— Suspension —

Q: I want to make my car handle better. What do I do?
A: Well the very first thing you should do when you get yourself an older hachi is to replace the 20-odd year old bushings! They are not ment to last more then 10 years and simply putting good bushings in will greatly improve handling.
Read the writeup about replacing bushings here: How to replace bushings

Also keep an eye on the buy forum. There are often group buys so you can get bushings more cheaply as we often get them at a discount.

Once you’ve replaced the bushings you should look at the rest of your suspention. There are alot of options here. From installing a full T3 suspention kit to just replacing your worn out shocks and springs.
Read more about modifying your suspention here: Suspension modification

Q: Whats this lbs and kg/mm all about?
Very simply, its a measurement for how much force is needed to compress a spring. A spring that has a rate of 5kg/mm means that you need 5kg of force to compress the spring 1 mm.

In many countries the spring rate is given in the measurement LBS. You can calculate the LBS by multiplying kg/mm * 56 or calculate kg/mm by deviding LBS / 56.

So if you want a 5kg/mm spring you will need to order a 280lbs spring.

Q: What is the ideal suspension setup for my Hachi?
Well that really depends on what your purpose for your Hachi is?
Do you want a streetable car? Then you are generally interested in suspension that is comfortable, you should choose low spring rates and not lower your car to much or you will run into trouble. You should also consider replacing warn out shocks and bushings.
Do you want a track car? Then you generally want a car that handles great and has loads of grip, this usually is obtained by higher spring rates at the front then at the back, but there is much more to consider here, spring rates are only a tiny fraction of the equasion. You need to look into ride height, rollbars, etc.
Do you want a drift car? Well then the opinions are devided. Some swear by setting up a balanced car like a track car, others use an equal spring rate back to front to make the rear more easy to kick out, some even go further and stiffen up the rear and soften up the front to make their hachi more tail happy.

Want to know much more about setting up some proper suspension on your car? An extensive introduction and a very in depth discussion can be followed in this thread right here:
In depth discussion about suspensions (for ae86 and in general)
A must read discussing all you need to know about setting up your hachi!

Q: What do all those aftermarket products actually do?
assassin10000 made a very good explanation about that in his topic AE86 Aftermarket Suspension information & explanations:
https://www.aeu86.org/viewtopic/ae86-aftermarket…planations/t/6524

Q: LSD? Isn’t that some drug thats only legal in the Netherlands?
Well no LSD is not a legal drug in the Netherlands, I’m very sorry to say. It is however a very legal and important component of your car. LSD stands for Limited Slip Differential. It is a special type of differential that locks the left and right rear wheels in the event that one of the wheels starts to loose traction. More information about LSDs can be found in this topic:
How the limited slip differential ( LSD ) works