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ok so heres my plan for the front suspension...

I got these Tein 'Drift Spec Winding Master Type HE' units from an S14 Nissan Silvia (same as S15 fronts), seen here next to my e21 struts (sans spring perches)



the whole shock body is threaded, so I'm having a tube internally threaded to match, which will get welded to the e21 strut. The strut will be cut off at about 1"-2" long to do this.


As can be seen here, the Tein shock is the same OD as the e21 strut, so the tube will be snug on the outside of the e21 strut tube that it will be welded to.


The shocks also came with Tein camber plates, so I've gotta decide whether to use these or the new ones which I already have.



I don't know what the spring rates are, but they are HARD! Might have to get them tested and buy some softer ones.


and heres my new rims! 17x8, et15. Fake splits of course, but I dont really care, they're just to have a second option to my M5 replicas.

progress... slowly, but progress none the less!

Went to visit my engineer yesterday, and my custom suspension bits were built and ready to be tig'd onto the e21 struts. e21 on Teins here we come!

pics...



This end slots over the cut-down strut tube


The shock threads into here...






I also purchased some more wheels, BBS Strosek 17x9 et20, off a GTR skyline. I basically got them for the price of the brand new tyres they came with, so I'm just a little bit chuffed with the buy... The tyres will get sold as I'll be running different ones.

The plan is to get some 5x120 to 5x114.3 adaptors, rebuild the rears to be 11" wide, paint the centres black, and maybe add some gold spiked bolts to finish them off.

pics...




and the disassembly begins...



thoughts/opinions?

pink centers, wheel whores stylee

austin25uk wrote:pink centers, wheel whores stylee

haha might clash with my red paint though?! I think if i went pink centres id definitely need to get some purple neons to set it off. and maybe some orange mudflaps to seal the deal!

340i wrote:

austin25uk wrote:pink centers, wheel whores stylee

haha might clash with my red paint though?! I think if i went pink centres id definitely need to get some purple neons to set it off. and maybe some orange mudflaps to seal the deal!

Don't forget the 'bad boy' headlights and the 6-foot high rear spoiler!

E21meister wrote:

340i wrote:

austin25uk wrote:pink centers, wheel whores stylee

haha might clash with my red paint though?! I think if i went pink centres id definitely need to get some purple neons to set it off. and maybe some orange mudflaps to seal the deal!

Don't forget the 'bad boy' headlights and the 6-foot high rear spoiler!

na, I wont need the badboy headlights, cos im gonna graft an E90 front end on it instead...

and don't you mean 6 foot wide spoiler. if you're not taking out pedestrians, you're not getting enough downforce!

Update on the Tein suspension...

I picked up my welded parts yesterday and found the strut wasn't cut down to the 1" I specified...

It was at 35mm, which isn't too far off, so thought I'd mount them up anyway and see what it looks like sitting on the wheels. Turns out it sits far too high, so back to the engineer tomorrow to get them cut and rewelded as low as I can get it (its a tricky thing to weld, I'll post pics when its re-done and you'll see why). I think with some slightly softer springs it will sit a bit lower, and also on my new camber plates instead of the Tein ones, will give it another 10mm or so more low.

Anyways, as it always is with custom stuff, theres a bit of trial and error!

On a more positive note, I finally got a proper trolley jack and am STOKED with it. Cant believe I went so long with a shitty scizzor jack (that was even broken, I used to use a screwdriver to wind it up and down lol)

Its getting close to what I want. I think it will look lower once I get the flares on, rather than the cut guards, which make it look higher than it is. If its still not low enough, I can still change to my other camber plates, which are much lower profile.

Next week, the rears!

ps. ignore the white and the scribbles on the front guard, I was playing with ideas for a guard vent thing like they have on race cars. I'm still undecided on that one, I think it might look a bit too serious for a road car

I've been doing a bit of a buying spree of late, consisting of...

Tein rear shocks (pics to come, theres a bit of work to do to make them fit)
a pair of 295/35r17 road legal race tyres. that is not a misprint btw...
a pair of BBS RS wheel lips (on their way from Germany)
a pair of Recaros (arriving tomorrow )

Thoroughly poor, but thoroughly happy!

if your money is sitting in the bank whats the point... i say spend it all lol

austin25uk wrote:if your money is sitting in the bank whats the point... i say spend it all lol

thats the spirit!

one day i'll have a wife and kids and there will be no more fun, so gotta get it in while i can i reckon!

update time again:

I have found some more stance in the front, by swapping the Tein camber plates for some BC camber plates. Due to their lower profile, this simple swap has netted my about 15mm, with scope to go another 5mm or so if I do some minor modification to the spacer ring between the bearing and the top spring platform.

Anyway, onto the pics...
Tein camber plates for an S15 silvia, vs BC camber plates for a Subaru Forrester (that was what they had on the shelf at the time, so I made them fit the e21)






As can be seen here, the BC top spring perches (left) are one piece, and the Tein ones are flatter and have a spacer. If more stance is required, this will get shortened.


Success!!

(bear in mind that this is an old brick of a phone, and also that I have hammered the panel upwards so that it is no longer sharp and pointing downwards)

And now for the start of the rear...

I got these Tein units for the back of a Subaru, which were meant to have adjustable dampers but are actually unadjustable versions. Pretty annoying, but I bought them anyway as they're the right size. I'll get them rebuilt with adjustable parts at a later stage, so no biggie...


side note - it cracks me up the names Tein give their suspension parts. Gotta love the Japanese! :rofl

Comparison shot with my Spax suspension

second side note - don't buy spax. These cost me a heap, I've driven on them 7 times (all in the dry), and they are rusting away and the paint is falling off the shocks and the springs.

The Teins have beefier bushes. I'll have to drill out the mounting pickup on the suspension (or run a sleeve) but that is easy enough.


They came with springs but no top plates, so here they are with my front plates before I used them on the front


And in the car...

Side note three: yes, that is a massive hole in my inner guard. I want to fit two recaros in the back but they're too wide, so cutty cutty cutty like an emo...

And finally, my new tyres! 295/35r17...

side note four: the reason the photo is crap is because my sister in Australia took it with her phone. I'm gonna bring them back with me on my next visit there. Nobody in nz could supply these, and shipping them from oz costs more than the tyres!

And the previously 'wide' 235/40r17's, which are now going to be the 'narrow' fronts :rofl

Just run a 14mm drill bit through existing legs thats what i did to fit M6 rear dampers although in my case the dampers are farrrrrr to long and have had a negative effect. still they where free so i cant complain and i learnt from trial and error.

what spring rates are you running on the rear? or is it just what tein have stated? i get a problem with my springs becuase they are so hard thy often dislocate when i hit a pot hole or summin, i really need to get some helper springs

im not sure on rates yet, ive got a few different tein springs to choose from, and think they're probably 8-10kg/mm-ish. im gonna get them tested then see. also, ill be running harder ones in the rear until i make a custom sway bar then will go a bit softer to compensate. same with the front too actually. trial and error for me too...

keep me updated on how it all goes, i do love a bit of random custom suspension

exciting times, i got one of my new tyres today, and it is maaaaaasssiiivvveeeeee



I had a mate bring it over from oz as his checked luggage, at no cost!! Win! I'll be bringing the other one back in a few weeks. Good times.