After loosing my rear wheel assistance this evening & posting a help thread, I notice in a thread below - some are removing it at will - - WHY--?

 

Without it, the car feels like a MK2 granada! It has no poise, accuracy or fast sharp handling! In fact it feels less than 'medioca'.

 

And when the electronic adjustable rear suspention is actuated (uk cars only) its less than poor!!!

 

On a the track:D, & on the road, its a massive benefit, & in Milton Keynes where theres 134 roundabouts its huge fun seeing your passenger hit there side window, ok it can fry tyres. But I won't be without it for long!

 

So why are some of you taking it off?

 

harve

Well Harve I had to take it off mine,as when you hit big bhp the car is NASTY if you keep it,It can do all kinds of horrid things even on a straight.

"electronic adjustable rear suspention"

what is it and how does it work?

richard

"electronic adjustable rear suspention"

what is it and how does it work?

richard

 

Its electronic, and its adjusts itself!!!! :dance:

The later cars had this as opposed to hydraulic

Makes people think they are better drivers Harve ;) You know like removing traction control, abs, power steering etc :rolleyes::D

Harve, most people remove it for the exact reasons you have listed for keeping it- Removing It improves the handling, makes the back end tighter, and gives more feel.

 

This is all just down to personal opinion ofcourse.

 

Its often said that removing the Hicas is one of the no.1 handling improvements you can do, especially if taking the car on the track.

 

Also, a lot of the Hicas on these cars now have worn bushings..etc , making the back end feel wobbly, so disabling the Hicas firms the backend back up.

 

If its working perfectly, and you like the feel of it, then its a benefit to your car and driving style, unfortunaly more than often this is'nt the case.

Yeah I wonder if the uneasy feel that HICAS reportedly gives people is due to bushes etc that are worn which could simply be replaced lol?

 

Anyone removed HICAS on a 1999 300ZX? :p

dead right. good HICAS is bril. worn suspension and then HICAS gets the blame. They never thought it a bad idea even on the latest Skylines.

 

As for big BHP unsettling it well the stock bushes will all compress and allow major toe in with 550bhp plus starts anyway so taking off the HICAS is not going to help much there. You'd have to rebush with nylon or solid buses and then the car might be fast and hold the power but sh1t to drive with all the whine and road noise coming in. All depends what you are after, a racer or a road car.

 

Electronic rear suspension - dont you mean the last of electrically operated HICAS versions (only late model imports) using leccy solenoid acuators rather than the previous hydraulic one that most of our cars have?

 

The electrically adjustable rear shocks on UK cars are 2 stage and have an electrical actuator on the top of the shock that switches it between hard and harder. US cars have these on all four corners with a switch inside. UK diagnostic is to get the handbrake light on and the rears harden. The wiring diagram shows the rear active shocker connections via the HICAS controller but nobody to my knowledged has explained how this actively works on the UK version. Various theories say the rear goes hard when on foot to the floor or above certain speeds etc. The HICAS programming is also apparently different being a so called high speed version rather than the one for the limited speeds of Japan. No doubt someone can explain the true differences.

dead right. good HICAS is bril. worn suspension and then HICAS gets the blame. They never thought it a bad idea even on the latest Skylines.

...

 

the electrically adjustable rear shocks on UK cars are 2 stage and have an electrical actuator on the top of the shock that switches it between hard and harder. US cars have these on all four corners with a switch inside. UK diagnostic is to get the handbrake light on and the rears harden. The wiring diagram shows the rear active shocker connections via the HICAS controller but nobody to my knowledged has explained how this actively works on the UK version. Various theories say the rear goes hard when on foot to the floor or above certain speeds etc.

 

Quite right ;)

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=22904&highlight=shock+absorber

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=19332&page=2&pp=15&highlight=shock+absorber

 

Despite this coming up regularly, there is still no wiring diag which shows the UK shock absorber unit connected to anything other than the handbrake and brake warning light and earth and ignition and the two rear shocks

Have to agree with Harve so far....

 

....Thrashing down a twisty B road, hitting a tight bend a bit too fast....then just when you think you might lose it the HICAS steers the rear wheels and all is well :dance:

 

I don't think it removes all the driving pleasure and skill in the way a 3000GT/GTO does - after all the ZX is widely acknowledged as the superior driver's car. It just adds a bit of security and enables progressive cornering. I can't comment on track use or where the car is modded to very high BHP though but with a good, working stock set up I think it is just fine

 

Richard ;)

All 4Wheel steering systems take a lot of getting used to.

Took me a year to learn the system on the 3rd Gen Prelude and that was constant (and much more dramatic) rather than speed sensitive. However once I had mastered it I could go around corners about as quick as anything else I have been in (road cars).

Also there was no such thing as breaking too late for a corner, if you were going too fast for a corner you could just let the front understeer and slide and be sure that the 15 degrees of turn in the rear wheels would get you round the tightest of turns.

 

4 wheel steering is good, just takes a little patience to learn what you can and can't do with it and the rewards are good.

 

Drivin Ivan

off my soapbox now thanks......

is it realy 15 degrees?

that sounds like a lot!

is it realy 15 degrees?

that sounds like a lot!

Not on our Zed "never exceeds plus or minus one degree, is purely designed to improve the car's response in medium and high-speed swerves".

 

And, unlike other 4WS, it is two-phase: it gives a twitch of countersteer before settling wth all four wheels in the same direction.

 

Not fitted on the N/A as they felt it didn't have the same need for high speed stability (+ 120mph)

had mine removed ,I don't drive the car enough to get use to it. it does feel better and more predictable with it gone.has anyone had there car poly bushed and did it make a differance ?

i dont have hicas no need to :D

 

prefer it without it ;)

WHAT HAVE I STARTED :)

 

OK so its down to personal preferance...man/auto...red or black etc.

 

As for track days theres a video of me in my Z frying a skyline & my tyres around silverstone on the forum 18 months ago somwhere?....with hicas!

 

As a point of an above post, i've rewired my electronic suspention actuators to a swich in the ctr console to make life easier :) 5 min job.

 

harve

I can honestly say I have no idea whether I have it or not... :rofl:

 

How can you tell :confused:

 

Man I have so much to learn about these cars... :cry:

After loosing my rear wheel assistance this evening & posting a help thread, I notice in a thread below - some are removing it at will - - WHY--?

 

Without it, the car feels like a MK2 granada! It has no poise, accuracy or fast sharp handling! In fact it feels less than 'medioca'.

 

And when the electronic adjustable rear suspention is actuated (uk cars only) its less than poor!!!

 

On a the track:D, & on the road, its a massive benefit, & in Milton Keynes where theres 134 roundabouts its huge fun seeing your passenger hit there side window, ok it can fry tyres. But I won't be without it for long!

 

So why are some of you taking it off?

 

harve

 

Peronnally I think that HICAS makes the steering feel soggy and a bit vague. The back end effectively drifts out slightly which as many have already said if the bushes and every thing are even slightly worn it becomes a serious hand full if you drive the care hard.

 

Nissan themselves obviously felt it to be detrementale to handling as it did not feature on the LeMans, the Endurance or the sportscar championship cars (the later two being 300ZX based cars such as Steven Hillens, whos company Stillen is well known). Also all the racing versions of the Skyline don't have HICAS and any Skylines feature in major speed events such as the Japanese GT trophy or even UKs own Ten of the Best do not use HICAS or any rear wheel steering.

 

I took my Palmer Audi licence 4 years ago and have driven a few single seat race cars, Exegue's, Noble + racing Karts which my son competed in up to 2 years ago. None have any rear steer device, yet they can all corner much much quicker than a Z. Infact if you are not fastend into a race car properly and drive it as hard as it is intended to go you would break your ribs as you are compressed by the lateral G forces. If you were putting good time in on a single seater by the time you are finish you are bruise as though someone has give you a serious kicking. Thats why proper racing driver really have my respect.

 

I know that my Z set up with HICAS could not emilate those kind of forces, but without it can get much closer to it.

Id have to say that i want to remove the HICAS from mine as the car will do stuff you havnt asked it to.

Not saying its bad but when your on the limits you need a car that is predictable...not an uncertanty. :rolleyes:

Think it was designed to help the larger car corner fast whilst feeling safe for the progressive driver. :)

As above...Out n Out race cars do not have HICAS as it brings an element of unknown into the equation. :confused:

After sliding my old Nitrous M3 round Brands Hatch I can honestly say i'd never do the same with a car with HICAS...NONoNo. :nono:

As soon as it is removed...Wehayyy..Paddock bend here we come :dance:

But yet again its all down to the individual driver as to whether you are a Progressive,Aggresive or Balanced driver. :tongue: