hey guys i have a 1980 rx7, have basic mods like full exhaust and modded/hogged nikki and its fun but i need to start freshening up the rest of the car to be more safe(ish)

I am in the process of purchasing tons of bushings and I am going to get the whole front end tightened up and then do the rear end. I have a decent list of bushings and whatnot but i would like to get my struts replaced since theyre most likely the originals that came on the car. What are my options? I know that the rears can take foxbody shocks and I plan on do ing this but I heard about MR2 front struts working in FB's but I cant read anything on if it works for the SA. What options have you guys run? looking for something kind of off the shelf and not too difficult, as I am having a shop do the work and would prefer not to rack up too many hours on labor lol and I do plan on getting RB springs as well since that seems to be the only aftermarket option there is

Side note: I also talked toa guy a couple years back who used ebay miata coilovers and use a different strut tube with them and had that on his front end. Anyone know more details about this? I cant find the facebook thread this was discussed on as its been a few years

 

T3 and BC both make front coil over kits. Might check them out.

 

Consider the bushings carefully.

Aftermarket (stiffer) bushings in the FB rear end are known to make the whole setup worse.

I suggest getting new Mazda OEM upper,lower, and Watts links, available from any dealer. If you are paying a shop to install new bushings into the links... it may be quite a bit of hours in labour.

Search these forums for a few threads on the matter.

Regarding coilovers , the only off the shelf that I know of are T3, and I believe you will need to send them your spindles (or others you find), and they will use your spindles to fabricate them.

All of the other coilover kits will require your spindles to be modified and welded to the coilover hardware. You need to ensure this is done by a competent TIG welding + machine shop or else you will have the potential for failure.

Here is my front end setup: Stance coilovers with T3 LCA's and tension rods. Cannot stress enough to find a good welder and machinist to do this work!! I just mention it because you are saying a shop works on your car...


Decked on a mill.

Pre heat the castings then TIG weld.

Ready to go in.

 

yes i ihad read that from a few people which is why i was going to do the rears second to the fronts after doing more research. I was gonna go witth rubber and then "tune" it in with a guide a found to remove binding with the watts link. going full poly in the front.

didn'tt know mazda still had them brand new... ill have to look up the part # and price it out...

i REALLY would rather not go that route, because then it leads to... "well if im doing this i might as well do that, and if i'm doing that t hen i might as well do that ootheer thing" so i'm mostly looking for more cost effective solution for a drop in strut with *very littlee* modification if need be for the SA

the "shop" is actually an engineering firm that opened up their business for vehicle work, did a tour of their shop and I feel pretty confident in their abilities to do things right with the "measure 3 times cut once" approach

 

the mr2 rear shock inserts look almost exact to the SA inserts... any reason why they wont work?

 

Just found a thread discussing all of this stuff... https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generati...ation-1134888/

will post here again if i have more questions