4274 Lowering a wagoon.

510
North West Datsun Enthusiasts Forum : Datsun : 510
Topic: Lowering a wagoon.

Author	Message
monkeyhawk71 Groupie Joined: 14 January 2005 Location: United States Posts: 100	Topic: Lowering a wagoon. Posted: 23 July 2006 at 12:39pm
	Anyone here have any experience or advice on lowering a wagon? I need to get way down there, but don't want to be scraping.
	72 510 Wagon 93 Burb 04 Forenza
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icehouse Expert Joined: 05 April 2005 Location: United States Posts: 2115	Posted: 23 July 2006 at 3:19pm
	Wagon's will never scrap, the rear axle his the driveline tunnel way before the car scrapes. My buddy has 3 inch blocks with 1 or 2 on top of those, his car is bouncy and sometimes the driveline hits the tunnel, what a racket. The front is the same as a sedan, if you really want to go low you can shorten the sruts but i think if you have zx or sx stuts you will be fine. By the way could we get a photo of the wagon? O I almost forgot the 2 degree angled blocks would be the best, it would correct the driveline angle and keep it away from the tunnel.
	check out http://forum.ratsun.net
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monkeyhawk71 Groupie Joined: 14 January 2005 Location: United States Posts: 100	Posted: 23 July 2006 at 6:38pm
	Thanks for the reply. Hitting the tunnel doesn't sound fun, maybe I could make it taller? Unless 3" blocks don't hit. That might be enough. Let's see if I can figure out putting a picture up.
	72 510 Wagon 93 Burb 04 Forenza
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monkeyhawk71 Groupie Joined: 14 January 2005 Location: United States Posts: 100	Posted: 23 July 2006 at 6:42pm
	Maybe this is better angle.
	72 510 Wagon 93 Burb 04 Forenza
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icehouse Expert Joined: 05 April 2005 Location: United States Posts: 2115	Posted: 23 July 2006 at 8:23pm
	get the angled 3in blocks with new shocks and i bet it will be alright, if it was to soft you could always add another leaf as to allow for full use of less travel. I have some dropped springs for the front if you are interested.
	check out http://forum.ratsun.net
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Hainz Guru Joined: 03 December 2002 Posts: 3122	Posted: 24 July 2006 at 3:04pm
	Lower the front first then you know what size blocks to get. If you lower a long strut(510) youll jusr ride on the bump stops and have no suspension and if still running a L16 shear the alternator bolts
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ratwagon Enthusiast Joined: 29 January 2006 Location: United States Posts: 488	Posted: 24 July 2006 at 3:42pm
	For the front, I highly recommend swapping to a different strut with a coil over. Good coil over kits are ~$200 from T3. The common (and cheap and easy) swap is 280zx. They are 1" shorter than stock 510 struts. The ZX strut has a couple of issues: The spring and lower spring perch are too big in diameter. There are two ways to fix this - swap the 510 spring & perch onto the ZX strut OR run a coil over conversion. If you can afford it, the coil over is the way to go. You get completely adjustable ride height. The ZX strut's spindle angle is a couple of degrees different from the 510. This results in undesirable positive camber. This is easily corrected with a camber plate. I have the T3 camber plates and love them. Note about spindle angle on ZX struts - mklotz and I did extensive measuring on MANY different struts. I have two sets of 280zx struts, both from a 1979, both with the SAME numbers on them. They have 1deg difference in spindle angle. The consensus seems to be that they must have been heated and bent by an alignment shop. This was not unheard of and seems to be the only good explanantion. The ZX strut gives you a couple of nice upgrades as well. You get bigger wheel bearings. It also has a much larger VENTED rotor. If you want you can buy a $50 bracket and run Wilwood 4 piston forged calipers on an even bigger (11") rotor. The 'holy grail' of struts is the 87-88 V6 200SX units. They have the same spindle angle as the 510 and allow bolt on of Z32 4 piston aluminum calipers. Hope this helps. I have the ZX setup on my car with all of the T3 stuff and am happy to answer questions. I think I saw your wagon at Shasta! I remember talking to the iceman about your vinyl roof. Is that stock?
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monkeyhawk71 Groupie Joined: 14 January 2005 Location: United States Posts: 100	Posted: 25 July 2006 at 10:24am
	Looks like the T3 comes with the struts? Looks sweet. I really appreciate your insight. That roof...I don't think it's original, it has a seam down the middle, that is off centered. I can't imagine the Dat bros doing that. I think it had vinyl originally, but someone redid the roof. The vinyl on the hatch has a different grain and looks at least a couple of decades older than the rest. After I paint it, I'll probably have it put back on, but without the seam.
	72 510 Wagon 93 Burb 04 Forenza
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ratwagon Enthusiast Joined: 29 January 2006 Location: United States Posts: 488	Posted: 25 July 2006 at 2:56pm
	T3 sells a complete conversion including the strut shortening, strut inserts (AGX) and the coil over kit. You can also buy the coil over kit standalone. If you buy it along with the ball bearing upper hat & coil over, you save a few bucks. If my memory is correct that cost me about $400. Definitely the best value for the $$.
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ratwagon Enthusiast Joined: 29 January 2006 Location: United States Posts: 488	Posted: 25 July 2006 at 2:56pm
	Also, where are you located??
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monkeyhawk71 Groupie Joined: 14 January 2005 Location: United States Posts: 100	Posted: 25 July 2006 at 10:50pm
	I'm down in Rogue River. Not many 510's around here. People ask if my wagon is a Cooper. I guess that's better than being accused of driving an MG.
	72 510 Wagon 93 Burb 04 Forenza
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