1996-2004 Bilstien front struts?

[sicwitit]

http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/wildgooseblo ... 809020000/

I've been looking for a set of replacement struts/shocks, and came across this page. From all my research, I've not ran across any bilstien struts for the R50, but they are clearly seen in these photos. I'm going out today to try and find more info on them, if anyone else is interested, let me know and I'll pass on what I find.

JT

[sicwitit]

more teasers!!!

http://u-shonan.terrano-ml.com/myterran ... ter-14.htm

http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/113 ... /note.aspx

[sicwitit]

Alright guys, so I went to about 4 shops today, (the Nissan dealer, Super Autobacs, Signal Auto, and another shop close by thats not a big name in tuning) and I have to say what I learned today is somewhat typical, and awesome at the same time.

Like most car companies, when designing their vehicles, they will often use parts from existing vehicles to keep some of the costs down. (My IS300 for example uses some of the same suspension, brake, door jam weather stripping, engine harnesses, etc, etc as the Chaser, Cresta, GS300, Supra N/A, and even RX300) and wouldn't ya know it, our Nissan Pathfinders are no different. The front struts were shared with a van here in Japan called the Elgrand. I know what your thinking...its a van! Who cares right?

Well, it turns out the Elgrand is a huge hit here in Japan...so much so that Nismo, Bilstien, HKS, Tein, Junction Produce, and a hand full of other companies all make struts/shock combo's that are direct bolt on replacements for our suspension. The pic above of the front Bilstien strut is infact from an Elgrand.....and I've got the model numbers.

ARE3-A165L
ARE3-A165R

I'm searching around now to get prices on them, but I've already found some Nismo struts, and shocks that are valved for a 4000lb van, and shouldn't have any issues handling the weight of our R50's.

this is my annual contribution to the forum...who knows what I might find next year?

Cheers!! JT

[sicwitit]

And after a quick search....the holy grail of suspension!

Ohlins offers a coilover system!!!

I have no idea if the top hats will work, but there's no reason the stock ones wouldn't fit, or have some machined!!

http://page17.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/a ... v122869999

[Innovazn]

Benefits between coilovers and stock suspension?

Price comparison?
Benefits overall between KYB/Blistein?

[fleurys]

Alright guys, so I went to about 4 shops today, (the Nissan dealer, Super Autobacs, Signal Auto, and another shop close by thats not a big name in tuning) and I have to say what I learned today is somewhat typical, and awesome at the same time.

Like most car companies, when designing their vehicles, they will often use parts from existing vehicles to keep some of the costs down. (My IS300 for example uses some of the same suspension, brake, door jam weather stripping, engine harnesses, etc, etc as the Chaser, Cresta, GS300, Supra N/A, and even RX300) and wouldn't ya know it, our Nissan Pathfinders are no different. The front struts were shared with a van here in Japan called the Elgrand. I know what your thinking...its a van! Who cares right?

Well, it turns out the Elgrand is a huge hit here in Japan...so much so that Nismo, Bilstien, HKS, Tein, Junction Produce, and a hand full of other companies all make struts/shock combo's that are direct bolt on replacements for our suspension. The pic above of the front Bilstien strut is infact from an Elgrand.....and I've got the model numbers.

ARE3-A165L
ARE3-A165R

I'm searching around now to get prices on them, but I've already found some Nismo struts, and shocks that are valved for a 4000lb van, and shouldn't have any issues handling the weight of our R50's.

this is my annual contribution to the forum...who knows what I might find next year?

Cheers!! JT

This is a HUGE news ! It opens up alot more options for us to search parts.... Thank you !.... El grande = R50 !

S.

[fleurys]

And after a quick search....the holy grail of suspension!

Ohlins offers a coilover system!!!

I have no idea if the top hats will work, but there's no reason the stock ones wouldn't fit, or have some machined!!

http://page17.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/a ... v122869999

The only thing here is that the ohlin setup brings the the height down 30mm....

So for those looking to bring down it;s ok, but for others maybe not....

http://www.carrozzeriajapan.co.jp/ohlin ... t/E51.html

[sicwitit]

Your right, the Ohlins, or any other coil over for that matter would bring the height down 30mm. The only way I can see this being fixed is if you used 2" strut spacers.

BTW. the El Grand E51 (later Gen) fronts only fit.

the El Grand E50 (early Gen) it looks like both front and rear will fit.

I've found a set of somewhat cheap Ohlins, but they are for the E51 (for $900 used) I'm thinking I'll probably order them today and see what they look like when they get in.

Expect a full write up from me on this endeavor. For the rear, I'd probably have to contact Ohlins USA with the dimensions of the rear shocks, and just purchase 2 shocks separately to complete the suspension.


Innovazn - The benefits between KYB and Bilstien is that Bilstiens can be rebuilt easily, and even re-valved for a decent price. They also have much better quality parts internally over KYB.

[sicwitit]

This is Nismo's suspension for the E51, you can see the fronts are fine, its the rear shock mounts that won't work on our R50's



the bottom pic is of a E50 setup that would be more likely to work for us. But knowing that the front Bilstiens work, it might be more cost effective to just source the fronts from an El Grand, and go with what we already know works for the rears.

[donald]

Benefits between coilovers and stock suspension?

Price comparison?
Benefits overall between KYB/Blistein?

To add on top of the "KYB/Blistein" comment...

aren't KYB front struts different moving from 2001 to 2002+?
Would these Blistein fit the entire 96-04 model range?

[sicwitit]

I'm not sure honestly, I'd have to see them side by side to tell. Can someone post up some pics of the stock struts from 96-99 and 2001-2004?

I'm trying to learn everything I can about building struts from some of my race friends here, and some of the things I've done so far are taken stock struts for an Impreza, cut the mounting tabs off that mount the strut to the hub...moved the tabs that I cut off up on the strut body about 1 1/2 inches, and re-welded them to the strut body. This allowed me to lower the car, but retain the stock suspension travel. Very cool trick if you ask me, and I don't see how it can't be applied in some way to our suspension. I've noticed on some of the struts for the E50, they are designed to be 30mm lower then our struts via the spring perch is lower on the strut body...I'm wondering what the result of the suspension geometry would be if I were to take a longer strut, and weld all our tabs from a stock strut onto it, but with the spring perch higher on the body? it would give more piston travel....but we'd need longer springs with the same rates or slightly stiffer then stock to work right...maybe? IDK I'll run some ideas by my Sensei and see what he thinks. I know this idea has had to of been explored before..maybe he has some friends that helped build some of the dakkar/desert runners here.

[donald]

Well, I have an 01 Qx4, my sibling has a 02 Pathfinder. I know our shock part#'s were different.

But I'll get down to our trucks and see if I can snap some pictures with the wheel off.


*edit*
Ok - I don't have any solid proof, but I should expect a "Yes" or "No" answer soon. I asked KYB USA if there's any difference between the two.
KYB GR-2/Excel-G part numbers
2001 4wd/rwd (Q and Pathy)
FR: 335030
FL: 335031

2002 4wd (Q and Pathy)
FR: 335035
FL: 335036

2002 Rwd (Q and Pathy)
FR: 335032
FL: 335033

When I go to CourtesyParts.com and compare the R50 suspention part numbers, I get the same part numbers for EVERYTHING 1996-2004, from struts to strut mounts, etc, with the exception of the spring between 2wd and 4wd, which makes sense.

so logically, I assume that the KYB struts from 2002-2004 should fit the entire 1996-2004 range.
I assume that the differences between the KYB are merely compression and or rebound. Phsyically should be the same.
Anyway, I've sent an email to KYB technical, let's see how they respond.

[fleurys]

I'm not sure honestly, I'd have to see them side by side to tell. Can someone post up some pics of the stock struts from 96-99 and 2001-2004?

I'm trying to learn everything I can about building struts from some of my race friends here, and some of the things I've done so far are taken stock struts for an Impreza, cut the mounting tabs off that mount the strut to the hub...moved the tabs that I cut off up on the strut body about 1 1/2 inches, and re-welded them to the strut body. This allowed me to lower the car, but retain the stock suspension travel. Very cool trick if you ask me, and I don't see how it can't be applied in some way to our suspension. I've noticed on some of the struts for the E50, they are designed to be 30mm lower then our struts via the spring perch is lower on the strut body...I'm wondering what the result of the suspension geometry would be if I were to take a longer strut, and weld all our tabs from a stock strut onto it, but with the spring perch higher on the body? it would give more piston travel....but we'd need longer springs with the same rates or slightly stiffer then stock to work right...maybe? IDK I'll run some ideas by my Sensei and see what he thinks. I know this idea has had to of been explored before..maybe he has some friends that helped build some of the dakkar/desert runners here.

Actually the real issue for the struts is the length of the piston shaft. For me, and many others that want to lift their truck, when we put stiffer springs, we actually only sacrifice down travel by keeping the truck sitting higher on the springs... This only brings another problem, which is the top out issue where you can hear loud bang when going over speed bump or offroading a bit hard.

Now coilover fixes this as the spring is no more limited between a physical delimited space like a strut. I guess the best of both worlds would be to find an oem strut that would fit the r50 but have 2-4 inches longer shaft. of course this would require longer springs, but it would work.... but then again, there's nothing like a coilover setup .... It takes less space, you can have wheels with a smaller offset and have full control over spring rate and height...

[miamiheat3332]

this is a sweet find, you never disappoint.

[sicwitit]

Thanks man, I try.