Ksport Coilover installation

Once my coilovers had arrived, i was a little disappointed that the rear coilovers had rubber bushed solid strut mounts instead of adjustable camber plates. Rear camber can still be adjusted via the lower hub mounts.

After a bit of research, I had learnt that S13 silvia front camber plates shared the same upper stud mounting and in the correct orientation. I went on the hunt to find some camber plates to convert my new coilovers.

 I found a pair of adjudtable ISC camber plates for $40, the only issue was that the centre hole in the spherical bearing was 18mm instead of 14mm. I considered sleaving the bearing, but changed my mind once I found the bearings to be seized. The other issue is that I didn't have a suitable upper spring perch.

I happened to have some old D2 front coilovers which I was able to use the 14mm spherical bearing and upper spring perch with the Ksport coilover and ISC camber plate. The orange plate is Ksport, the purple is the D2's and the yellow is the ISC camber plate.

Adding the spherical bearing and spring perch resulted in the upper spring mount now being 15mm lower than with the solid aluminum top mount. To ensure the spring preload remained the same, the lower mount was moved 15mm lower.

Once they were all back together, it was time to install them into the car. The car was jacked into the air and placed on chassis stands.

Whilst in the air, it gave me an opportunity to check out the 26 year old sills and underside. The sills, lower pinch rails and  jacking points were in perfect condition. The inner guards and rails were also in excellent condition with no signs of damage, rust or repair. I also found that the rear jacking point has a sturdy brace behind the pinch rail which matched the profile of my chassis stands. 

Removing the original struts was straight forward and pain free. Almost every bolt looked untouched and was easy to remove. the Ksports were fitted up to the with guestimated height and camber settings. Once the car was on the ground with the BBS LM's trial fitted, it was looking great, however the car was way too low.

I've since made height adjustments twice. Measure the current and desired ride height and calculate the required hub mount change. Very much a calculated trial and error technique, but it does work.

 

I took the car for a spin around the block and the ride is fantastic. I can't wait to take it for a spirited drive.

Momo Cobra

In Japan, the TX5 was offered with a few different options, one included a Momo Cobra II steering wheel. 

The Cobra II wasn't an overly popular steering wheel and not many survived the 25 odd years. The original Momo Cobra was more popular and so there are more of them available, if you know where to look.  These were manufactured in Italy in the mid 80's though to the early 90's. A lot of these came as factory options on s lot of Japanese sports cars, ranging from Toyota's MR2 though to the top of the range TX5 2000DOHC GT Francorchamps [4WS].