Best tuners/performance brands

[swifty949]

JIC is pretty much the cheapness stuff in japan, known for bottoming out. Tein is also an avg type of suspension. Kinda like our Eibach here...good value type of product.


Ohlins is used a lot in Japan, a lot of the tuners use Ohlins.
You can go on and on...jdm brands are "typically better"...not always, than USDM brands for japanese cars becuase they are designed for thier domestic cars. So they have more knowledge about tuning. Japan is good for thier tuning. Bolt on parts only get you so far. Never buy a brand based on where it's from. Buy a product based on the build quality, which you should always look at first hand, and research. I'd prefer a DC Sports exhaust over a Tanabe...

[canuck]

bee*r

Somebody wanted to know where to find Bee*R wheels right...?

Here

[Sil180AE86DRFTR]

I'm sorry, You must've misunderstood me, or I must be high. I'm not saying that I only like JDM, or that JDM is super awesome 1337 or anything, it's just that, in my mind, JDM is better in the DRIFTING aspect of things. If we're talking JGTC or stuff like that, you're right, Ohlins is probably better than JDM. Sorry 'bout what I said before.

[Octagon]

Better drift parts you say......

Well, Steeda is out there making drift specific suspension parts for Fox body 'Stangs with SN95 parts on the way. Maximum Motorsports does the same.

Not to mention I don't see many Japanese firms selling tubular control arms, or polyurethane bushings, or modified k-members with brand new pick-up points.

Kind of odd in my book that the American aftermarket is willing to sell entire FRAMES to better the performance of a car they like (for instance, the Progressive Automotive CJ3 frame for 55-57 Chevies) wheras the Japanese aftermarket seems terrified to make their buyers pick up an impact gun and a blowtorch.

[LOVMUFN]

Originally posted by Octagon
the Japanese aftermarket seems terrified to make their buyers pick up an impact gun and a blowtorch.

And what is wrong with that? Plus... a unibody would be conciderably more expencive than the frame sold in American Muscle aftermarket. That is how the newer Japanese cars are made besides trucks.

[swifty949]

Originally posted by Octagon
Better drift parts you say......
wheras the Japanese aftermarket seems terrified to make their buyers pick up an impact gun and a blowtorch.

I agree that US Shops have better fabricators...why else did HKS have thier 180 drag car, and Supra to have the frame built here?

However I disagree, Japanese end users are used to the fact that not everything is bolt on. People whom buy J stuff in the states expect turn key products.

[LOVMUFN]

Eh, I read it wrong. I thought you were saying that
Japanese aftermarket seems to make their buyers pick up an impact gun and a blowtorch.
Plus I am doing boring stuff at work right now so I am trying to stay awake and not doing such a good job.

My real point was that the way the japanese cars are built does not enable the frame to detatch like some US cars so you can't make a frame like that. Drag cars usually have a 'tube frame' construct which either supliments or replaces the unibody. I would think the reason that HKS had their drag cars chasises built here is because drag racing is uber popular here, so logically, the USeans should have more experience to know what kind of supports are really required. They were probably trying to eliminate some trial and error sitations.

[Octagon]

I'm pretty well up on the difference between a unibody chassis compared to a perimeter frame. Heck, American cars aren't using them much anymore either. However, it's an extreme example of the lengths American enthusiasts will go to improve the operation of cars they like.

Perhaps a better example would've been the large number of modified front k-members available for Fox body Mustangs.

[LOVMUFN]

That may go full well for enthusiests but for bigger competition use most of the modification done is custom not purchased then customly put on.

If we are talking straight drifting there is a reason that there is not any stuff done like that to the cars... D1 Rules prohibit the use of tube framed cars and limit the amount of chasis modification you can perform.

[Octagon]

Except that the frame I showed isn't a full tube frame like those sold by chassis shops like Huffaker, Riley & Scott, Howe, Lefthander, Swartz, Port City, Beast, Beaberbuilt, AER, and so on. It's an OEM style ladder frame that's been modified to accept new parts - in this case full running gear from an LT1 C4 Corvette.

This is a full tube chassis, namely a Huffaker SCCA Trans-Am chassis.



and here's a Port City "Outlaw" late model chassis, as commonly used in the ASA, Main Event, and Sunoco Super series.

[LOVMUFN]

Originally posted by LOVMUFN
and limit the amount of chasis modification you can perform.

I am not arguing with you dude, telling you. The D1 Corporation has rules governing what you can and can not due to frame of cars. If D1 comes to the US where there start to be Chevy's from the 50's and Fox Mustangs in the series the rules could eliminate the use of some of the modifications you are talking about.

I am also saying that aftermarket is a reflection of application. Therefore, sence there is not a real aplication for people to make full weld on fronts for Japanese cars, why would someone make it? No one is going to buy it. There is not the same car mentality with most people in Japan. Parking is very restricted so not very many people own more than one car and not many people have cars that are used for hot rodding. If there suddenly became a reason to modify underchasis to mount a different type of suspension on a Japanese car, then and only then, would we know if the Japanese aftermarked would create such a purchasable item or would it sell the parts, like they do now, and require the customer to do the required fabrication to make it fit? No one can say.

Bottom line is they don't do it because there is no reason to. No one needs to mount a different type of suspension that origionally intended or mount it in a different spot or at a different angle on most Japanese cars because you can get aftermarket suspension, like coilovers, sway bars, and 'power braces', etc... that are adjustable and can do the job. If someone wants something different they do it themselves.

If you think you can effectively re-engineer, just to pull a car out of no specific place, an S14 front end and rear end. Or make some new type of manufacturable front and rear end that can out do an S14 with regular aftermarket parts. Make it and sell it.

[Octagon]

Having driven 240SX's, I can tell you right off the bat that the control arms are in a lousy spot.

You've naturally heard from S13 experts that the cars have a vast tendency to understeer, particularly when lowered. This is because the cars have very long lower control arms with pick-up points mounted close together (width-wise) on the subframe. This leads to long arcs of travel (which is good for designing a comfortable touring front suspension) with a lot of lean at the chassis's dead center. When you drop an S13 down, those control arms cant upwards as opposed to sitting level, so once you corner hard, the rolling that plants the wheels at stock height now just digs in on the outside front and makes the front break away.

Now, guys who run in SCCA GT3 solved this problem years ago by clipping their 240SX's and grafting on custom front ends (usually from Huffaker or Kryderacing or other such chassis shops) that had short control arms whose pick-up points were further apart. This leads to well-damped suspensions that don't require ultra-stiff coilovers, ridiculous amounts of camber, or massively thick and heavy sway-bars in order to prevent the 240SX's natural understeer.

Don't feed me that *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* *Censored**Censored**Censored* about how Japanese cars don't need the modification American cars do to corner and drift well. The halo car of drifting has a front suspension that looks like it was designed by the Katzenjammer Kids and a rear suspension that could've been lifted out of an E30 M3 if the engineer had been smoking reefer.

[swifty949]

Japanese cars do have modified chasis, however because of their rules, the cars are built to thier rule specs....

For example street class. Cheater slicks are not allowed. Which is why everyone runs on Nitto NT555s. It's the stickiest softest street tire compound they can get for drag racing. Back Halfed cars are not allowed in Street class either.

VeilSide does offer rear cross members for the Skyline and Supra.
With different suspension mounting points. Bad pic, but you can see it.





Japan just like the US has people from amatures to hard core, and the level of tuning is the SAME. You can find all different parts in Japan. Japan has always been about circuit racing, which is why they've had so many drivers in F1 throughout the years (more than the US has had at least...even though the J drivers aren't typically that good)

[Parry]

Originally posted by Octagon
Don't feed me that *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* *Censored**Censored**Censored* about how Japanese cars don't need the modification American cars do to corner and drift well. The halo car of drifting has a front suspension that looks like it was designed by the Katzenjammer Kids and a rear suspension that could've been lifted out of an E30 M3 if the engineer had been smoking reefer.

hahaha this was awesome.

lovmofin needs to surrender now. Someone with powers of logic and basic understanding of car and chassis design is in the house.

[Octagon]

Japan just like the US has people from amatures to hard core, and the level of tuning is the SAME. You can find all different parts in Japan. Japan has always been about circuit racing, which is why they've had so many drivers in F1 throughout the years (more than the US has had at least...even though the J drivers aren't typically that good) [/B]

Umm, Richie Ginther (development driver and designer for Ferrari, gave Honda its first win in F1 in 1965), Phil Hill (World Champion for Ferrari, 1961), Carrol Shelby, Skip Barber, Peter Revson, Dan Gurney (American driver who won F1 races with an American car he designed and built himself - the Gurney/Weslake Eagle), Mario Andretti (1978 World Champion), and the list goes on......

in fact, see for yourself just how many drivers the United States has contributed to the World Championship. http://www.f1db.com/index.html/Drive...ntry&value=USA

And, for comparison's sake, here's the complete list of the SIXTEEN Japanese drivers who've taken part in the World Championship. The best amongst them? Current BAR/Honda ace Takuma Sato whose best finish of a 3rd this year at the USGP ties the best ever finish of a Japanese driver (Aguri Suzuki also finished third at the Japanese Gran Prix in 1990 once, but only had a points total of eight) http://www.f1db.com/index.html/Drive...ry&value=Japan

Don't even DREAM of trying to say that Japan has produced superior circuit racers than America.