touring suspension

does anyone know of the suspension i believe in the vr4 which lowers the car when it is going a certain speed. is it possible to change a base into that suspension?

It's called ECS which stands for electronic controlled suspension, basically, on most vr4s ( i know it's not on the 96s) there are two suspension modes. Touring is the normal mode that comes on when the car is on, basically like normal driving. And then there is a button that you can toggle to switch to the other mode, Sport. Sport mode is tighter suspension for faster speeds and such. I havn't heard of anyone actually putting it on a base or sl, so I'm not sure what the conversion would entail.

There is one suspension kit for our cars, Tein makes it, but it's an electronic dampering system and it has toggle controls inside the cabin so that you can lower it on demand, perhaps that would be easier..? Although, it is listed for only twin turbo models...but I would call and check it out. They have it listed at www.3sxperformance.com

SL's have ECS too. I think it's only the bases that don't have it...

Oh, thats true, I totally forgot that some Sls have it stock, hmm. what year is your base? Because if its a 91-96 it has the same engine as the SLs, so it probably would be possible

I think I saw him say he has a 97...

Very very common misconception, even I thought it until I got one. The ECS has nothing to do with ride hight, only the stiffness of the shocks. Tein makes a variable stiffness suspension also.

There are some suspentions you can get that change the ride height, but they dont do so well on the performance side and are designed for show.

Well Im out for the week, TX here I come.

I forgot to answer the question, oops.

The ECS can not be easily fit to a model without ECS, its not a dirrect bolt on. However with enough money anything can be done, but it would just be cheeper to buy a model with ECS.

talskinyguy has got it right on this one. ECS only makes the springs stiffer.

Rather than going for ECS (which would probably be expensive and not worth it for the benefit you'd gain), you'd be better off just getting lowering springs or if you could afford it the full TIEN system like Igotver500 mentioned in a earlier post. You'd probably end up with the same if not greater effect than if the springs were set on "Sport" mode anyhow.

Personally even if the ECS suspension did lower your car when you're going a certain speed, I'd prefer my car lowered 1.5" or so all the time, rather than just when I'm going 60+mph.

-Michael

Is there really that much benefit at all from driving in sport mode? The springs do get stiffer, but is there any handling advantage? Maybe its just cuz I have FWD that I don't really notice...

Considering lowering springs or custom suspension is done *a lot* in the 3000gt community, I might have to say that the ECS may be more of a gimmick than of practical use. I'm sure it makes *some* difference, as for how much that's up for debate.

Remember the whole thing about the active aero stuff.

-Michael

Active aero? Isn't that something that's just on VR4's? Or am I way off...

Yes it is, just trying to make a point that the whole active aero was pretty much a gimmick also. Great for waving "bye bye" at the guy you just beat in your VR-4, but other than that with it on or off many people didn't see any difference in performance.

Perhaps the same story for the ECS.

-Michael

Ahh alright. Well I didnt know that. But I guess it makes sense. Not all VR4's came with it though right?

3000GTs VR-4

1G 91-93 ECS, Active Aero, Active Exhaust, Four Wheel Steering
2G 94-96 Same as 1G
2G 97-98 Four Wheel Steering (Other features discontinued)
3G 99 Same as 2G 97-98

Correct me if I'm wrong. Stealths also came with less features overall, most notably the Active Aero and possibly the ECS and Exhaust too. But I'm not too sure on that one.

Ok, talking about suspension... What's best to do to our cars to get better handling and performance? I mean, my SL handles ok, but it's not amazing. Probably has to do with FWD and weight dist. But what's the best thing to do?

As far as I would know - get some decent sport/lowering springs as I had mentioned earlier, front and rear sway bars, lighten the car a bit, and get some new sticky tires.

The sway bars help make the frame rigid, and keep the chassis from twisting and rolling as much when you take those turns hard.

As for handling on the SL, the FWD is part of it. FWD's have that bad problem of understeer when you accelerate in turns and such.

Think about it, when you have FWD those two out of four wheels are doing acceleration, braking, and steering. When you start distributing the load to the other two wheels on a car (like what RWD and AWD does), general performance will obviously increase.

I always wondered why mitsu made the SL a FWD and not a RWD.

But then again FWD is what makes the SL good for winter, rain, and stuff. RWD would've made it a better drag/race car.

-Michael