System of Dr. deCarbon
 

Not Carbon...deCarbon, and it's shocks :).

So these are my weird, old Tokico black shocks.

FA01 28 700A
X 0 10
TOKICO
System of Dr. deCarbon

For that part number the Internet knows nothing. An old ad for KYB shocks in Popular Mechanics from 1980 talks about tech licensed from Dr. deCarbon.

You guys ever see these before? I am thinking they are very old shocks.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...861a84d423.jpg

de Carbon is just a type of shock. IIRC it's just regular old twin tubes.

It's kind of like how front struts are properly called MacPherson struts, after the Ford engineer who designed them, and rear struts (like a lot of 80s/90s Japanese cars had) are properly called Chapman struts, since Colin Chapman invented them.

In this way is a Corolla crapbox related to Lotus. And a 911 is related to a Ford... I forget the name, if it was the Prefect or something else. 1950.

FA01-28-700A is the Mazda part number, so those were Mazda shocks. Mazda does not make shocks, so they have KYB, or Showa, or Tokico or Bilstein make them.

every carmaker does this, and not just shocks. in fact for something like a Ford explorer the engine came from Germany, the transmission is Belgian, the axles are from Dana. the alternator, as you'd know if you've ever tried ti buy one from Ford is from where ever they could get it.

and that is just the stuff they call out in their own parts catalog.

so basically all ford does is press the sheetmetal, and assemble it.

Mazda does more, they usually make the engine, and they have a transmission plant, so they make those too.

Dawoo! there is some front end part that the 911 and some Dawoo share. Porsche customers complain when they get a Dawoo part...

42! maybe the Taunus? or the Zephyr?

Interesting stuff.

peejay, I never thought about those names for parts...even though I've lately been obsessing about my "Watts link"while I wait for new bushings to arrive.

j9fd3s, I *thought* that was a part number but google said nothing about it and returned some pages in Russian :p I guess you need to know where to look. Thanks.

Ford does, or did, make their own axles, and while the engines and transmissions may be "imported" they are made in Ford factories.

Mazda makes a lot of transmissions for Ford :)

Daewoos are mostly just Korean built Opels, so I can believe it.

Hyundai up until they stopped using cable throttles used the same type of idle control valve that Bosch had been selling to German automakers since the early-mid 1980s. Kind of interesting to open up the hood on a 4 year old Elantra and get stared in the face by the same idle valve that is in your '86 VW. Or at least it would have been there if it hadn't failed and the cheapskate owner just removed it and plugged the passages and called it good enough...

Mazda is always a 4 digit chassis/engine code, FA01 is the US spec 81+ Rx7, FA66 is a GSL-SE, etc

second two tell you the section number, or rather the system that the part is in, 28 is rear suspension, 34 is front suspension, 15 is cooling, etc

the next group of three, tell you the specific part, 700 is a shock/strut/damper. if they were sided there may be a 28-700 and 28-900, bigger number is on the left.

we tend to put the middle number and suffix together, and it becomes a bit like a Ford Group number, 15-200 is a radiator, 28-700 is a rear shock, 34-800 is a front subframe, etc.

the 4th letter is like a change code. in theory there was an FA01-28-700 and then they went to the FA01-28-700A, and then FA01-28-700B, etc. many many reasons for this to change, sometimes its a revision of the part, sometimes is a vendor change, but most of the time, i think its just the Purchase Order, or maybe more accurately there is usually a change when the car goes out of production, so its like when the parts side starts ordering things.

R usually means remanufactured, so FA01-28-700R would be a rebuilt shock. Mazda does engines, transmissions, alternators and starters, and some water and p/s pumps

there is then an additional two available characters which in the 80's would have been for a color code, FA01-28-700A-00 would be black, FA01-28-700A-12 would probably be red. since the early 2000's Mazda USA has used this as a source code. so if you see a 9A or a 9U part number, that means you can go right to whatever parts chain you want, because they did.

Mazda never uses the letters O Q or I as they can be mistaken for numbers, and or each other. Ford does use O Q and I often right next to the number it can be mistaken for, F0oZ!

Yes! My brother had a piece of crap Daewoo Lanos and it had what he called a Porsche tuned suspension. :lol:

The Lanos is the same chassis as the Opel Kadett that was sold here as the Pontiac LeMans (built by Daewoo...) and oddly enough that car was a really good stage rally car, but people in the US think it's a POS because it can't do a rolling burnout in 4th gear or something.


(Okay maybe it's an Astra but it's the best video of all time. OF ALL TIME)

And just to bring things full circle, I had a direct injected Elantra in an hour ago that had a Ford vacuum booster hose jet pump thing. I've been wanting to get one so maybe my bridge port will have good brake vacuum again.

this is true. the really odd one is the modular engine. so named because its supposed to share common parts, like pistons, valves, connecting rods, timing stuff, etc.

its Ford though, so the early ones are cast in Italy, because Ford couldn't do it.

then its Ford, so they have like 7 different versions of the same engine, upon which not much interchanges.

and then in the 90's they didn't really keep track of what they built, so finding out which one you have means some investigating work on your part.

the best part though is that this is the thread i use for information Latemopdel performance performed anal sex upon me without consent or a prophylactic - Page 4 - DFWstangs Forums

Ah Ford. Found on Reagan's Doorstep.

JFK actually! the Lincoln he was shot in was product placement. Kennedy's secretary of defense was from Ford, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McNamara.

Ford has been so big for so long though, they are linked to every US event in some way, like the labor movement; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Overpass

Great post!

The only thing I'd add is that the chassis prefix is the vehicle on which the part was FIRST used. Eg you will have 84-85 parts that have the FA01 prefix. This system goes right back to early Mazdas. You can sometimes use the prefix to determine cross-compatibility of parts, eg parts which were common to GLC, B series, etc. 79-85 interior door handle cups, which has the prefix 8116.

Also, the series 3 off black colour has the suffix 65. Some interior parts were on the B2000 etc were shared and available in a very close colour grey with the suffix 09, eg steering wheel horn caps.