if you are want to keep it smooth, but just tighten up the suspension, replace the bushings and put in new struts and shocks, like monroe brand or something stock.
on my 280zx i replaced all bushings with urethane and i put tokico hp struts, shocks, & springs because i thought it would be nice to have my z lowered, but with the terrible roads around here it was ridiculously bumpy. so i took off the tokico stuff & put on generic autozone shocks & struts (+original springs) and i am much happier with it..
however it seems that most people on this board love the tokico's, so maybe its just me...
costs: bushings about $100 i think, plus cost to get control arm bushings pressed in (i paid like $50, probably too much). this assumes you do all other bushigns yourself.
new shocks/struts - about $100 for all 4, if you go stock.
if you do tokico kit, about $380-400 for whole kit.
the shock prices also assume you will install them yourself. i don't know how much a mechanic charges.
if your exhaust is leaking it might be from the manifold, as the two outer studs tend to break. you gotta know what you're doing to fix this (esp. on fuel-inj l28). you could either extract any broken studs (if they are broken) and reinstall new studs bolts, etc. possibly replace gasket. or you could buy headers and swap those in. can't specifically quote prices, as i haven't ever done this. but i think fixing manifold leak is one of those "inexpensive but pain in the a**" type repairs.
on my 280zx i replaced all bushings with urethane and i put tokico hp struts, shocks, & springs because i thought it would be nice to have my z lowered, but with the terrible roads around here it was ridiculously bumpy. so i took off the tokico stuff & put on generic autozone shocks & struts (+original springs) and i am much happier with it..
however it seems that most people on this board love the tokico's, so maybe its just me...
costs: bushings about $100 i think, plus cost to get control arm bushings pressed in (i paid like $50, probably too much). this assumes you do all other bushigns yourself.
new shocks/struts - about $100 for all 4, if you go stock.
if you do tokico kit, about $380-400 for whole kit.
the shock prices also assume you will install them yourself. i don't know how much a mechanic charges.
if your exhaust is leaking it might be from the manifold, as the two outer studs tend to break. you gotta know what you're doing to fix this (esp. on fuel-inj l28). you could either extract any broken studs (if they are broken) and reinstall new studs bolts, etc. possibly replace gasket. or you could buy headers and swap those in. can't specifically quote prices, as i haven't ever done this. but i think fixing manifold leak is one of those "inexpensive but pain in the a**" type repairs.
