jashdowns VS

[jashdown91]

got my father bears VS that hes had from new. done 350000km and still running perfectly.

Name: Jashdown
Model: 1995 VS Acclaim
Engine: Good old stock 3.8L. Will be the last thing i mod for this car
Exhaust: Stock, looking to upgrade when i scrape up some cash
Tranny: Stock auto. Want a shift kit stage 1 or 2
Brakes: Stock. Upgrading to VT brakes sometime in the future
Suspension: Superlow King Springs all round. 30mm front whiteline swaybar, 20mm rear whiteline swaybar.
Wheels: 18" WM Caprice wheels. Nankang NSII tyres.
Other mods: Level 3 dash conversion, CAI, 20% tint
Future mods: New seats, respray, debadge, full exhaust, supercharged or stroked, 1.9:1 Yella Terra roller rockers, tune, maybe a few new speakers, brakes, and a new front bar, thats about it.

dont like the look of my car completely standard, pretty hideous. These are my two best shots.

and this one is my favourite, doubt ill ever get a better picture.

[jashdown91]

finally put new wheels and tyres on, just needs to be lowered now to look decent.

picture shows how disgusting my front bar is aswell, really need a new one, anyone got a brand new one lying around?

[SHANBANGER]

wheels look good dude. I was gonna get these but ended up going with the ss ones

[jashdown91]

wheels look good dude. I was gonna get these but ended up going with the ss ones

thanks mate

yeah they are pretty decent, havnt seen a vs with em and they were real cheap so i got them.

[SHANBANGER]

thanks mate

yeah they are pretty decent, havnt seen a vs with em and they were real cheap so i got them.

me either, they will suit it heaps more once you have lowered it. How much did they set you back? $680?

[jashdown91]

haha thats what they were for ages on ebay, then there was a special for 600 and free postage so i jumped on them, tyres were damn cheap aswell, nankang ns2 for 138each.

anyone have any idea how hard it is to install a rear camber kit yourself, or how much labour should be to have it installed.

[jashdown91]

Well i dropped the back of my car myself, with a couple of mates there to watch and laugh. sits pretty low, its good. i wasnt real keen on doing the front so i brought it to jax to get them, and he said yeah. 5 minutes later i get a call saying they cant do it because the spring is too short and the strut will bottom out.

now i have the shits and i asked my mate whos a mechanic, and he tried to describe how to do it, so im going to try it tomorrow arvo and see how i go.

oh yeah, and why does everyone in the forums about removing struts keep mentioning the ball joint? i was told to just undo the two bolts attaching the shock to the steering knuckle, the sway bar link, the 6 bolts in the engine bay, and then unclip the brake hose and you can manouvre it out. the ball joint isnt even connected to the strut so why does everyone say you have to knock it out with a hammer?

[jashdown91]

well, the guys at the suspension shop wouldnt do my front springs because they wouldnt want responsibility if the struts smashed through into the engine bay, so i did them myself, and saved 110 bucks in the process.

looks pretty decent now, but the back sits a little bit high, which is disappointing, might needs ultras for it.

couple of pictures.

[fuzzy2308]

looks nice

[dbarnes]

looks nice. give the rears some time to settle, should drop a tad more. thats what im hoping with mine..put ultra low lovells in yesterday and it sits pretty much what yours is in the back, so it better drop some more or im getting something else. what springs did you put in the front?

[jashdown91]

looks nice

thanks mate.

looks nice. give the rears some time to settle, should drop a tad more. thats what im hoping with mine..put ultra low lovells in yesterday and it sits pretty much what yours is in the back, so it better drop some more or im getting something else. what springs did you put in the front?

yeah im hoping they do, but i did the rears before the front. :S haha yeah i wish commos were more level. I put ssl kingsprings all round. front went a lot lower than expected.

[jashdown91]

does anyone know why my rear wheels dont fill my guard as much as some other vs commodores around? look below, yeah the camber is a bit out but that wont make any difference to how much is fills. can anything be done?

[Silver_VS_II]

hey mate those rims really look good, and with that bumper, you could touch it up yourself without needing a new replacement.

with your tyres sitting in under your guard, is the other side of your car out more, or do they both sit the same amount inside the guard both sides?

i think an adjustable panhard rod is what youd need, apparently the lowere you get the more your car can do this. you really should seek some more solid guidence, because im going by what ive been told and even then i might have it wrong. anyway with an adjustabe pnahard rod, i think you jack your car up adjust it to the amount needed to correct your wheel alignment, then sit your car back down, and it will slide into place. i was told something similar when i was looking into lowering my car. i think these would be somewhere between 100-200 bucks and you can put them in yourself.
camber would make your wheels sit on an angle i think so i doubt it would be that.
i advise you find bettersvidence before you take my word tho.

now i got a question, you said jax wont lower your front? was that because you had standard height shocks? if you had the lowered type i dont know why they wouldnt do it for you? could you explain it because ill be going through the same process once i get my car back from the smash repairs haha.

cheers mate

[jashdown91]

Thanks Silver..

with the bumper, the front right has a decent crack in it, which is a pain. and tonnes of rock chips, needs some work, along with the bonnet.

as for the wheels, they are in the same on both sides. Yeah the rod might fix it, i was thinking that, but ive looked at other commodores and they are no where near as bad as mine, just thought it was odd.

and with the lowering, yeah jax wouldnt do it, haha but they explained later on that because they are standard height shocks, they could bottom out and and if i hit a big enough bump, could fracture the strut mount in the engine bay, so it made sense. but me being the impatient little sh*t i am, i just did it myself one day after school. takes a few hours but it certainly beats paying people to do something you could just do yourself.
If you have shortened struts already then they will put them in, they just didnt want to be held responsible if something went wrong. which is fair enough.

[jashdown91]

had a photoshoot of my car after doing a number of circles in an open area.

[Reflector]

thanks mate.



yeah im hoping they do, but i did the rears before the front. :S haha yeah i wish commos were more level. I put ssl kingsprings all round. front went a lot lower than expected.

Hey man, you say you put SSL's all round? SSL's = Ultra's in kingsprings. SL's = super lows. By the look of your's you have SL's as your car was sitting exactly the same height mine was with them in. Give it some time to settle, they do get lower. But personally, I went and put some ultras in the back of mine, sit's betting imo .

Check out my recent photo's if you want an idea.
My "New" 1996 Acclaim

[jashdown91]

Hey man, you say you put SSL's all round? SSL's = Ultra's in kingsprings. SL's = super lows. By the look of your's you have SL's as your car was sitting exactly the same height mine was with them in. Give it some time to settle, they do get lower. But personally, I went and put some ultras in the back of mine, sit's betting imo .

haha yeah i ordered superlows. but the package and the spring say ssl. i was so confused. hahaha. yeah hopefully the back gets a little lower, or ill be off to get ultras for the rear. thanks for the comment mate. ill have a look at yours.

[Silver_VS_II]

haha yeah i ordered superlows. but the package and the spring say ssl. i was so confused. hahaha. yeah hopefully the back gets a little lower, or ill be off to get ultras for the rear. thanks for the comment mate. ill have a look at yours not.

lol that makes me think of borat. anyway yeah im gonna put shorter shocks in mine, i thought the front would be a pain in the arse but you rekon it was easy might save myself and do them then, just need the mulah.

also that photo you got looks freaking sweet make your car look so good

[jashdown91]

haha shit, sorry, i didnt write not. hahaha. sorry. weird.

yeah you need shorter shocks, my struts are shitting themselves already, ride is really rough, and the are beggining to bottom out sometime, but it handles a lot better than before.

Yeah with the struts, i wrote a how to. its piss easy, just takes a bit of time and some tools.
its a pain in the arse because im going to have to take them out again to put in my shortened struts. so theres another 3 hours work to get that done.

how much was your exhaust? im looking at one for mine.

[NickVR]

Looks really neat mate. Those wheels suit your car really well.

[jashdown91]

thanks man.

It has got nothing on yours though. yours is near perfect! and the colour is amazing.

[Silver_VS_II]

lol i dont mind you wrote it to somoene elses post and it was obviously a mistake just sounded funny, anyway my exhaust was $243.08 at supercheap and it was easy to replace, took me 1 hours or so and used basic tools and no welding just a hand from my pop

[jashdown91]

haha yeah i just realised that.
what should i do next, should i get the struts and shocks and put them in, or should i just go tint.

at the moment, the suspension is fine, so i dont need shortened shocks that urgently, will eventually though.

but which one should come first.

[jashdown91]

ok a new question then, does the F/I 304 from vn/vp/vr/vs bolt straight into the vs acclaim?

[BLOW6]

Hey man, you say you put SSL's all round? SSL's = Ultra's in kingsprings. SL's = super lows. By the look of your's you have SL's as your car was sitting exactly the same height mine was with them in. Give it some time to settle, they do get lower. But personally, I went and put some ultras in the back of mine, sit's betting imo .

Check out my recent photo's if you want an idea.
My "New" 1996 Acclaim

king sl's are low
king ssl's are superlows
king sssl's are ultra lows