Well im prepping myself for the creation of a Group 2 rally car. The car of choice is going to be a First Generation Rx7. After discussing the suspension options with those who have experience rallying this vechile, the general concenus is that the front spindles are weak, and the brakes subpar. They all recommended that i bypass messing with the OEM front suspension and upgrade to the FC's front suspension. Also it solves the sloppy and unresponsive nature of the reciprocating ball by using the rack and pinion.

This seems to be fairly common idea for them, but i've never seen much on such a topic here. Has anyone performed this on this site?

Ill probably be going a writeup on it once the time comes. The whole engine, rack and pinion, etc, will be used.

 

Still have that 2nd gen front you gave me, keep me informed bro. Oh latest update on the JR welcome

Steve

 

yeah my top results for a google search yeild this thread, then my other thread on rally specific site....

horray for going blindly into a project!

 

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-archive-71/suspension-fc-front-end-into-fb-writeup-478516/

 

Also, I'm pretty sure the spindles are a direct swap on their own, but that won't address the steering.

 

respeed is coming out with something real soon that you may be interested in. its a subframe swap that is a direct bolt in. it gives your R&P. a much better one than the FC one too. it is relatively cheap with many options for steering rack for steering ratios. it also allows you to either use youre FB spindles or swap out for a FC style.

just FYI

 

wait this is stupid but is fc 3gen or 2gen? i would assume 2gen cause fb is 1gen so fc 2gen then fd 3gen right? cause i was thinking to would a 3 gen suspension and rear end work on a first gen or would the rear end be to wide? how would that work? sorry about stealing the tread just could not find anything

 

too wide

 

hey me and my dad tried this about three years ago. we ended up having to drill new mounting hole threw the unibody and fc sub frame and machined some backing plates to act as washers and add strength. and some six or eight inch bolt to hold it all togther. after doing all this we got it on the ground and weighted the front end to simulate engine weight to find the front sat a good two inches higher we cut the spring to drop it i belive we cut out 2 maybe 3 coils droped it down but now the shock is bottomed out and the car could still use another inch of drop to look right. this is as far as we have gotten on that project still might delve backinto it at alater date when we have the time to machine the tops of the shocks to get back the travel. as for the rear personaly looked to be too much of a head ache after the front. I do remmber talking to someone on the phone from speed machine performance that they said one off their emploees had done a full conversion to his first gen and would never do it again. I shouold have took that as warning then and there before i started to try it.

 

In order to get a good rear-end the best thing would be a Indepedent Rear Suspension. Which is what a member on here did a IRS setup in the 1st gen..I belive he just used a Maita setup and then basically cut the entire floor of the 1st gen out and welded everything up. Here is a pic i have saved of it.

 

the man thing im building this car for is rally use. The front suspension on the first generation lacks the strength to handle the shear abuse from the sport. I can box and gusset things, but the spindles are still garage, the steering is still...garage, the brakes sucks, etc. Ive seen the FC suspension swap done well before, and honestly its the best choice for what i want to do. Increasing in ride height is not a bad thing in my case anyway.

For the rear end, solid axle is going to be simplier and probably give more travel than the IRS will.

 

tell that to Rod Millen, John Woolf, etc.

 

I have history in Pro Rally with FB's.

We used to sleeve the strut housings after they were modified for race spec Bilstien shocks. 2" OD x .032 wall steel tube did the trick.

Lower control arms were extended for a wider track and a bit more camber. We then boxed them for reinforcement. We did not use camber plates up top due to the abuse.

I can not say if I were to build one now if I would use FC parts or not. The full cross member swap has dis-advantages that do work in favor for a rally car (Track width being one) but the others stick out in my head. FC struts can not be strengthened with added material. You are stuck with off the shelf shock dampening unless you go with AWR FC strut housings. The lower ball joint seems weaker.

But over all, may be a good solution for a rally car.

-billy

 

im almost 100 percent possible that they didnt use the factort front suspension give that the car shown above was converted to 4wd to compete with the arrival of the quattro.

yeah found a really little pic showing it.

 

the other nice thing is that i think either Hotbits or DMS makes coilovers for the FC rx7. so i could utilize those for the front.

 

I know the hotbits owner, I cannot get him to make FB coilovers.....believe me I tried

 

Rod's was. Woolf's wasn't.

 

probably no market in it.

 

im not saying that people havent run the factory stuff, but those with more experience in these matter have told me to pursue the FC suspension.

 

the motor trend article that that pic is from, says that they used the 626 front suspension when they went 4wd.

so its stock mazda (mostly) just not rx7