i have read alot about changing to the later 1st gen struts but i am confused as to what i need to do this conversion... do they just bolt right in or do i need some excess parts?

 

I presume you have an SA. What year?

I've never done this but I think the most difficult part of the job is mating up the brake lines. I believe the SA and FB's brake fitting and thread pitch is different.

Good luck!

 

i know thw wheel bearings are different so if you plan on replacing struts youll need bearing.

 

yeah i have a 79... all info would be appreciated

 

I believe RB or MazdaTrix sell a brake line kit that has the SA thread pitch on one end, and the FB pitch on the other. Should make the swap alot easier.

 

Research this fully! I am in the process of doing the same thing to my '79. Two mistakes made! 1: Went to a junkyard to purchase the front strut assembly. Found a '85 model pulled them off and paid 75 bucks. Get home do some reading and find that 84-85 have larger outer bearings. This is a problem because I already purchased cross drilled rotors to fit 79-83 with the smaller outer bearings and the bearings. Mistake number 2: I look on ebay for ones for 81-83 so that I can have adjustable Tokico Illumina shocks and use the rotors with the smaller bearings. Located a nice clean set of front strut assemblies that didn't have a year listed. I email the gentleman to find out that they were off of a 83. Sweet right? Nope. Bid, pay the money, get the parts, match the bearings. Wrong! I email the guy again to double check the year he says they are from a 83 or 84 now. So I have two sets of front strut/spindle assemblies one from 84 and one from 85 neither of which I can use. So if you don't mind buying new rotors and bearings at the same time as your purchase of the spindles you can have mine. I hear they are better anyways because of the larger bearing which is less likely to break under stress then the previous years but, when you spend 800 dollars on a set of cross drilled rotors that took almost a year to get custom made and shipped from www.rx7.com you don't want to go through that again just for some stupid bearings. Forgive the rant but, I hope this helps. Let me know if you want to buy some front strut assemblies.

 

Oh yeah one more thing. About the brake lines. The thread size is the same on models 79-80 S and GS. Your 79 has a wedge type caliper basically it is being held in by clips. You can upgrade to a 80 model caliper and keep the thread size the same as your 79 but get a pivot caliper that will fit right on to any front strut assembly. Any other questions let me know.

 

Only on the '84-85. '81-83 have the same bearings as '79-80.

The ONLY real reason to swap to FB struts is if you want certain adjustable/performance front struts - most are only available in the FB length.

The wheel bearings are larger in '84-85 which is nice but it's No Big Deal as long as you keep up with the adjustment.

 

kainalu how much for the asseblys? i was planning on getting new rotors anyways.