It all goes downhill at once!

[99GaGT3X00]

i got some brand new never used gabriel struts if you want them. i bought them for the Z26 but never got around to installing them.
100 bucks for the pair if you want them.

[Barry]

Thanks for the offer, but I want to get some Koni's. Maybe i could do bilsteins, but alot of them arent adjustable(not that I adjust them alot). And I need something not "position sensative" so I can ride low.

[3X00-Modified]

Gabriel struts are not a good combination with lowering springs... The would not be able to handle the abuse... Just like Monroe's those wont last long either.

[Barry]

I think kyb's are pretty poor too, Im not satsifed with mine.

[weba]

Adjusting Konis any firmer on our cars will just bend the control arms to hell and then cut your fuel and brake lines.

That's because the (cheap design) adjustment on them only changes the rebound rate instead of damping... so only bad options available.

Good luck finding a set of Bilsteins... i could find the rear ones from Bilstein online catalog couple years ago when i checked, they were made-to-order pieces, front part number didn't bring up anything.

If I could go back and select my suspension setup now, it would definitely be coil-over conversion...

[Asylum]

I think kyb's are pretty poor too, Im not satsifed with mine.

I'm really happy with my Canucks on the 3500, but they are LOW!

Almost an inch lower than the Eibacks in the rear on the Quad with the same tire size.

Front is about the same.

[woody90gtz]

Yes old man, there are several good spring options... but we're talking about struts!

I have used Monroes on mine right now and they are nowhere near as harsh as the KYBs I had on the 95, but I havent pushed them through the twisties yet. Although it wouldnt really be a fair comparison anyway with the FE7 bar in front compared to the FE3 bar on the Z.

[IsaacHayes]

The KYB's & Eibachs are ok. The KYB's leave something to be desired. The front end still drops/dips which I don't like. At high speeds though it stabilizes and evens out. Low speeds it's a bit bouncy and dips on large bumps. FE3 and fresh Monroes was nice. No dip at all, the front stayed level all the time. But the handling wasn't as good as with Eibachs. Thankfully I have larger sway bars and poly too so even if the KYB's aren't as good with this spring combo, the other stuff will help. I tried pushing it the other night and could go 60 in a 25mph corner and the car didn't even feel it was at 1/2 the limit yet. I used to know the limits and push the car all the time. I haven't done that in a while and need to get used ti it again... LOL.

Maybe with a 5spd in the front to lighten it up the KYB's wouldn't seem so bad, and with lighter wheels for less unsprung weight (Z26 wheels are heavy!) it would be pretty nice. The heavy wheels though don't have much issue though really with the Eibachs. With FE3 they wouldn't hit the pavement fast enough sometimes and cause the car to skip a bit or get wheel spin. I think with your car Barry the springs are just too low for the KYBs. I like the Eibachs, just the right amount of fender gap, but not too low, or too low that the fender gap becomes non existent at the top and then the sides look like they have too much gap... Even all around...

Also being low like that can put the axles out of alignment.... I had a sagging trans mount I fixed, and with the lowering springs the axle (new) was knocking in turns. After raising that side of the engine/trans up .65" or so the noise is gone. Lots of noises are gone and I'm not just talking about the vibration from the trans on the subframe! LOL

Looks like you got the welds fixed up, that rest of the stuff should be cake...

[Barry]

Well they still do make bilsteins, just not for a beretta. Same with the konis, you just need to think outside the box a little more and find a set of inserts with similar dimensions. I would prefer the koni's over the bilstiens because they at least have SOME adjustability.

My springs are a little lower than Eric's but I want to go another inch or so lower so the front tires barely tuck. I only want this for looks, if it handles a little worse oh well.

[3400beretta]

Adjusting Konis any firmer on our cars will just bend the control arms to hell and then cut your fuel and brake lines.

That's because the (cheap design) adjustment on them only changes the rebound rate instead of damping... so only bad options available.

Good luck finding a set of Bilsteins... i could find the rear ones from Bilstein online catalog couple years ago when i checked, they were made-to-order pieces, front part number didn't bring up anything.

If I could go back and select my suspension setup now, it would definitely be coil-over conversion...

I had a set of koni yellows on my old car, from 2003 till the car got smashed last year, and they were always on the firmest setting, with no ill effects to control arms or the like. They now live on the new car. However, I'd rather have, and will have a set of coilovers eventually for this car.

[Barry]

Well guys suspension is on the back burner again. I had a catastrophic failure today.

I go out this morning to start the car. Turn the key, it fires, runs for about 2-3 seconds, then stalls hard. Go to start it again and its seized.

Put it in gear and rock it back and fourth and got it to break loose again and got it to start. Its hammering BAD under the hood. Maybe motor, maybe broken clutch, but it sounds more like motor to me.

So i gotta rip it all back out again and see whats up. Compression check wont do any good because its too hard to crank it.

Now I have no daily driver, school every day this week, work tuesday, wednesday and thursday and saturday, and 2 papers due thursday.

[woody90gtz]

First thing to do is pull the trans and have a look at the clutch.

[KFLO 93 GT]

I think it's time to change your name back to BarryMaxx and post some carnage pics. It sucks when it happens, but we all know that modding and driving hard eventually results in needing to do some work.

As for front coilovers, I've been long saying I'll spend the cash for them. I think we need to group up others who think likewise and try to get a company to build 20-25 sets of front coilovers, if we get the 2nd gen Jbody guys in it with us I think we could get a company to at least talk to us like we're real car owners. I know I'd pay up to $1k just for a set of fully adjustable front coilovers, or $4-500 for a real set of Beretta adjustable struts.

Anyways, good luck Barry let us know what you find.

[Barry]

Yeah there will be pics of the carnage(i wish there wasnt any).

Well put it this way, i can get another 8k mile 3500 for 250 or a new clutch for like 280. So I guess its not much different either way.

If it was the motor, I REALLY want to know why. The thing ran so good...

[weba]

I had a set of koni yellows on my old car, from 2003 till the car got smashed last year, and they were always on the firmest setting, with no ill effects to control arms or the like. They now live on the new car. However, I'd rather have, and will have a set of coilovers eventually for this car.

I guess you either have really good, straight roads or you drive like a grandmother.. i needed one year to destroy my control arms and i wasn't even running the tightest setting on them, it was something like 3/4.



What causes that is hitting 2 bumps/pothole or bump/pothole on a corner, first bump\corner suspends the strut, and since it's not expanding back quick enough and stays bottomed, the next hit will be without suspension effect then and hit the suspension violently... very bad design from Koni to build it like that.. but they say, you get what you pay for.

Ever since I've been running with the softest setting on my car, no more bend control arms or cut fuel lines.

Btw: when i had the Bilsteins and Konis both in hand & not installed, the Bilsteins were at least 3 times harder to compress by hand than the Konis...