My gixxer_drew Bilstein Hypercoil Review
10-22-08, 11:20 PM
#154
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Well I finish installing my setup on Sunday. Initially I was looking for something that rides like stock, height adjustable, and decent handling. I wanted a change in suspension due to riding on HKS Hyper D Coilovers which are way too stiff for daily driving. Front and rear is a tight 2 finger gap on my HKS setup. Every time I hit a small dip or bump it felt like I was running into a curb. Driving on the freeway you would feel every bump & crack. The rear end would always peel out if I floored the gas too much and as for taking fast turns the rear tires would often break loose. The front fenders always rubbed. It was horrible. Since the Gixxer_drew setup had such great feedback and after much research and reading I decided that this would be the setup for me.
My Previous Setup
19" Volks Racing Wheels 245/35/19 Front 275/30/19
HKS Hyper D Coilovers
New Setup
19" Volk Racing Wheels
Bilstein/Carrera Springs 500lbs/275lbs A.K.A Poor Man's Gixxer_Drew Setup
Being the cheap bastard that I am I decided to go with the Poor Man's Gixxer_Drew Setup. Bilstein Shocks, Carrera Springs 500lbs/275lbs, and 7" Sleeves from Speedmotors.com. I also purchased a set of used stock shocks assembly from Miltdog for 20 bucks for the strut mounts and bumpstops.
I first started by cutting the sleeves by following the instruction from the Gixxer_drew setup. First off, the generic 7" sleeves from speedwaymotors are not the same as the 7" Bilstein sleeves. I had one of my customers who does C&C machining cut off 8 threads like in the instruction. When it was returned to me I quickly realized that they would not fit. I thought I might had him cut off the wrong side of the sleeves but after checking the notch on the other side it would have required me to have at least cut off 16 threads to make it pass the notch so it would slide over the Bilstein shocks. Also the side that was cut would needed to be facing up not down to make it fit. We sat there and measured it and figured that to make it fit I needed to cut off 2 more threads for the front and 4 more threads in the rear. That left me with 5 1/3 inch sleeves in the front and 5 1/4 inch sleeves in the rear after cutting it. A total of cutting 10 threads in the front and 12 threads in the rear.
I did run into another problem also. I wanted to keep the stock location of the bumpstop in the upper strut location. Due to the cone shape angle on the upper spring perch it would have to be modified to make it fit. After an hour of modifying the bumpstops I ended up tossing that idea because I was unable to shape it enough where the shaft of the strut would slide into the strut mount due to bumpstop being placed up there. I decided to cut the bumpstops in half and let it slide to the bottom of the strut. Also on the Bilstein Sleeves they give you C-Clips for the upper spring perch; on generic sleeves it came with locking pins. Do not use it because they will not fit over the strut mounts. I found a alternative and used cotter pins instead.
When I received the Carerra springs I was kinda weary and wished I would have went with the Hypercoils after seeing the tag on top saying that they were made in China. Also the chrome finishing was decent but wasn't as clean as the Hypercoil springs. I had the Hypercoil springs a few months back but sold it due to the fact that I got tired of waiting for the Bilstein shocks.
After assembling the shock assembly together, it almost seemed as if the easiest part was just installing it in the car. With the help of my Dad it took us less then an hour to remove my old HKS coilovers and install the Poor man's Gixxer_drew setup. Not knowing where to set the spring height I just guestimated and set it. Dropping the car I had a 3 ½-4 finger gap in the front and 5 finger gap in the rear. I took it for a test drive and took around a corner that had a wide 2 way lane. It felt really tight and smooth compared to my HKS coilovers. Driving over bumps and cracks it was better but I was expecting alot better since people said it rides like stock. To me it felt like i was still riding on some bad coilovers but not as bad as my HKS. I picked up my cousin for a second opinion due to the fact that he hated how my car rides. I didn't mention that anything about getting a new suspension setup. All I told him did he notice anything about how the car rides. He told me it feels smoother almost like it was stock. I then told him that I had purchased new suspension. We took the back way out of his house which takes you to a business area. Actually it where Eibach Springs is located in Corona, CA. If you know that area there’s not much cars that goes down the street and at the end there is a codasack. I took 2 turns and both times the car completely gripped through those turns with the tires slightly peeling. Whipping the tail out around the codasack the rear end broke loose but was very smooth and controllable. Even inside the cabin of the car the feedback to the driver and passenger still felt comfortable.
The old shocks
New Stuff
Bringing it back to the shop the springs settled a bit and the front went down to a little less then 3 finger gap and the rear about 3 ½ 4 fingers. I decided that I would turn the front 3 more threads down and the rear 5 more. I went home with this height because it was getting late. Driving home the ride felt different. It wasn’t as smooth driving over bumps and crack like earlier. When I got back home the springs had settle down where the front was a 2 finger gap and the rear was still over 3 fingers. Since Sunday I had adjust it about 4-5 times. As far as right now it has a tight 2 finger gap in the front and a loose 2 finger gap in the rear. I have adjusted it from 3 fingers down to 2 fingers and slightly back up a few times to see how it would feel. As a personal preference not to sacrifice looks over performance and performance over looks, the best drop for this setup is a 2 finger gap. It clears the fenders where it will not rub and the chances of bottoming out is very slim. I bottom out only once but it was on a very bad road that everyone hates. In my opinion my car actually feels a lot smoother then day 1 when I installed the suspension. It also almost feels like the lower I went the better the car handles and driving over cracks and bumps were way smoother then when it was at 3 finger gaps. I intentionally driven in known crappy streets in my area and it feels so much better then before. Theres a on ramp on the freeway that I usually take the turn fast there was virtually no wheel hop. The tires stick firmly to the ground and did not peel out at all. If it was on my HKS it would of easily slipped and peeled out around that turn to the on ramp. One other thing, the generic sleeves also sits a lot higher then the Bilstein Sleeves. Although it sits higher there’s still enough threads for you to adjust to where there is no gap between the fenders and the tires. I highly recommend not to do this setup if your looking to drop your car less then a 2 finger gap. If you do, more then likely you will have a lot of problems bottoming out due to the fact that the front and rear shocks maybe only have about 1-2 inches of travel at a 2 finger gap drop. I highly doubt this setup will perform as well if you drop it anything lower then 2 fingers. As for everything else for this setup I am very satisfied. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to upgrade from stock suspension to something more sporty without the harshness of the full coil over systems that are out. If your doing this setup and wanting to ride exactly like stock, this setup is not for you. For someone else who wants to upgrade, I highly recommend this setup.
BTW I totally forgot to take a picture of the car with the new setup. Will take pics this weekend.
My Previous Setup
19" Volks Racing Wheels 245/35/19 Front 275/30/19
HKS Hyper D Coilovers
New Setup
19" Volk Racing Wheels
Bilstein/Carrera Springs 500lbs/275lbs A.K.A Poor Man's Gixxer_Drew Setup
Being the cheap bastard that I am I decided to go with the Poor Man's Gixxer_Drew Setup. Bilstein Shocks, Carrera Springs 500lbs/275lbs, and 7" Sleeves from Speedmotors.com. I also purchased a set of used stock shocks assembly from Miltdog for 20 bucks for the strut mounts and bumpstops.
I first started by cutting the sleeves by following the instruction from the Gixxer_drew setup. First off, the generic 7" sleeves from speedwaymotors are not the same as the 7" Bilstein sleeves. I had one of my customers who does C&C machining cut off 8 threads like in the instruction. When it was returned to me I quickly realized that they would not fit. I thought I might had him cut off the wrong side of the sleeves but after checking the notch on the other side it would have required me to have at least cut off 16 threads to make it pass the notch so it would slide over the Bilstein shocks. Also the side that was cut would needed to be facing up not down to make it fit. We sat there and measured it and figured that to make it fit I needed to cut off 2 more threads for the front and 4 more threads in the rear. That left me with 5 1/3 inch sleeves in the front and 5 1/4 inch sleeves in the rear after cutting it. A total of cutting 10 threads in the front and 12 threads in the rear.
I did run into another problem also. I wanted to keep the stock location of the bumpstop in the upper strut location. Due to the cone shape angle on the upper spring perch it would have to be modified to make it fit. After an hour of modifying the bumpstops I ended up tossing that idea because I was unable to shape it enough where the shaft of the strut would slide into the strut mount due to bumpstop being placed up there. I decided to cut the bumpstops in half and let it slide to the bottom of the strut. Also on the Bilstein Sleeves they give you C-Clips for the upper spring perch; on generic sleeves it came with locking pins. Do not use it because they will not fit over the strut mounts. I found a alternative and used cotter pins instead.
When I received the Carerra springs I was kinda weary and wished I would have went with the Hypercoils after seeing the tag on top saying that they were made in China. Also the chrome finishing was decent but wasn't as clean as the Hypercoil springs. I had the Hypercoil springs a few months back but sold it due to the fact that I got tired of waiting for the Bilstein shocks.
After assembling the shock assembly together, it almost seemed as if the easiest part was just installing it in the car. With the help of my Dad it took us less then an hour to remove my old HKS coilovers and install the Poor man's Gixxer_drew setup. Not knowing where to set the spring height I just guestimated and set it. Dropping the car I had a 3 ½-4 finger gap in the front and 5 finger gap in the rear. I took it for a test drive and took around a corner that had a wide 2 way lane. It felt really tight and smooth compared to my HKS coilovers. Driving over bumps and cracks it was better but I was expecting alot better since people said it rides like stock. To me it felt like i was still riding on some bad coilovers but not as bad as my HKS. I picked up my cousin for a second opinion due to the fact that he hated how my car rides. I didn't mention that anything about getting a new suspension setup. All I told him did he notice anything about how the car rides. He told me it feels smoother almost like it was stock. I then told him that I had purchased new suspension. We took the back way out of his house which takes you to a business area. Actually it where Eibach Springs is located in Corona, CA. If you know that area there’s not much cars that goes down the street and at the end there is a codasack. I took 2 turns and both times the car completely gripped through those turns with the tires slightly peeling. Whipping the tail out around the codasack the rear end broke loose but was very smooth and controllable. Even inside the cabin of the car the feedback to the driver and passenger still felt comfortable.
The old shocks
New Stuff
Bringing it back to the shop the springs settled a bit and the front went down to a little less then 3 finger gap and the rear about 3 ½ 4 fingers. I decided that I would turn the front 3 more threads down and the rear 5 more. I went home with this height because it was getting late. Driving home the ride felt different. It wasn’t as smooth driving over bumps and crack like earlier. When I got back home the springs had settle down where the front was a 2 finger gap and the rear was still over 3 fingers. Since Sunday I had adjust it about 4-5 times. As far as right now it has a tight 2 finger gap in the front and a loose 2 finger gap in the rear. I have adjusted it from 3 fingers down to 2 fingers and slightly back up a few times to see how it would feel. As a personal preference not to sacrifice looks over performance and performance over looks, the best drop for this setup is a 2 finger gap. It clears the fenders where it will not rub and the chances of bottoming out is very slim. I bottom out only once but it was on a very bad road that everyone hates. In my opinion my car actually feels a lot smoother then day 1 when I installed the suspension. It also almost feels like the lower I went the better the car handles and driving over cracks and bumps were way smoother then when it was at 3 finger gaps. I intentionally driven in known crappy streets in my area and it feels so much better then before. Theres a on ramp on the freeway that I usually take the turn fast there was virtually no wheel hop. The tires stick firmly to the ground and did not peel out at all. If it was on my HKS it would of easily slipped and peeled out around that turn to the on ramp. One other thing, the generic sleeves also sits a lot higher then the Bilstein Sleeves. Although it sits higher there’s still enough threads for you to adjust to where there is no gap between the fenders and the tires. I highly recommend not to do this setup if your looking to drop your car less then a 2 finger gap. If you do, more then likely you will have a lot of problems bottoming out due to the fact that the front and rear shocks maybe only have about 1-2 inches of travel at a 2 finger gap drop. I highly doubt this setup will perform as well if you drop it anything lower then 2 fingers. As for everything else for this setup I am very satisfied. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to upgrade from stock suspension to something more sporty without the harshness of the full coil over systems that are out. If your doing this setup and wanting to ride exactly like stock, this setup is not for you. For someone else who wants to upgrade, I highly recommend this setup.
BTW I totally forgot to take a picture of the car with the new setup. Will take pics this weekend.
Last edited by Checkk; 10-22-08 at 11:26 PM.
10-23-08, 06:04 AM
#155
Thanks for the review. I agree with the bottoming out part in the rear, but I haven't noticed a big uncomforted rate dropped on the wheel. Yes is does bottom out on bad roads... but the roads by me are very good and experiencing this, happens once in a blue moon (basically only 1 road by me sucks).
11-06-08, 10:26 PM
#156
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Thanks for the review. I agree with the bottoming out part in the rear, but I haven't noticed a big uncomforted rate dropped on the wheel. Yes is does bottom out on bad roads... but the roads by me are very good and experiencing this, happens once in a blue moon (basically only 1 road by me sucks).
would be nice to find some one in the dfw area with a sc or supra with this set up to get an idea how it feels...
11-07-08, 08:09 AM
#157
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Do you know your spring perches are on upside down? It also looks like you put the sleeves on upside down and thats why its so close to the top.
I cut off the bottom of the sleeve (when installed on the shock) which gives you more room for clearance.
I'm pretty sure all you have to do is just flip the sleeves and you're good to go, unless it's working for you now.
Last edited by DETUNED; 11-07-08 at 08:19 AM.
11-07-08, 01:00 PM
#158
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Yep, the reason why you can't lower more is because of the sleeves being on the other way around. I have no finger gap at all corners on mine and no rubbing, no bottoming out at all (except of course on really bad roads). I last bottomed out 4 months ago, that was a medium deep pothole. No damage whatsoever. Still ride at the same height and loving it.
11-21-08, 01:34 PM
#159
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Checkk:
Do you have any more info or pictures of what you did to replace the clips that came with the Speedway threaded sleeves? I used the clips that came with them but I do not like them at all and would like to replace.
Do you have any more info or pictures of what you did to replace the clips that came with the Speedway threaded sleeves? I used the clips that came with them but I do not like them at all and would like to replace.
11-23-08, 09:47 PM
#160
anyone have a problem with sagging? Its been on over 6 months now, I raise it up, and i notice it keeps sagging. I think there might be a flaw with attempting to run the sleeves upside down with tapered end on the C-clip vs doing it the correct way. I might just take a shock off and take the sleeve on to see whats really going on. I wish there was a way to get the sleeve to sit on the C-clip the way it was supposed to be AND be able to have it run tires flush with fender...
11-24-08, 07:47 PM
#163
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anyone have a problem with sagging? Its been on over 6 months now, I raise it up, and i notice it keeps sagging. I think there might be a flaw with attempting to run the sleeves upside down with tapered end on the C-clip vs doing it the correct way. I might just take a shock off and take the sleeve on to see whats really going on. I wish there was a way to get the sleeve to sit on the C-clip the way it was supposed to be AND be able to have it run tires flush with fender...
11-27-08, 09:15 AM
#165
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Just a update on My Set Up. I also did the GDB drop set up in 500 /300lb . Mine has settled and needs to be adjusted . I love the set up . The ride and handling is excellent. I have a 1 finger gap that needs to go up. Sumo