HKS LS+ coilovers and Nismo f/r sways

pros: elimination of stock bounce, very comfortable/no harshness, no noise at all, 30 way dampner adjustable, height adjustable, easily accessible to change dampner settings, very solid in the corners, no body roll

cons: instructions in japanese, limited quantities for the z since they are new to the market (i don't even think they are listed on their website yet...probably have to call to get part numbers)

 

Koni single-adjustable shocks, about $700 + $200 for professional installation. Standard springs, so no drop.

Running at nearly "full-soft" (factory) settings, the car is now a good daily driver and good on the track, too.

The bounce is gone, most road harshness is gone, and the car is fun again.

Understeer is reduced. See the review of the Koni shocks in the Summer 2004 SportZ magazine. http://www.sportzmagazine.com to subscribe.

 

Similar to Jim's setup except I added the 350Evo sway bars set at the middle setting. Huge improvement!

 

Setup:
JIC FLT-A2 coilovers 10kg/mm F and R
350 Evo adjustable Sway bars F and R
Performance Nissan Racing Adj. Upper control arms (F)
JIC traction and camber rods

Alignment specs:
Ride height: F 5” R 5 ½”
Front Camber 2.6 degrees
Front Toe: 0
Rear Camber: 1.9 degrees
Rear Toe: In .025”

My pros and cons are from a performance standpoint only.

Pros:
Lots of adjustability…in fact, too much for most people. If I weren’t in this industry, I’d probably have something simpler. I’m fortunate enough to have lots of people around me that know how to set cars up, so I’m not struggling along by myself. There are million things that can be wrong with this type of setup, and many variables to ‘fix’ when things aren’t the way you like them. If you know how to set a car up, or have someone that does, then it does offer lots of flexibility…camber, toe, height, 15 shock settings, sway bar stiffness, etc.
I took this setup to the track yesterday, and it felt pretty good. The car has not been corner-weighted yet, but it’s a decent baseline setup. I was able to get the car to behave well by tinkering with tire pressures and damper settings. My best setup of the day was:
Front sway bar: Med
Rear sway bar: Soft
Front damper: 8 clicks
Rear damper: 10 clicks
Front tire pressure (on dogshit Kumho Ecsta 712’s): 35psi cold
Rear tire pressure: 32psi cold
This was on Streets of Willow…lots of tight turns, no high speed sweepers.

Cons:
Stiff on the street. It is fine around town, but highway driving sucks IMO…bouncy and rattles. If you are willing to deal with a little street discomfort for track peformance, than it’s good setup.

If you just want something substantially more fun to drive and more comfortable on the street than stock, get the Nismo S Tune shocks and springs and a set of adjustable sway bars. If you want a much more track-oriented setup, get a full coilover system. Just don’t expect it to drive like a factory street car. It won’t.