fredbobo

I'm having a hard time figuring out what are actually OEM parts when shopping online because everyone seems to advertise as such. I have a 1993 LS-400 and almost everything is marked as discontinued on the sites recommended in other threads here, like mylparts.com etc. Any suggestions?

The specific project I'm working on is new shocks. I bought KYB Excel-G fronts and Tokico rears (couldn't find tokico fronts anywhere). Now I'm realizing this is way more involved than I thought and I'm going to need shock mounts and maybe some other parts. I think the og springs are okay so I'll need to figure out how to swap them (will prob go to a shop for that).

Anyways, I guess I didn't do enough research ahead of time. I brought it to a mechanic who said to buy quick struts but those seem to get bad reviews here.

fondu

Unfortunately many OEM parts are discontinued for the 1990-1994 model years and the list keeps growing by the day it seems. With some parts your only option will be aftermarket and about 90% of those parts will not be up to par with OEM. It is the reality of owning the model year that you do.

Amayama will have more parts available than USA dealers but you will wait weeks for parts to arrive from Japan or the UAE.

I would consider coilovers before quick struts. They will be better quality if you get a reputable brand like BC etc. and at least you have some control over the damping and ride height.

fredbobo

Yeah seems to be getting harder and harder to find parts! Amayama is an interesting option.

Coilovers are expensive but I guess it's going to add up with all the additional parts I'd need, as well as the labor to deal with the springs. I could probably do the coilovers myself.

If I kept the shocks I already bought, I guess I could reuse all the old parts like the mounts etc. Might be better than aftermarket. Hmmm

fondu

You can reuse everything other than the mounts as they are important to replace when doing this job. Coilovers are expensive but definitely the easiest to install.
Since you already purchased parts you should probably go with the latter option minus reusing the mounts.

fredbobo

thank you. here's a list of the brands i've found online. anyone have experience with any of these? i've read a few threads complaining about the KYB ones:

Auto Parts Premium, API, Mevotech, KYB, Sachs, DEA, Westar, Monroe, Gabriel

fondu

I have Sachs mounts in the rear on my '94 and they have been fine for the past 4 years.