Some preview photos of stuff going on the Project Car...
03-06-03, 04:52 AM
#1
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Some preview photos of stuff going on the Project Car...
As some of you may know, I've been working on the first "official" ClubLexus Project Car....a 1992 SC400...
Well I just picked up the a couple of the parts that are going into the car....
The first piece is the JIC SF-1 Coilover system....from the intial inspection, this system looks VERY nice...EXCELLENT QUALITY. I weighed them on a bathroom scale (that's all I had at the time) and they weighed 14 pounds and 12.5 pounds. I am going to weight them on a more accurate shipping scale soon and I will weigh the stock components too (spring and shock) for comparison. The coilovers feel like steel bodies with aluminum pillow ball uppers....here's some pictures...
One Front, One Rear Coilover
Pillow Ball Uppers
Detail photo of the threads, adjustment rings, and spring
The other things that come in the box...
Well I just picked up the a couple of the parts that are going into the car....
The first piece is the JIC SF-1 Coilover system....from the intial inspection, this system looks VERY nice...EXCELLENT QUALITY. I weighed them on a bathroom scale (that's all I had at the time) and they weighed 14 pounds and 12.5 pounds. I am going to weight them on a more accurate shipping scale soon and I will weigh the stock components too (spring and shock) for comparison. The coilovers feel like steel bodies with aluminum pillow ball uppers....here's some pictures...
One Front, One Rear Coilover
Pillow Ball Uppers
Detail photo of the threads, adjustment rings, and spring
The other things that come in the box...
03-06-03, 05:00 AM
#2
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Here are some photos of the Front Strut Tower Bar...many of you already have this item so you know the quality...some good quality stuff....definitely on par with other STB's I've seen including the TRD, UGO and TOM'S (for the GS)....
Hopefully, the install won't be too hard. To those of you who are using regular "washers" to get the extra gap, I HIGHLY recommend against this. This puts more stress on the bolts. How strong are the bolts? I've torqued one COMPLETELY off (broke it clean) one time when I accidently overtorqued it (on another car)....that was just by hand and a foot long socket wrench...the better thing to do is to buy another pair of the OEM "washers" (the big one with the three holes drilled into...just like what you have on there now) and stack it on top of the ones already there...
I'll have to see if I even need this...I might have my CNC guy make a nice billet aluminum one to replace the factory ones (and of course, the right height so the STB will clear with a 1/4" of engine clearnace (this is what JIC recommends for clearnace)
Hopefully, the install won't be too hard. To those of you who are using regular "washers" to get the extra gap, I HIGHLY recommend against this. This puts more stress on the bolts. How strong are the bolts? I've torqued one COMPLETELY off (broke it clean) one time when I accidently overtorqued it (on another car)....that was just by hand and a foot long socket wrench...the better thing to do is to buy another pair of the OEM "washers" (the big one with the three holes drilled into...just like what you have on there now) and stack it on top of the ones already there...
I'll have to see if I even need this...I might have my CNC guy make a nice billet aluminum one to replace the factory ones (and of course, the right height so the STB will clear with a 1/4" of engine clearnace (this is what JIC recommends for clearnace)
Last edited by Manaray; 03-06-03 at 05:00 AM.
03-07-03, 12:47 AM
#4
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Richie, I don't think you will....it will look QUITE different....still debating on the exterior color...I might leave it alone or I might go with a new color, still figuring it out...
03-07-03, 10:26 AM
#5
Lexus Fanatic
Originally posted by Manaray
Richie, I don't think you will....it will look QUITE different....still debating on the exterior color...I might leave it alone or I might go with a new color, still figuring it out...
Richie, I don't think you will....it will look QUITE different....still debating on the exterior color...I might leave it alone or I might go with a new color, still figuring it out...
!!!!!
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03-11-03, 03:23 AM
#9
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Thread Starter
Well I had these installed today...what an improvement! I will post full pictures and some of the notes I had during the installation. Plus I weighed both the stock and the JIC suspension for comparison. This will all be included in the write up.
The car was lowered to the point where the tires were sitting even with the fender (I'm not sure how many inches it was lowered). I think it needs to be a little bit higher...especially after I get the wheels and the body kit. The threading allows for a LOT of lowering...
Just a quick little review on the ride...as you may or may not know, these coilovers don't have adjustable dampening/rebound. They only pre-load/height adjustment.(just like my H&R's on my GS, which I swapped out for the Tein FLEX but I may now swap them out for another set of JIC's). The springs on the JIC SF-1 for the SC are rated at 12 Kg/mm for the front and 9 Kg/mm for the rear).
The ride (on stock 16" tires) was VERY GOOD. I mean close to stock but without the extra "play" that the stock suspension has (BTW, the stock suspension in the SC has 74K miles on it). When I took corners hard, the car didn't sway nearly as much as before and felt MUCH more "planted". On regular road use, it absorbed bumps nearly as well as stock. It was a little bit "stiffer" in that respect but defintely not harsh at all. The suspension "recovered" a LOT quicker also when going over bumpy roads. On straight roads, I honestly feel that if you didn't know that I had coilovers, you would probably never know.
In the canyons, it was quite a different story. The only issue I had was that I was rubbing a little bit on the inside fender because the car was so low. This would be cured by simply raising the car back up (easy to do and POSSIBLE on coilovers...with just springs, you're SOL!)...anyways, I have taken my stock SC through this canyon a couple of times already so I was very familiar with it's handling. With the JIC SF-1's, it was QUITE a different story...the handling improved tremendously. I was able to take turns much more aggressively, the car stayed "flatter" and which kept it from "pitching" the rear end in turns and even when I went into a corner a little too hot, it made the recovery easier. I'm going to be installing my JIC Front Strut Tower Bar soon to see how much that improves my canyon runs...
Throughout the whole run I never thought "hey, I wish I could change the dampening/rebound"...honestly, I think that whole thing is WAY over-hyped. Even on my FLEX, I have adjusted them ONCE and just the other day I adjusted them back up (from 0 to 8) and you know what, I can't even tell the difference. I even ran it in the canyon on both settings and I didn't feel any difference...I can honestly say that the adjustable dampening/rebound feature would NOT be a selling point for me on any future coilover systems...(at least for street use...on a serious track car, every little adjustment matters)
And speaking of the track, it will be interesting to see how well the car does on the track also....we'll see how many clicks I can take my track time...
In conclusion, when lower your car, coilovers are the ONLY route I'd take. Springs with your crappy stock shocks aren't even an option (at least get some aftermarket performance shocks if you're going to take the low price route). I've driven a few SC's with different coilovers and I can honestly say that the JIC SF-1 is excellent system. Even though it's their "lower end" model, it is a HIGH quality, well performing piece of equipment...and very smooth. (I didn't go with the FLT-A2's because I wanted a more "street friendly" setup than a more "track friendly" setup since this car is on the street nearly every day and on the track only 5-10 times a year at best).
The retail price on the SF-1 is $1500. You can contact Steve Ganz (800-90-TOYOTA) for a killer ClubLexus price...
The car was lowered to the point where the tires were sitting even with the fender (I'm not sure how many inches it was lowered). I think it needs to be a little bit higher...especially after I get the wheels and the body kit. The threading allows for a LOT of lowering...
Just a quick little review on the ride...as you may or may not know, these coilovers don't have adjustable dampening/rebound. They only pre-load/height adjustment.(just like my H&R's on my GS, which I swapped out for the Tein FLEX but I may now swap them out for another set of JIC's). The springs on the JIC SF-1 for the SC are rated at 12 Kg/mm for the front and 9 Kg/mm for the rear).
The ride (on stock 16" tires) was VERY GOOD. I mean close to stock but without the extra "play" that the stock suspension has (BTW, the stock suspension in the SC has 74K miles on it). When I took corners hard, the car didn't sway nearly as much as before and felt MUCH more "planted". On regular road use, it absorbed bumps nearly as well as stock. It was a little bit "stiffer" in that respect but defintely not harsh at all. The suspension "recovered" a LOT quicker also when going over bumpy roads. On straight roads, I honestly feel that if you didn't know that I had coilovers, you would probably never know.
In the canyons, it was quite a different story. The only issue I had was that I was rubbing a little bit on the inside fender because the car was so low. This would be cured by simply raising the car back up (easy to do and POSSIBLE on coilovers...with just springs, you're SOL!)...anyways, I have taken my stock SC through this canyon a couple of times already so I was very familiar with it's handling. With the JIC SF-1's, it was QUITE a different story...the handling improved tremendously. I was able to take turns much more aggressively, the car stayed "flatter" and which kept it from "pitching" the rear end in turns and even when I went into a corner a little too hot, it made the recovery easier. I'm going to be installing my JIC Front Strut Tower Bar soon to see how much that improves my canyon runs...
Throughout the whole run I never thought "hey, I wish I could change the dampening/rebound"...honestly, I think that whole thing is WAY over-hyped. Even on my FLEX, I have adjusted them ONCE and just the other day I adjusted them back up (from 0 to 8) and you know what, I can't even tell the difference. I even ran it in the canyon on both settings and I didn't feel any difference...I can honestly say that the adjustable dampening/rebound feature would NOT be a selling point for me on any future coilover systems...(at least for street use...on a serious track car, every little adjustment matters)
And speaking of the track, it will be interesting to see how well the car does on the track also....we'll see how many clicks I can take my track time...
In conclusion, when lower your car, coilovers are the ONLY route I'd take. Springs with your crappy stock shocks aren't even an option (at least get some aftermarket performance shocks if you're going to take the low price route). I've driven a few SC's with different coilovers and I can honestly say that the JIC SF-1 is excellent system. Even though it's their "lower end" model, it is a HIGH quality, well performing piece of equipment...and very smooth. (I didn't go with the FLT-A2's because I wanted a more "street friendly" setup than a more "track friendly" setup since this car is on the street nearly every day and on the track only 5-10 times a year at best).
The retail price on the SF-1 is $1500. You can contact Steve Ganz (800-90-TOYOTA) for a killer ClubLexus price...
Last edited by Manaray; 03-16-03 at 05:24 AM.
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03-12-03, 01:54 AM
#12
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Siniquezu - That will change soon...big brake kit is coming... 
I just raised the car up today about 1" (it was way too low) and now it drives even better. I was rubbing the top of the inner fender lining and it was annoying!
Richie, I'll take you on the track instead...we'll do some driftin' (on purpose this time)...
I just raised the car up today about 1" (it was way too low) and now it drives even better. I was rubbing the top of the inner fender lining and it was annoying!
Richie, I'll take you on the track instead...we'll do some driftin' (on purpose this time)...
03-12-03, 04:55 AM
#13
Lexus Fanatic
Originally posted by Manaray
Richie, I'll take you on the track instead...we'll do some driftin' (on purpose this time)...
Richie, I'll take you on the track instead...we'll do some driftin' (on purpose this time)...
!!!Looking foreward to comming over again.
03-16-03, 09:20 AM
#14
Manaray....
I found the coil overs Here.... for 1275.00 ...... How much did you get yours also how much was it for you to have them installed.... Also is there any other coil overs that are good and that was maybe a little cheaper ?? Where did you get your coil overs and your STB ??
Thanx for your help...
Shawn
Thanx for your help...
Shawn
03-16-03, 06:44 PM
#15
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
I think Steve Ganz sells them for less than that...gonzo4u@earthlink.net or 800-90-TOYOTA
I got mine directly from JIC-Magic...
As for cheaper, you could get the Tein HA's for less but they don't come with pillowball uppers...I would rather spend a little bit more and get the JIC's...
I got mine directly from JIC-Magic...
As for cheaper, you could get the Tein HA's for less but they don't come with pillowball uppers...I would rather spend a little bit more and get the JIC's...
Last edited by Manaray; 03-16-03 at 06:46 PM.