FTO AUSTRALIA

I've recently noticed that one of my engine mounts has stretched and one of the bushes in the front end (drivers side, don't know exactly which one) is squeeking. I'm guessing this is the result of a really stiff aftermarket setup so just wondering if anyone reckons its worth going to Polyurethane and the costs involved. Bennoz i know you've done it so is it worth it?

Also does anyone know if you can adjust the stiffness of coil-overs without increasing ride height?

lmao, i don't even know should i answer this question or not ... i'll let someone else answer first

Why's that?

I know the second question was probably stupid, but the car came with coil overs and I've never really fiddled with the dampening, camber, etc. So I have no clue to be honest.

The recommendation would be to change all your bushes to poly.

My recommendation, save up for Poly bushes, whiteline front & rear Droplinks, Whiteline Swaybars front & rear & get your Coilovers checked out by a suspension place www.fulcrumsuspensions.com.au

The Bushes will cost you about $250-$280 + labour to replace all of them

If you're going to upgrade to whiteline droplinks & swaybars later, you're better off buying them before you buy all new Poly Bushes because the kits come with the Poly Bushes you need & it will save you about $200

Thanks mate some good info, do you know how much the drop links and sway bars cost. Even ball park would be good to see if I can afford it.

With the suspension I wanna try and learn how to adjust everything myself. That way if I take it for a track day I can go from a softer street setup to a more aggresive track setup.

No probs, if you know what kind of coilovers you've got, post it up, I'm sure someone can point you in the right direction to a guide on how to adjust it..

Pretty much you will want to find 2 settings, 1 thats good for street driving & 1 thats good for track.. then its easy enough to remember what they are & change between the two..

check out www.whiteline.com.au for prices on the swaybars & droplinks the droplinks are more expensive than the OE droplinks, like double the cost, but they will last you a lot longer, & Bennoz will vouch for them being a neccessity if you upgrade your Swaybars, the stock ones will wear out too quickly..

I don't think you'll get much change from $1000 for the lot, but it is worth it IMO

BallPark Figures:

$240 - rear Swaybar
275 - Rear Swaybar (Adjustable)
$240 - Front Swaybar
$240 - Front Swaybar (Adjustable)
$150 - links rear (Assuming GPX - Spherical Rod End)
$198 - links front (See the Suspension thread in the Technical / Performance section of this site for details - not on Whitelines catalog yet, but Bennoz has fitted them all custom-like)

Before you do these though, you could fork out about $250-300 for some front & Rear Strut Braces which make a hell of a difference - well worth the money & easy to install etc..

Replace the lower 2 engine mounts with poly units (or have the OEM ones rebushed with poly is what I did.) If you do all 4, the cabin vibration even from idle is a pain in the ass.

Suspension bushes dont normally squeak or creak, I'd say chances are you've got a shot droplink. Does the creak go away after driving for a while?

If you do want to change all the front bushes to poly, your looking at about $200 for all of them. As with all suspension changes, there is good with the bad, Im getting strech mark on my tits from driving on bumpy roads, but on the track poly is gold. They keep their resistance levels when cornering much better than rubber & you dont get any distortion or fades when they heat up like rubber.

Coilover stiffness is easy, just raise the damper level. Usually keep the rear a couple of clicks higher than the front, as the front ones have to cope with engine weight.

Thanks heaps guys I'l check the money tin and see how my 5c coin collection is going. Feel I may be a little short of $1000.
I've got a version R so front and rear struts are already done. Not sure if that affects the rear links cause i know the stock suspension in version R is a bit different, but I'm guessing it wont.
As for the squeek in the front end my mechanic has found it and greased it up before as a temp fix. He just described it as one of the bushes so I'l ask him what it is more specifically.
Is currently in for a gearbox recon now so whats an extra grand.

Coilover stiffness is easy, just raise the damper level. Usually keep the rear a couple of clicks higher than the front, as the front ones have to cope with engine weight.

If you dont know how to adjust your damper here's how:

What you will need:
Specialised tool that comes with shockies



Step one:
Screw on metal (with plastic top) locating nut onto the top of your strut till finger tight (doesnt need to be any tighter than this).



Step two:
Insert adjusting rod into centre of locating nut (may need smll turn either way, to go all the way down.)



Step three:
Turn rod left/right depending on softening or hardening of shocks

Step four:
Remove adjusting rod.

Step five:
Remove locating nut

Step six:
Repeat process to all shockies

Step seven:
Test drive and repeat steps if not at correct adjustment

Note: adjusting camber or ride height will effect your wheel alignment. So wheel alignment should be checked after adjusting either of those. hope this helps and i havent wasted my time HE HE

Yep sure did. I had no idea. I knew there was a specialised tool involved and unfortunately when the car was imported it was missing, so something I'l ahve to look into. To adjust camber is it just those 4 smaller nuts surrounding and if so do you need to have the car elevated so it doesnt slip?

Personally i leave it for a professional to do because you gotta get a wheel alignment done after. So just take in somewhere say i want a semi-racing setup. they will adjust the camber and toe and then wheel align it. Bob jane t-mart did a great job when i first lowered my car cost me $60, just the price of the alignment.

Yep, castor adjustment is done via the 4 screws in the strut top as shown



And as much as we'd like to believe all those little degree increments actually adjust the strut in degree's... they dont. You need to get it on proper wheel aligning equipment to get it right.

The major difference in vR bushes is described in detail in page 7 of the suspension thread stickied in the Tech Performance section. All FTO's adopted the vR bushing post 97 (aka all Facelifted FTO's.)

Looks like I'm gonna with urethane rear engine mounts and just keep the stock fronts. I'l also get the whiteline front and rear sway bars with dropdown links. Any other bushes I need that arnt included in the kit?

I'm also gonna speak to a suspension place and get them to adjust the coil overs to a softer street setup, but ask them how I can adjust back to a track setup. Cause I can adjust the shocks myself, but theres also the camber angle and I'm pretty sure theres an adjustment on the springs for ride height??? Though I'm often wrong.

Thanks for everyones help, got a much better understanding now.

*COUGH AHEM D.I.Y AHEM COUGHCOUGH*

do facelift FTO's post 97 also have the GPvR droplinks? aren't they different somehow? rear ones at least?

All FTO droplinks are the same, except for the rear on all pre 97 GR's.

Oh & the lowered height rear ones if you have lowered springs (then again I've seen lowered FTO's with stock droplinks in the rear)

ive done my suspension research in the last couple of months while looking at my setup ......

lowering the car and leaving the long drop links preloads the sway bar and reduces the effectiveness.... (car leans, one end loads up like normal, and the other end just unloads instead of loading up in the other direction)

camber top plates are marked in 0.5 degree incremements (on mine anyway...)and the left side camber plate reads exactly what the wheel alignment printout says, but the right camber alignment printout reads -1.2 when the camber plate reads 0.0. soo theres something else going on there... i wouldnt trust em w/o comparing it to a printout
then if you know what they should be set at for street you can change them for track temporarily by a few degrees and change them back afterwards....
to adjust camber, unscrew the bolts, raise the car to take the weight off the wheel. kick the wheel at the top for negative camber, kick the wheel at the bottom for positive camber.

what type of coilovers do you have fto99r?
you can adjust the damper preload on some of the quality coilovers... cusco etc.. without adjusting the height.... i think it erm, gives you better rebound for chicanes... or something, i dunno.....