clutchdust
Millionaire Playboy
Track car issue.
Car is a '71 Datsun 240z. It is a complete track car, as in the only part of the body that's still Datsun is the outer skin. It's a tube frame car. The suspension is still the original Datsun design but the springs and anti sway bars have been replaced with some seriously heavy duty jobs. Now that just leaves the shocks. On this design the shock is just an insert that fits inside the tube. Since the car is now 40 years old, the selection is getting a bit on the thin side. I can go with some generics at about $40 a corner or the actual competition shock inserts for $100-150 a corner.
So what I'm thinking is that since this is already a tube frame car, it wouldn't be that much work to add a second mounting point to the a-arms. I could use the generic shocks in the original struts to keep in line with the original design. But then I could add a second shock on each a-arm for additional dampening. I could add simple tabs that would fit a far less expensive shock not exclusive to the Datsun design. Additionally, I could locate mounting tabs that would give me some degree of adjustability. Of course, the down side is adding a few more pounds at each corner of the car. But I'm thinking with this, I can get the dampening I'm looking for even cheaper than ponying up for the expensive and increasingly narrow selection of track duty shocks.
Thoughts?
[EDIT] OK, just checked Rockauto and I can get the "increased handling and performance" KYB shocks for a BB vette for $35 a corner. That's cheaper than the KYB inserts that go in the Datsun! I'm thinking I could do all four corners for under $400, less the work to mount them. That compares to $90, each, for the front and $108 for the rear for Tokico HPs. The top-of-the-line Tokico Illuminas are $150 a corner. Koni still sells inserts too, at $300 a pop.
Car is a '71 Datsun 240z. It is a complete track car, as in the only part of the body that's still Datsun is the outer skin. It's a tube frame car. The suspension is still the original Datsun design but the springs and anti sway bars have been replaced with some seriously heavy duty jobs. Now that just leaves the shocks. On this design the shock is just an insert that fits inside the tube. Since the car is now 40 years old, the selection is getting a bit on the thin side. I can go with some generics at about $40 a corner or the actual competition shock inserts for $100-150 a corner.
So what I'm thinking is that since this is already a tube frame car, it wouldn't be that much work to add a second mounting point to the a-arms. I could use the generic shocks in the original struts to keep in line with the original design. But then I could add a second shock on each a-arm for additional dampening. I could add simple tabs that would fit a far less expensive shock not exclusive to the Datsun design. Additionally, I could locate mounting tabs that would give me some degree of adjustability. Of course, the down side is adding a few more pounds at each corner of the car. But I'm thinking with this, I can get the dampening I'm looking for even cheaper than ponying up for the expensive and increasingly narrow selection of track duty shocks.
Thoughts?
[EDIT] OK, just checked Rockauto and I can get the "increased handling and performance" KYB shocks for a BB vette for $35 a corner. That's cheaper than the KYB inserts that go in the Datsun! I'm thinking I could do all four corners for under $400, less the work to mount them. That compares to $90, each, for the front and $108 for the rear for Tokico HPs. The top-of-the-line Tokico Illuminas are $150 a corner. Koni still sells inserts too, at $300 a pop.
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