Hey, Thought I would share my latest purchase with ya'll. After one of my front shocks (Monroe) sh!t itself I thought i'd finally spend some decent money and revamp my suspension. So after much decision making I came up with the following combination: * Sabre 30mm Front Sway Bar * Bilstein Performance shocks on all corners * New control arms with Nolathane bushes fitted * New Lower Trailing arms with Nolathane bushes fitted * New Upper (Boxed style) Trailing arms with Nolathane bushes fitted * New on-car Adjustable Nolathane Panhard Rod (bling bling chrome edition) * New sway bar links front and rear with Nolathane bushes * Replaced all other bushes with Nolathane * Already had Nolathane strut brace and Noltec adjustable strut tops/mounts I decided to go with Nolathane over Noltec for my bushes as the Nolathane replacement arms were new items and the Notlec were reconditioned items. The Noltec Reco'd arms were finished poorly and on some the paint was already pealing off. Also the Nolathane arms weren't that much more expensive. The new Nolathane bushes are a softer compound of urethane than they used to be. So they are a similar compound to the Noltec bushes anyway. I left the rear sway bar standard as I have read several times on here that if you go too big on the rear it tends to loose traction - also it saved me money! (I think Alex mentioned it in a few posts, if the standard rear works for him then it should work fine for me) I installed everything myself to save on labour costs - why pay someone else for something that you can do yourself! The only thing i did pay someone to do was the 'lower trailing arm rear bush' - It is housed in the diff and I was told by many not to even attempt this as without the correct tools it is a nightmare to do. After I installed everything I could, I was off to Wairau Suspension for them to install the lower trailing arm rear bush and do a wheel alignment. End result - She drives like a dream compared to before - Now I am really keen to take it for a boost around a track and really test the handling Here is a photo of the items I replaced: A photo of the front - new sway bar, sway bar links, control arm and bushes: Another photo of the front with four different angles: A photo of the rear - new Panhard rod, lower trailing arm, sway bar links and bushes: Another photo of the rear with four different angles: Cheers, Jason Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Sounds really good. Glad to see I'm not the only one who has gone nuts on suspension. What springs are you using and I'm guessing you left the rear bar standard?

money well spent

looks the goods mate, bet its a whole new car

Good work. I have installed Nolathane bushes (not the new arms tho - too much $ at this stage!) throughout my car, new shocks, and both front and rear sway bars, although i'm yet to get my car running! Like you I did it all my self, bar pressing out a few of the bushes. Not that difficult really, although removing radius rod bush in the chassis was a mare! Regarding that large washer on the radius rod bush: its really hard to tell from your photo, but in the gregorys manual it tells you to place this with the convex face towards the bush, however it looks like yours might be the wrong way round? What springs are you using? My car came with "Sabre" springs I think. Never heard of them! Ride height was good on the old shocks. Put new shocks in (Monroe GT gas) and now the car looks like a HiLux! Any chance you can put up a pic of showing your ride height and brand of spring? Cheers, Tom.

soundlike you have gone the whole package there 87calais.. Must be able to handle on rails now!! Did you find the strut brace made a great difference in handling ??

How much for all that??? if you dont mind me asking

Quote: Originally Posted by 4sakenvl Did you find the strut brace made a great difference in handling ?? Don't think mine did much, but I like to think that every little bit helps

Quote: Originally Posted by NZ EVLHSV Sounds really good. Glad to see I'm not the only one who has gone nuts on suspension. What springs are you using and I'm guessing you left the rear bar standard? I am using Dobinson (DobiSport) Superlows Front and Rear. They aren't 100% fantastic - but they are only about 6 Months old and are doing the job so i didnt bother replacing them at this stage - and Yea I'm still using the standard rear sway bar. Quote: Originally Posted by NZ_GTS Regarding that large washer on the radius rod bush: its really hard to tell from your photo, but in the gregorys manual it tells you to place this with the convex face towards the bush, however it looks like yours might be the wrong way round? I did consult my Gregory's manual when I was doing it - and yes it does say that. However i'm guessing that is for the standard bush, which from memory is flat. Nolathane has a new design now which is cone shaped (convex) at that washer end and according to their instructions the washer should be concave side in. As showen below: Also here is a close up photo of the bush and a little side note: Quote: Originally Posted by NZ_GTS What springs are you using? My car came with "Sabre" springs I think. Never heard of them! Ride height was good on the old shocks. Put new shocks in (Monroe GT gas) and now the car looks like a HiLux! Any chance you can put up a pic of showing your ride height and brand of spring? Cheers, Tom. Hey, I had Sabre superlows in my car earlier on in it's life too. But upon the engine conversion I decided to replace the with V8 springs. Which as mentioned above are Dobisons (Dobisport) Superlows. It is quite hard to find any information, even on the internet about Sabre Pro, It really is strange. I did put a Sabre sway bar on my car though, it was either that or wait a month for a Whiteline one and the Sabre one was recommended by the guy I spoke to! As for the shocks, i wouldn't have thought changing them would of had much of an effect on ride eight. I can only assume your old one's were farked and were sagging! Below are some photos of my current ride height: Quote: Originally Posted by 4sakenvl soundlike you have gone the whole package there 87calais.. Must be able to handle on rails now!! Did you find the strut brace made a great difference in handling ?? Haha... Yea it does handle a Sh!tload better. As for the strut brace I didnt notice much of a difference, although i mainly installed it as i had heard some shocking stories about the urethane strut tops doing damage to the car - where the front struts mount up. Bashing them out of shape and all sorts. So you could say it was kind of a preventative measure. I think handling wise a bigger sway bar would be a better investment. I changed from the Nolathane strut tops to the Noltec around the same time - as the Nolec ones at that stage were a better design - pillow ball bearing and all that! Quote: Originally Posted by NZ_BT1 How much for all that??? if you dont mind me asking I knew someone was going to ask Lets just say i know some people in high places and got a hefty discount. Retail you should expect to pay around $3300, Although I paid around $1300 all up. I would love to help everyone on here to get such a discount also, but it just isn't a possibility i'm sorry guys Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

That's a pretty decent price! New springs would definatly help, I had a set of Dobi's in one of my old Legnum VR4s for 3 weeks before chucking them out

First up, cheers for all the pics. Car is lookin bloody good! I'm now gonna have to go back an look at MY bush. I purchased my Nolathane kit almost a year ago now, I still have the insturctions lying around so i'll have a look at my setup. From memory tho, my bush was flat, but it does look a bit funny at the mo, the convex washer on the flat bush kinda like this... |( Is the bush really as cone shaped as it is in the sketch? I'm guessing you'd be spot on about my previous shocks being sh4gged, hence the lower ride height! Speaking of ride height, yours looks pretty much like what I want, what springs do people recommend (coilovers are out of the equation at the mo thanks Alex Oh and Jason, what shape exhaust cutout does your rear bumper have and where did ya get it? Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by NZ EVLHSV That's a pretty decent price! New springs would definatly help, I had a set of Dobi's in one of my old Legnum VR4s for 3 weeks before chucking them out Yeah, I only went all out as the price was so good and I thought I may aswell do everything at once. What didn't you like about the Dobi's? What springs would you recommend? Quote: Originally Posted by NZ_GTS From memory tho, my bush was flat, but it does look a bit funny at the mo, the convex washer on the flat bush kinda like this... |( Hmmm... A year ago was probably the flat design. I actually had a flat Nolathane bush on there when i bought it - that it what i replaced with the new ones. The washer was concave towards that bush when i got it but i changed it to convex as it appeared to be squashing the bush - Also like you say Gregory's said convex to face bush so I did that. But it would look ultra stupid and be quite pointless doing it that way round with the new bush design. Quote: Originally Posted by NZ_GTS Is the bush really as cone shaped as it is in the sketch? It isnt quite that cone shaped - i think Nolathane just made it look that way to make it obvious what way to install it! Quote: Originally Posted by NZ_GTS Oh and Jason, what shape exhaust cutout does your rear bumper have and where did ya get it? Hey I got my bumper second hand from someone on here I think... or maybe someone from trademe. Will post a pic in the next few days showing the exhaust cutout. Later, J

Kings are pretty good for handling, but probably not low enough for you guys. Dobi's are low but are really soft Funny enough I like my ride height... the rear is easy enough to do, but for the front you really need coilovers

Quote: Originally Posted by NZ EVLHSV Kings are pretty good for handling, but probably not low enough for you guys. Dobi's are low but are really soft Funny enough I like my ride height... the rear is easy enough to do, but for the front you really need coilovers Yeah... i love your ride height - however it isn't that practical for an everyday vehicle. As far as Dobi's go, i would have to say they aren't too bad. I have had spongy springs that these that's for sure. King Ultra Lows would probably be a nice height but i'm not sure how avaliable they are in NZ. I did think about coil overs but decided against it. For everyday use it wouldn't have been worth it. Although i did look at the Noltec rear coil over conversion kit. Are you running a coilover conversion kit in the rear or just custome springs?

Nah just King springs in rear with the rear lower shock mount turned up side down This one............................................... ..................................VVVVV

I have Dobi lows in my wagon, I think they're pretty average, probably shagged just like the rest of the suspension though. And I have the nolathane strut tops in the front that you were talking about.. I guess I should be worried about the front end of my car now too. And now you're gonna have to crawl up under the rear to keep that panhard rod polished! Alex, for that, you cut that bracket at the bottom of the shock (in the top right pic) off and weld it back on up the other way, right?

Quote: Originally Posted by NZ EVLHSV Nah just King springs in rear with the rear lower shock mount turned up side down Yeah i thought so - the only advantage to using the coil over system is you can use coil over springs - different heights and spring rates etc. also you can just wind or down the height as you desire! Here is a photo of what i'm on about for those that don't know: Haha... speaking of turning the lower mount upside down - couldn't help but have a chuckle when i read the article of your car in NZV8 when it runs through all your suspension and has "custom lower strut mount". Just sounded really flash, like you had fabricated something - but all that was required was a simple rotation of the original Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

this is my ride height sits well on superlow kings with shortened shocks I can't go any lower unless I tub the rear Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

can you still get king Ultra Lows?????

Quote: Originally Posted by S1KVL this is my ride height sits well on superlow kings with shortened shocks I can't go any lower unless I tub the rear That ride height is sweet but what size are your mags? They look like 17's. Quote: Originally Posted by NZ_BT1 can you still get king Ultra Lows????? Dunno... Anyone know??