I want to transplant the suspension from an 86 second gen (independent wheel) to my 85 gsl (Solid rearend) and i was wandering what is involved. what modifications if any need to be done to my car in order for this to work. if anyone has done this before any suggestions are very much appreciated. i have until monday nov. 3 to find out this information thanks for the help

 

well from what i here if your doing a swap to irs, you should use a miata rear cause it has a better design or something, but you pretty much need to cut the rear of the car out, and make a new subframe for the suspension to mount to.

 

Not to be skeptical, but im not sure you are gonna learn and all the intricacies enough to be able to do that swap in a week..... Switching to IRS isnt overly easy

 

Have fun reading.

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/mega-rx-7-roadster-build-pics-361918/

 

do you want to swap the entire rear suspension over, or just the shocks? after market struts like the TEIN full tap bolt over with minor modificaiton, just remove top hat, and lower perch, replace top hat with stoppers and rubber bushings from a normal FB shock, and bolt in. voila instant bolt in adjustable travel and length rear shocks. now just get whatever spring rate spring you want and go to town.

if you want to swap the entire rear suspensin over then it is best to read the link that Trochoid left for you.

The front suspension is a good swap also as it gives you the rack and pinion steering as well as the shocks, spindles bigger brakes etc. in a nutshell

read this https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/half-way-there-554678/ it gives a quick explanation of how i swapped a 2nd gen crossmember into the 1st gen body.

you can also do it with the stock dash but you would then have to modify te steering column

kenn

 

i have a week to find what needs to be done because the person that i would be getting the 86 from is scrapping it in a week

 

it'll cost more time than you can afford. just keep it a solid rear axle

 

Bottom line is its not worth it, the FC's rear suspension isn't the greatest design ever, the Miata would be a much better candidate, but its far from easy. Just stick with the live axle, I think you'll find it handles very well.

 

I thought there was an issue with doing this? But I can't recall what it is. If it were this easy wouldn't more guys be running FC Aftermarket Shocks/coilovers?

 

Has anyone ever swapped the miata rear subframe/suspension into an fc chassis?

 

into an FC chassis?

Wrong section

 

Cut the entire floorpan out of the car, from the mid-chassis box brace (behind the seats) to the belly pan. Keep the sides, shock towers, and wheelarches.

Do the same to the 1st-gen. Massage the FC floor piece and FB shell as necessary... (Simple right?)

The FC suspension mounts right in the middle of where the front-rear box channel is in an FB, so you have to do pretty hefty floor surgery no matter what. May as well do it right.

Alternatively, you could let the FC suspension go to the scrapper, since it isn't very good.

The front suspension is a nice thing to grab, and IS fairly straightforward to swap in. For the rear, for a LOT less work, you can fix the solid axle's geometrical issues. The problems that the FC rear suspension has are much more difficult to deal with.

 

FB shock towers will not support the weight of the car without serious gusseting i.e. a roll cage braced into them. The weight of the body is carried by the springs under the frame rails, those flimsy little sheet metal shock towers only manage the force of the damper.

 

The problem is that the shock towers are too small in diameter to hold more than a shock.

The dampers put far more stress into the bodyshell than the springs. Far more stress. (Simple easy-to-grasp example: Pull the shocks out and move the car around by hand. You can pretty much top and bottom the car with little effort. Now try it with dampers in place) And the dampers' loading changes sign constantly, which is exactly how you fatigue metal.

 

The other problem is that this guy's one-week timeframe ran out a couple years ago...