Nissan rear springs on R12

[Stuey]

For information, I fitted the Nissan Pathfinder rear raising springs to my 12 yesterday with complete success. Believe it or not, the stock Pathfinder ones weren't stiff enough so I went to heavy duty ones, which are stiff but still give an OK ride. Handling is much better, and because they are shorter in length, they only really compensate for the sag in the originals - they raised it 25mm from the 'sagged height'. BTW the wire is 15mm as against 12.4mm for the originals. The springs even seat perfectly in the seats, the top one being flat and the bottom matching the notch in the side of the seat. An easy 45 min. job. Oh, and I whacked some 25mm clear PVC pipe on the first coil each end like the originals.

Loaded it with concrete headers straight after - no more scraping!

They are Lovells Springs part no. DRR-83HD.

Done my bit for the Renault/Nissan collaboration.

Cheers

Stuey

<small>[ 15 September 2002, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: Stuey ]</small>

 

[BogMaster]

That sounds great Stuey. tongue
How much did they set you back?...and did you ever have any joy on locating a source of new front wings? cheers!

 

[Stuey]

Howdy Bogmaster, slightly pricey at $185 pr, but rather than scouring wreckers for second hand springs that might fit, I just went to a large suspension specialist (WA Suspensions) and gave them the spring. They went away and looked through their books, and came back with three alternatives. The Nissan ones could have been made for the car. Only real difference is that the coils (not the wire) are a fraction smaller in diameter (about 5mm) which is unnoticable when fitting them (and also contributes a bit to the stiffness). Haven't found front wings yet, but haven't really been looking too hard - waiting for summer...

Cheers

Stuey

 

[Aln]

Denis at French Car Care in Brisbane has a pile of new front guards and door skins for 12s. I think they were made in Spain, and I think the guards were $30. PH 07 3391 2529
Alan.

 

[BogMaster]

alan moore:

Denis at French Car Care in Brisbane has a pile of new front guards and door skins for 12s. I think they were made in Spain, and I think the guards were $30. PH 07 3391 2529
Alan.

Thanks Alan I will ring them.

Stuey, what is the rear end on your wagon like when you haven't got it loaded? I do a fair bit of driving on the dirt and I thought maybe that the stiffer springs would let the rear end skip badly over ruts rather than soak them up...I guess what I am saying is that I'm not carting faux limestone monuments and do you think the standard pathfinder springs would be a better bet for such as me.

Alan and Stuey, these posts have been the most valuable for me on the forum so far...I award you both the cardboard order of Lenin and promise to buy you several Coopers should we ever meet. cheers!

<small>[ 16 September 2002, 06:58 PM: Message edited by: BogMaster ]</small>

 

[Stuey]

Cheers Bogmaster!

The springs aren't too bad, actually. I thought I'd get a really bumpy ride (and was prepared to take 'em back) but they are quite good. You can tell they're stiffer, ride wise, but it's not jittery. WA Suspensions were great - there was no obligation, I could take them back and get a refund no questions asked if I didn't like them. I confirmed this before I bought them - in fact, I tried the ordinary ones first, and they weren't stiff enough. Note that these were 13.5mm thick (up 1mm or so) but were shorter than stock, so the ride height was EXACTLY the same as the 'sagged height'. To explain, the top of the guard edge was just below the tread edge, whereas with the stiffer ones, I can just put my level, flat hand on top of the tread. About 20-25 mm diff. Another thing - I was going to get a 17 rear anti roll bar from Dave C, but I might not need it now - I'll test it a bit in the wet
It's definitely better around roundabouts!

Hmmmm...those guards sound cheap! Might give him a call, even if they need a bit of tweaking.

Thanks for that,

Stu

 

[JohnW]

Just as long is it is Coopers.

JohnW