Silvia Club of NSW

Just found a bloke in Melbourne offering " 200sx S14 rear cradle, good condition" - how confident are you on this? Maybe needs a bit of hacking?

I just called Josh Cho and he was unsure of the fit, not having done one before.

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I like my coffee how I like my women: cold, pale, weak and bitter.

postage will kill you.

Subframe's are f***ing heavy

try some importers some that have a lot of front cuts usually have a couple of rear cuts and subframes

Yeah; that's a worry. The wife's car needs another two thousand on it before the end of march, so I might have a legitimate reason to drive to melbourne and back. Ya think it'll fit in the back of a 4 year old Camry?

I've tried two from Yellow Pages online, Tokyo Imports Tempe, that "Jap Imports" biz at St. Peters, "Just Jap", and "SSS" , "Toy Shop imports", and some other I didn't catch the name of on the recommendation from "Just Jap"

maybe an hour or two going through Zoom or Fast 4's will give me some wrecker names to try tomorrow.

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I like my coffee how I like my women: cold, pale, weak and bitter.

Sydney auto dismantlers greenacre.

They had a few r33 subframes just sitting around, Probably s14/15 are around there somewhere.

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[≡≡≡≡≡] \silvia/ [≡≡≡≡≡]

yes the first one i have seen, before rushing out and purchasing a new sub frame i would check the measurement of the 4 attachment points of the subframe. I would be guessing that the hit that caused this piece to crack might have done some further damamage especially if the strut is now showing signs off leaking and the other side is fine.

Matt

Awesome, Greenacre has a FEW. Crisis over. Saves Melbourne shipping costs, or 20 hours on the road and an estimated $250 of petrol in the wife's camry - and that was assuming best conservative cruise control fuel consumption figures AND the frame would fit in the boot...

Wonder if they have shockers in good condition. Would people be willing to buy 2nd-hand shockers? It's really tempting to go up a notch with another brand but now I have to track down a price. How good is this internet thing.

/starts notepad and calculator

Thanks everyone for the ideas and info. Be blowin' away HSV's and Subi's again in no time.

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I like my coffee how I like my women: cold, pale, weak and bitter.

Good to hear you've found one.

RE: coilovers, you can pick up stock shock absorbers for next to nothing, but if you are interested in better handling some coilover sets are great.

With the AUD so bad at the moment, it does make the better Jap ones considerably more expensive (e.g. Tein Super Streets, GReddy Type S, SilkRoads, etc), so maybe hold off for a while if it isn't a big issue for you. Sounds like you have a penchant for quality, so I would stay away from the cheaper Korean/Taiwan coilovers (e.g. HSD, D2, G4, etc).

Not wrong! Can you feel my relief thru the innernets?

If I go the prepared kit from Whiteline, I'd be hoping to get close enough to their recommended shockers that matches the whole kit according to their target tune. The info about the kit mentions "Koni Sports adjustable-valve bodies" I'm assuming reds? I've heard the yellows can be really teeth-rattling on the road, and that's important for me since I have to commute around St George and Canterbury (think Canterbury Road, only good for army tanks imho) and the Handbrake has to be able to sit in it without whinging...



Konis would also suffer from the AUD now I guess

I'll have to schedule the subframe replacement for ASAP, I hope by next week, so it would probably be a dumb move not to get the whole thing nailed down. The labour for the kit would probably be mostly covered by labour for the subframe, at least on the back end.

That probably means I'm going to have to stick with the standard power due to money and the Handbrake putting her foot down on more spends...

I'm inclined to think a good suspension tune is more important than more grunt anyway; I used to whap faster cars around curves in my old SSS that only had BD4 springs on. My favourite was winding up HSV's at the bottom of the Spit Bridge so they blast up the hill, then kicking their ass through the S-curve at the top on the mosman side

Just a month ago I pulled in behind a fast-moving MX-5 in some backstreets, and I could see he was staying flatter and smoother than me, seemed to achieve at least 5k faster through all the little roundabouts, and no sign of a wiggle. I had to wait for a bit of a straight before I could finally dispose of him. Not that I was embarrassed, I test-drove one around the time I was buying the 200, and it had great handling.

Of course, I didn't know at the time I was handicapped by a broken sub-frame, but that only reinforces the value of a quality suspension setup. Maybe I'll meet this guy again and I'll get a new measure.

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I like my coffee how I like my women: cold, pale, weak and bitter.

I'd recommend Bilstein, would be perfect for your use...

But then again some people may say i'm somewhat biased...

Biased why? In the trade? Don't suppose you work at Heasmans with the filthy great bilstein sign out front.

I can't discuss details with an online store that SEEMS to have good prices on the Whiteline kits, Whiteline themselves (well, the guy who answered the phone) was a bit clueless a few months ago, I'm starting to think "screw this" if it takes too bloody long to organise something. My rear frame is creaking and I want to act.

Someone on a forum somewhere asked about Pedders, I know there's one near my work, so wtf, I tried their website. No farking use.

So, where do you work and what do you offer?

Tomorrow I'm going to try to get a subframe and dump it on the workshop. Next week I have to get shockers for the rear at the very least. I would like to get more since the opportunity is here, but half-assed websites and clueless phone answerers aren't helping.

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I like my coffee how I like my women: cold, pale, weak and bitter.

pm jono about it andrew. you'll be glad you did.

forget pedders in st peters. you're not driving a commodore...


Justin...

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STI - Made in Texas,not Japan.

I just hunted down Jono's postings. Throwing rocks at planes - Ha! I know exactly where he is; I used to do work for clothing factories out there.

If I get my subframe I'll be just about going past them so I'll do a drop-in; won't have the 200 for that trip though. Would Jono be there? I expect he'll be in bed now, because his reply was at 7 bloody thirty in the morning, when most decent people are rubbing their eyes and squeezing out their first fart. There website doesn't say their opening hours.

dumb question, would the subframe fit in the boot of the 200? That way I can show the damage in question. Gotta find my tape measure.

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I like my coffee how I like my women: cold, pale, weak and bitter.

Um no, but a 40" TV will mostly fit in with a bit hanging out.

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Disclaimer: If you have'nt worked it out by now I CANT SPELL FOR SHIT.

I just rolled it up on ramps, the frame is a .... ummm... trapezoid? yeah, with sides of roughly 800 800 800 1200, ignoring the little triangle plates at the front points, and the swing-arms which all can be unbolted or folded up.

Will it fit in the 200? Fuck no! What was I THINKING? Nothing fits in that boot! Will it fit in the Camry? Fuck maybe! Plausible as the bloodnut and the walrus would say.

The crack in the back cross member goes all the way around, and it looks like there's a spot-weld at the top of that to something else above it on the subframe that I can't make out properly; that weld seems to have popped too.

All the big bolts and rubbers pinning the 4 corners to the chassis look healthy and haven't wandered, so I think it's free from elongation or damage there.

Another thing; the nut on the left-hand bolt for the diff is almost to the end of the bolt. I know it's normal for one nut to stick out more than the other, but on a car? I wonder if the nut started to move and that's the source of the load and damage? Nothing else looks whacked under there, so that kinda eliminates the accident theory.

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I like my coffee how I like my women: cold, pale, weak and bitter.

Hey Jono,

if I can't get into your shop tomorrow and you read this, sell me an idea, I'll read it sometime this weekend. I need new rear shocks and the whole rear subframe has to be pulled out so may as well replace the rubbers at least.

I don't want stupidly lowered, I want practical. I don't want track tune, I'll never get a chance. Just street, and I still like to be able to push a B-road. I can't even say I'm keen to mess with adjustables, I'd prefer to have a top-notch street tune and then just become as one with it's Tao of Tyre.

I dunno if it's just because of the sloppiness at the back with the broken frame, but I've felt for a while that there's too much body roll; like it flops over a bit, then has to settle back slighly before it takes a set. I'd like it to roll less and then just stay at the set instead of chucking a wiggle that wastes time

There's other things I could complain about, but I'm sure you know the drill.

So what's a rough price guide for shocks, springs, bars, bushes, camber, caster, the usual crap.

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I like my coffee how I like my women: cold, pale, weak and bitter.