AE86 Suspension/shock Advice

[mcBen]

Car - Ae86
Motor - 4age
Use - (will be) daily drive, touge, drift
Question - What suspension setup to go for?
Occurs - When I start researching suspension

Hi fellas, I'm looking for a good shock setup for daily with 5kg fronts and 4kg springs (unless anyone has a better spring rate to suggest). I have searched around the net, but there seems to be very varied opinions about what's good and what's not. Bilsteins or TRD seems to be the way to go shock wise but I'm not sure if it would be overkill. Also wondering if there was an alternative to both types of coilovers (aftermarket and custom)? For the front, is it possible to just get better inserts and run lower springs without having to have a sleeve kit welded on etc? As in can I use short stroke shocks such as Bilstein B6 for the Celica (34-003527), shorten the strut but maintain the original spring perches to not get the bottoming out problem? By the way budget is around 1200 for all four corners.

Thanks

[Cerby86]

mmm. ajps springs all round. excel g commodore rear shocks $140. mr2 fronta. ahould come in way under 1200.
I run ae86 coilovers in the front of mine. ( ae86 struts $180, ae92 koni adjustable shocks free cos I wrecked the car they were in , hsd coilover sleeve kit 5kg springs $300, $50 to weld them together and $30 for spacers in bottom of tube.)
Then I'm running king low springs minus maybe 2 coils (people will cry out their vaginas over king springs and cutties but fuck em works for me) $150 and Excel g commodore shocks in the back ($140)
All up thats $850 not including shocks no idea what they are worth though. Also you will be lucky to get struts for that price if you don't have any already. Apparently their worth $500 a pair now LOL.

To that I would add some xt130 control arms $150max, adjustable strut tops (mine were $150 second hand), a lock spacer $75 (if your putting all this in an ae86, if your putting it in a ke70 or ae71 then you will need to buy ae86 steering arms to make it work so you might as well buy power steering arms to get the extra lock they are a bit more though), an adjustable panhard rod so the rear wheels are in line with the front.
AND most importently of all some upgraded swaybars. I reckon if your going to put them in then you may as well go with the adjustable ones. These are in my opinion one of the most important things, adjusted correctly you can kill body roll, control understeer or oversteer, basically adjust when it slides to suit your style.
Oh and people will tell you to get aftermarket castor arms so you can put fully sik castor on, but I never have and I don't really think the benefit is worth the cost unless your going all out on everything else.
If you want my advice get some stiffer springs (ajps would be about right but if your on a budget king lows will do though they are a bit soggy), buy a set of excel g shocks commodore vl ones at the back and i not sure which would be best for the front maybe mr2 or ae92 or celica, the xt130 arms for some camber, lock spacer for some more lock, then spend the bulk of the money on swaybars. If you go with the king springs you should be able to do everything but swaybars for $850 or so. If you have to choose just get the rear swaybar. I never ended up putting my front one in (mostly cos it hit my rx7 brakes) and it handles awesome!

[dove grey 64]

save up a couple of more dollars and buy some shockworks suspension,very similar to bilsteins but better. they can make up any spring rate your after.
professionally made stuff is always so much nicer.

[shift_rook]

Thanks Geoff, the main benefit of our stuff is it's been valved specifically for an AE86 by someone with 20 years experience in setting up cars, it's not just chucking in random shocks from other vehicles and hoping it'd work. Our stuff also already comes with Camber tops and it's height adjustable front and rear.

I would also recommend not touching the swaybars with our setup, unless of course you're buying adjustable to change balance front to rear. The response from our dampers mean the shock holds the car up enough, without need for stiffer bars and springs

[mcBen]

Thanks for the replies but it seems like they are at opposite ends of the scale. Commodore spec shocks with king springs or 2k track beasts. Anyone with other suggestions?

By the way cerby86 I mean budget for springs and shocks is around 1200 but all your thoughts sound good, extra lock and those bits can wait since I'm not even into drifting yet. I already have an adjustable panhard. I'm also wondering what the benefits of adjustable control arms are, do they just help to align the diff even more?

[Jimmee1990]

Adjustable trailing arms are used mostly to set pinion angles in lowered cars, however I would steer clear of buying rose jointed ones if you're not going to the extreme of equal length because of the different arcs the upper and lower arms run in. This makes the rear end bind constantly and instead of suspension movement you're mostly just flexing the mounts on the body. My uncle tried a set on his ke55 race car, did two laps and threw them in the bin.

[AJPS]

sent you a pm mate, I am in adelaide as well so you can come down and come for a ride in a couple of cars with different spring and damper settings and see which suits

[Slimer86]

I can't speak highly enough of bilstein shocks.amazing response,and ride quality. This was in an ae86 with std springs. The ride gives greater confidence than another sprinter with trd blue front and green rears, 7k front, 4.5k rear.

[McLEVIN]

What bilstiens are avail for the 86..

[mcBen]

From what I've gathered you can use Bilstein B6 from the Celica ST145 or something, part number 34-003527. This is because the B6 for the AE86 is the same length as the stock inserts whereas the B6 for the celica is 70mm shorter I think, so you can run a lower front and still get full shock travel. Someone correct me if I'm wrong..