AAAOA

Hey all,

I'm debating picking up a set of T3 coilovers and even though I know they are great quality I really like my current set up minus 1 thing: ride height.

My set up is currently Racing Beat springs on adjustable Koni Yellow shocks, the fronts being from an AW11 MR2 and the rears being for a Foxbody Mustang. I've put a lot of miles on the set up, around 20,000, and I'm happy with how it feels on the street and how it handles in the odd autocross here and there plus some spirited driving. It was a very cost effective solution a few years ago and I was very happy with it. I still am to be honest. However, the front sits about an inch to an inch and a half lower than the rear which is doing a bit of monster trucking and has been ever since I bought it. Even after all those miles on the racing beat springs they've just never gotten lower, guess that speaks for the quality though lol.

I could probably cut the rear springs as they are a constant rate and trimming a bit off won't impact handling, but how do I do it safely and properly? Also, the front of my car is pretty low and for some reason lower on the drivers side than on the passenger side, what would be a safe solution to raise it maybe half an inch to even it out? I've seen spacers for the strut hats on Mazdatrix and guys have told me about adjustable spring perches that other cars use, not sure if anyone makes that for first gen Rx-7's. Should I just go ahead and throw my car up on jacks for 2 or 3 months for the guys at T3 to make me a set of coilovers?

Side note: my front shocks don't appear to be blown, they dampen rebound of the springs well and handle the odd speed bump or pothole without too much drama.

Thanks guys

tommyeflight89

iTrader: (4)

Like you mentioned, some spacers up front might be the way to go... add them as necessary to tweak the ride height. I think you can find them in 1/4" increments?

For the rear, you could also look to springs and adjustable perches.

That would probably get the ride heights back to where you want without a full investment in Coilovers, downtime, etc.

And if you do go the coil route, definitely don't take your car out of commission to have the spindles welded. Try to find a pair of spindles on the forums, ebay etc... and get those sorted, so you can install. Or wait till winter (:

Full coilovers can be hit or miss for reliability. I think you're on the right track to keep it simple. And if you do go with coils up front, take the opportunity to replace hubs/rotors/wheel bearings etc.. since it is all coming apart anyway.

AAAOA

Yeah I'm getting ready to replace the bearing and hubs here soon, just waiting on my 4th rotor to come in. For some reason the guys I ordered from had 3/4 in stock and the drivers side front rotor was 3, now 4, months back ordered. I guess that's what I get for ordering slotted rotors lol.

Where might I be able to get adjustable perches to bring the rear down? I know the BC Racing coilover kit comes with rear springs separate from the shocks and the springs mount on adjustable perches.

yeti

iTrader: (1)

I haven't installed but I saw 049-ALL56119 referenced elsewhere. For springs I bought one of these to cut in half 557-18SNU-100 SNU-Series 5 x 16 in. Rear Spring - 100lbs.

Again, The spring or adjuster are not yet installed but I understand if you cut a linear spring in half the rate doubles. So hopefully, this works out for me if not I guess I'll be finding 2 5x8 springs probably in the 175 rate area.

Of course I can't find all of my sources now but here is what I was able to find.
https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generati.../#post12115196
https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generati...rings-1071898/

Found this warning though: https://www.rx7club.com/new-member-r.../#post12333256

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

I cut the RB springs down all around to bring my car down an inch or so. Worked great. I basically just cut a full coil off, so only cut once to do that all around. Also make sure to trim up the rear bump stops by about half so you aren't hitting them constantly. I'm curious why you would have such a drastic ride height difference front to rear. Make sure you have the springs indexed the right way on the back or it will appear higher and same goes for the rubber isolator as well. Could be your issue.

I need new shocks as well. Was thinking to do the MR2 konis up front. Did you use the OEM strut top (FB)? If so where did you get the spacer for the koni shock as it mounts in the strut bearing?

AAAOA

Yeah strut tops are OEM, I had to dremel out some washer that came with the shocks but they effectively bolted right in. Mazdatrix sells ride height spacers, but I haven't purchased them (still considering just shelling out the money for coilovets). I'm not sure why it rides like this, nobody else who put MR2 shocks said anything about it that I saw. When I first got it the front was way lower than the rear, but that was because the front shocks were totally blown out. It's certainly higher than blown out shocks on 35 year old springs, but it's weird. Might just be how high the rear is that makes the front look so low. Wheel gap up front is about 3/4" +/- 1/4". Gap in the rear is a solid 2" and change.

Carl

iTrader: (2)

Based on a 2" gap in the rear it sounds like it is just sitting too high. You can get 8" long rear springs here: https://pitstopusa.com/b-4760-105972...ecialists.html The 8" long springs will ride pretty low, but you can easily find rubber spacers to bring it back up a bit. Getting extra long springs and cutting them in half will work too. As Yeti noted, cutting them in half will double the spring rate. For what it is worth the spring rate equation is (G x DW^4) / (8 x N x DC^3), where G is the torsion modulus for steel (a constant), DW is the wire diameter, N is the number of coils and DC is the mean coil diameter. If the measurement units are all in inches, use G = 11.25 x 10^6, then the equation will spit out the spring rate in lb/in.

Adjustable perches in the rear will probably not work so well, especially if you want to use the springs you already have, since the adjustable perches will just add more height in the rear.

The front strut top spacers are good for about 1/4" each and you might be able to get 2 in before you run out of stud length. You can always install longer studs/bolts. That is probably the easiest/cheapest solution.

As someone else noted, adjustable coilovers in the front are kind of overkill for the street and occasional autocrossing. You can't see them either unless you crawl under the car, so they don't add any readily visible bling :-)