While the vehicle was still on the lift, we opted to swap out the factory rear multi-link suspension arms with Peak Performance multi-link components. Any serious drifter or road racer should strongly consider replacing the factory arms with adjustable multi-link suspension like Peak Performance. By replacing the factory arms with the Peak pieces you can fine-tune the suspension camber, caster and toe settings for ideal traction. Using spherical rod ends eliminates the factory rubber bushing and reduces unwanted suspension play. The Peak Performance multi-links are extremely high-quality pieces constructed from billet T-6061 aluminum, and are deburred and tumbled for added strength and quality. The aluminum pieces are then military-spec anodized for durability and longevity. The Peak Performance multi-link also uses the highest quality three-piece Aurora metric rod ends for increased durability. Each Aurora rod end has a special Teflon coating for smooth engagement and tight clearances, and, more importantly, creates less noise over time.
Installing the Peak Performance multi-link is a straightforward "remove and install" process. Having the vehicle aligned immediately after installing the suspension components is a must. We recommend adjusting the length of the arms to the factory setting prior to installing them in place. Just eyeball the length of the Peak Performance arms versus the corresponding factory piece and then install them. This way the vehicle will be much safer to drive to the alignment shop. While driving to get the alignment, we were worried that the spherical rod ends would be noisy on the street. Surprisingly we didn't even hear one noise from the links. It must have been the Teflon coated Aurora rod ends doing their job.
For our project 240SX we also wanted to address the vehicle's sway bar. The main objective of the sway bar (anti-roll bar) is to reduce the sway or body roll when the vehicle goes around a corner. The less sway motion a vehicle exhibits, the more evenly the cornering loads are distributed to all four wheels, allowing the tires to maintain grip with the road. With lesser roll the suspension system can perform more effectively, thus delivering more grip and steering response. Our main concern was to find a reputable company that offers an adjustable front and rear sway bar. Surprisingly, there aren't many suspension companies that offer adjustable sway bars for the S14. We did locate a set, however, from Whiteline Automotive that was fully adjustable with three adjustment holes in the front and two in the rear. There's really no such thing as one-size-fits-all sway bars. Your choice of sway bar is dependent upon the type of suspension the vehicle will be using: springs, shocks, alignment settings, tire compound, etc. Whiteline recognizes this need and offers two different front bars and six different rear bars for the S14. We opted to use the company's 27 mm heavy-duty adjustable front bar (PN BNF20Z) and the 24 mm heavy-duty adjustable rear bar (PN BNR11XXZ) with the spherical bearing sway bar link kit (PN KLC007). The bars come with all the necessary hardware, and can be installed in the same factory location. To fine-tune the body roll, we plan to test different settings at the track.
Last on our suspension makeover was replacing the extremely worn and blown factory shocks with a fully adjustable coilover setup from A'PEXi. They offer four different coilover setups for the S14 - from the basic N1 ExV to the full race N1 Evolution Circuit. Not wanting to blow our entire budget on the coilover system, we opted for the budget ExV line. The fully adjustable coilover setup with upper pillow-ball mounts retail for $1590. The ExV incorporates a threaded base for precision height adjustment without sacrificing shock and spring travel. The threaded base is also a must when you corner balance the vehicle. Featuring a fully adjustable 32-way ride-quality adjustment, the shock can be fine-tuned for both street and track. The precision pillow-ball mount with a built-in camber adjustment plate further distinguishes the ExV as a high-quality system. The N1 ExV also features short stroke-shocks, allowing for more suspension travel compared to the factory shocks with lowering springs. Installing the A'PEXi shocks was also a straightforward affair of simply removing the factory shocks and installing the A'PEXi units. After installing the unit, we adjusted the camber on the front to ensure proper tread contact with the road under hard cornering. Our next stop was Design Craft Fabrications of Lake Forest, California, to perform proper corner balancing on the Nissan.
Once the corner balancing was performed we took it to an open area to test how well the new suspension really performs. If you had to compare apples to apples, the new set up is like biting into a crisp Washington apple, while the old set up is a rotten apple that the birds wouldn't even eat. The fear of losing control on a slow sweeping turn is completely gone, and the feedback from the suspension is phenomenal. Hopefully you know by now that Turbo doesn't go around handing out positive product reviews like candy. We're very selective about which products we recommend. So if we sound excited about the suspension upgrades it's because we were quite surprised by what an improvement they made.