coilovers right now

 

[bluebomber]

Well in order to start the project I need 5 heads. Ill take a trip down to the parts store to start gathering dimensions for both types (B13 and B14). Just to give a ball park ... we are probably looking at $75 a set on the B14 setup and $100+ a set on the B13 due to the spherical bearing that is needed.

What I really need are some of the diameters on the struts/shocks people are running on their cars. I would expect those running coilovers would have a different diameter strut than those running conventional strut/shocks.

This is what I have found for the B13 and B14 setups. I will be making the #5 from this pic that accommodates a lowered car for more suspension travel, it will also include an energy suspension isolator bushing (#6). The bump stop #7 will be up to the customer or if you want we can probably offer that too.

and on the B13 I will be making this one with a spherical bearing also accommodating for the 1-1.25 in in additional suspension travel.

 

[1...low...b15]

hmmm sounds good, and for $75 for my B14 sounds good, also, let me know how it goes and ill buy one from you..

 

[bluebomber]

Yeah I could have a design today but I need people to start getting me the strut diameters.

Where in FL are you??

hmmm sounds good, and for $75 for my B14 sounds good, also, let me know how it goes and ill buy one from you..

 

[klobbersaurus]

b14 for me also, using ground control coilovers

 

[SuperblackZ]

...I wasnt able to find many pictures of the what the tops of the progress coilovers look like but most good coilovers come with a pillow mount for the front and like teins they are all one unit.

How do these attach to the car?? do they use the factory mount in the rear?

Can we get some pictures of the mounting setups for different types of suspension setups?

The pic above is the top of my rear Progress CO's. The three bolts are from underneath holding the rear CO in place. Look on pages 2-3 of their catalog:
http://www.progressauto.com/2007.Catalog.secured.pdf

I don't have a clear pic of the spacers or top mounts from below, I think this is as close as it gets:

Dunno if this a stock mount or not, all I know is there is no camber adjustment in the rear which ticks me off:

 

[bluebomber]

Well It is do-able ... It will basically be the same thing as front camber plate without the rotational bearing. Is there truly a need for these ... dont you have some camber adjustment on the factory equipment on the car?

The B13 setups will be a little more expensive like I said because of the spherical bearing that is needed for the independent setups but with enough people the project can get started. All I need is 5 for the B13 and 5 for the B14. I can manage the camber adjustable plates on my own dime.

The pic above is the top of my rear Progress CO's. The three bolts are from underneath holding the rear CO in place. Look on pages 2-3 of their catalog:
http://www.progressauto.com/2007.Catalog.secured.pdf

I don't have a clear pic of the spacers or top mounts from below, I think this is as close as it gets:

Dunno if this a stock mount or not, all I know is there is no camber adjustment in the rear which ticks me off:

 

[SuperblackZ]

Progress CO's and front mounts

I wasnt able to find many pictures of the what the tops of the progress coilovers look like but most good coilovers come with a pillow mount for the front and like teins they are all one unit.

There is a very detailed discussion here of the front mounts used on my car (with the Shockteks, but the mounts are still there with the Progess and GC plates):

SCC November 2000 Suspension Magic

Bummer no discussion of the rear really at all.

But, they don't use a pure pillow mount. There is a Torrington bearing that supports the spring perch, the strut is support by the spherical bearing only:

HTH - and btw there are 18 more pages besides the above.

 

[bluebomber]

AS with most coilovers this bearing is already supplied on top of the spring. as you can see on the ones we developed for the j-body we made an adapter piece that connects to this bearing and then to the spherical bearing. Plus I dont like the whole gc design with the big honkin plate on the top.

This one shows the machined piece that adapts the coilover setup to the spherical bearing.

Obviously this one is not camber ajustable but I think you ge the point

some more ...

 

[SuperblackZ]

The B13 setup you see on mine has no camber adjustment - and worse, the rear camber is not exactly the same on both sides, it's a little off.

Focus I think makes a rear mount with some camber adjustment, don't know how good or not they are for quality.

I don't like lower camber bolts for adjustment, they seem cheap and tend to not hold 100%. I have a set of Eibach's for my U13 and the bolts are made of incredibly low grade steel for a camber bolt, and the finish is really rough. But on that car, that's your sole option for rear camber adjustment...

 

[SuperblackZ]

...Plus I dont like the whole gc design with the big honkin plate on the top.

I can't agree there. It may not be the best looking setup, but with those bearings and the steering bushing replacement, my steering is so smooth I can almost not even tell when I am on center sometimes coming up to the line. Remember we're not talking STi or Evo thick sheet metal, we're talking Sentra extremely flimsy top mount sheet metal - it needs a big piece of reinforcement. B13 stock gets all these nice reviews but honestly IMHO it handles like a noodle until you reinforce a lot of places, you feel so much chassis flex it's absurd.

The rigidity of the GC plates is also hard to argue with, they're big and honkin' for a reason. They work great for me.

Downside of the GC plates also their approximate camber marks are not even close (unless you call 1.0 deg off close) on my car, both were set at -2.0 deg and the hunter rack showed -2.5 driver, -1.6 passenger. That and the allen bolts to secure the position seem very under-built IMHO. The do make for a nice stiff FSTB combo with firewall braces added, great mounting points.

But, like I said, it all works - the car pulled a 0.96g skidpad on a crappy skidpad which somewhat cancels out the Nitto NT01's advantage. I can throw that car just about as hard as I ever want to through a corner, and I've only ever even begun to spin it once in the rain in AutoX, then more because of bonehead driving and locking the rear wheels with too much braking.

The rear mounts also thread into some of the thinnest sheet metal I've ever seen. With an "IKEA" brace already in place, adding the RSTB with rear trunk triangulated braces has pretty well take car of movement around that area. There may be some excessive movement of the strut in the mount, but not that I can tell.

 

[SuperblackZ]

AS with most coilovers this bearing is already supplied on top of the spring....

Also note the date of the article is November 2000, there were not a lot of CO's even available for our cars. Only reason Progress has them (only Nissan they make them for is a B13) is largely because Dave talked them into build a set.

GC's approach may not be unique now, but 8 years ago they were taking a better approach separating the bearings than a lot of the competition.

Like most things, it's all obvious that's a great idea in hindsight.

 

[bluebomber]

No I feal you I just think that we could do this from the bottom up and achieve somewhat similar results.

As far as their numbering system ... it is impossible to translate the marking to a degree of movement without knowing the complete geometry of the vehicle. It is a simple trig equation . If I got some numbers and measurements from you I could make them so that they do make sense but it would be a one off every time.

this sounds cool though, I think Im going to try this out on the j-body rear sphericals going camber adjustable to see how it works out...

 

[bluebomber]

Starting the design on the B14 rear mount today. I am thinking of making them out of 3/8" steel. They would look similar to this depending on the spring diameter you are running ...

 

[klobbersaurus]

any updates?