B310 Sunny Shocks - stressing me the hell out

[Josh]

Im just trying to re-new the front shocks in my shitbox, standard 78 B310.

It has Fluid-filled type shock (un)absorbers, which appear standard fitment, can anyone confirm this or may I have different struts fitted from something earlier?

All my suppliers that CAN actually find something, send me Gas inserts that wont even fit into the strut tube, as they are too large.
Then they want me to send the whole this away as a sample, which im trying to avoid.

Thoughts people?

[torqued]

what is your chassis number year and model of vechicle?

What is strut body diameter and length of strut body

[grant76]

a12 and a15 engined sunny's have different front struts so i would imagine there's 2 different part numbers??

[Josh]

https://www.carjam.co.nz/sample/?plate=iz4182" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[fast4motion]

I'm pretty sure there's no difference in struts between A12 and A15 Sunny's (at least not in the superior square headlight model). They're 50.8mm diameter.
Maybe the earlier Sunny had smaller struts? Or else somebody has fitted different ones at some stage (like from a 1200, which are 45mm)

[Josh]

(nice facelift dig!)

That was my sentiment, B1/210 struts or something
Upon their side, readith
NISSAN
54303-H8560
8 7 2 4
ATSUGI

[Bartman]

scope out my advise in your build thread.

[grant76]

measure the rotor, if its 245mm its bigger sunny brakes, 212mm 1200. Would at least help i.d what you've got??

[brocky41]

pretty sure the round headlight or early model sunnys have the normal "310" sunny bottom arms etc but have the smaller tube from the 1200 or B110 model.
the larger tube was brought in for the "facelift" square headlight (ill get a battering for calling it faclift) which also had the larger disks. correct me if im wrong but we had a few ministock guys having a winge that they brought 310 struts and they had smaller tubes

[Josh]

I also went to instal my front shocks, and found mine are oil filled, as opposed to the Gas inserts i was sent, gas cartridge wont physically fit inside the strut tube, so plan B = ?
Im to take all the numbers off the side of the strut and report back, but beware whe your ordering yours! Pissed me off.

Oil filled have an advantage over gas. it's easy to shorten them in a lathe as you don't need a lathe with such a big spindle throat to be able to turn them.
And two, (The cool bit) you can pull then apart and slip a piece of pipe over the top of the piston, (Inside the shock itself) and then reassemble it. This will limit droop travel, and keep you lowering springs nice and captive. Wne the wof man, or law enforcement officer jacks up your ride, the piston cant fully rise, so the spring is kept between the perches nice and snug.
Plus you can replace the seals, and refill them with heavier oil, (A guy at school used gear oil back in the day!) and bang your back out terrorising the streets with captive springs.

The pipe over piston trick wont stop the shop bottoming out internally though if your springs are too soft. (Or your car is too low) Too much bottoming out can bend the shock arm.

EDIT: I do want it as low as possible without re-jigging the front end and spending max $, so shorter GAS options are very welcome also.

Where would you start looking for seals Bart? Mine seem ok, but.

When it comes to sunny shocks I've pretty much been there. They have a really long strut which is not much good if you need to lower the car much. My sunny's have all been A14/15 versions which have the bigger brakes and 2" OD tube etc. Inserts were readily available the last time I bought some but that was 12 years ago and they were Monroes which I wouldn't really recommend. I would recommend some shorter struts out of another nissan and you could use ones with better brakes too if you wanted too.
And yes the originals are a wet leg not an insert- you just replace them with an insert when they wear out.
Not sure if the A12 sunny struts were smaller dia. but if they are that will cut your options down a bit. Get hold of a monroe book they have a lot of info on insert dimensions etc or look online in their catalogue. You can also obviously shorten the tube to suit an insert or put a spacer under them to keep them captive in the tube.