What is the easiest route to do this? Seems like parts for these are becoming impossible to find. I just bought another project to start and I'm having issues sourcing parts.

I have what I assume is the factory springs and shocks up front. I have new OEM aftermarket shocks sitting in storage I had planned on using, but wanted to address the springs. Looking at spring options now. I assume the reason the front of my car sits so low now is the original springs are sagging and tired (160k miles... that I know of).

I can get new OEM springs for $150. Has anyone found another spring that fits this application instead of trying to source OEM parts? I was leaning towards a factory style spring because every time I've put a coil over or aftermarket spring on a car it made the ride quality crap for "around town" driving. I'm looking for the smoothest ride possible and I'd like to raise the front end about 1.5-2" from where it sits now. Is the only real option a coil over? Are there any with a reasonable spring rate similar to the factory?

I had also seen that some used a spacer under the factory strut mount to gain 1/2" or so. Does anyone make these plates?

thanks!

 

How much do you want to raise the front? The OEM spacers are simple if you only want to go about 1/2". They are available from at least Mazdatrix, but easy to make once you have the pattern. To go more than about 1/2" you need to replace the studs on the strut top mount with longer bolts. I did that on my Spec7 a long time ago, before I switched to camber plates.

Carl

 

Shooting for another 2". Just figured the spacer would be easy and I wouldn't give up any shock travel for it. I did order 1/2" spacers.

Def. need more to clear the wheels and tires on it. Is the cheapo 2" coil over sleeve likely the best route for this these days? I don't need/want "race suspension". This is a straight line drag/cruiser. So getting the front end to raise kinda quick with full travel is a a bonus. Or would you suggest just drilling out the studs and running some long grade 8 bolts for the total 2.5" and leaving the factory spring?

thank you!

 

2.5" of lift is a lot for spacers on top. I would be a bit hesitant. At the same time, it is hard to imagine that stock springs have sagged 2.5". I am guessing they were cut. I could be wrong, but.....

I would imagine that you could pretty easily find some cheap stock springs from someone here, or facebook.

Csrl

 

Appreciate the input.

I left out a lot of details. Didn’t want the purists to get riled up.

Its a 25” tall tire on a 15” rim. Factory tire was 23” I believe? Want factory height or slightly more for oil pan clearance.

Has a 13:1 alum 5.3 v8 in it with ITB’s. I had read a fully dressed OEM 12A is around 400lbs. This engine is stripped down to 408lbs in its current form. So shouldn’t be too horrible nose weight wise. But the weight is likely farther FWD so may have more weight on the springs. Will have corner weights soon to see how bad it is.

 

Sick car dude

 

Thanks. Here she is with a bath and all her clothes on.

 

I would have sexy time with it. the throttle bodies at least.

 

Easiest rout would be these R&B springs I cut 1/2 " on pedastals that it into the factory struts... I have

rubbers that go under em before I went coil over. Have the rear r& b springs as well, as I went with ground control and ebachis

 

Thanks. I went with the Speedway 120# 2.5" springs and their coil over kit. Worked out well, and was dirt cheap compared to the mazda specific parts.

Front end feels a ton better. Sat a tiny bit high originally, but it has settled a little since. May cut a half inch off the spring this winter in the down season to get it just right.

 

OEM springs are a solid choice for keeping that smooth ride. Spring spacers can give you a bit of lift, but watch the suspension geometry.

 

Revisiting this after putting some miles on these cheapie 2.5" 12" 120# dirt racing springs from speedway. They suck!

Looking to replace them with something much less stiff. Feels like I'm riding a shopping cart. I'm stuck with 2.5" 12" coils at this point. Would you just go down in poundage? Try say a 100# spring?

I see some dual rate 100/200 units from Q1 that look appealing.




Also see some smaller diameter springs listed as "high travel" units. I'd guess these would compress more and be softer.

Any ideas? I don't care about road racing at all. Just want these to be as smooth as possible and they are horrible.

Thanks.

 

I have a couple sets of 12" tall, 2.5" Hypercoils you could have. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound as if they will help much. They were for a Fox body Mustang project from many years ago. One set is 275# and the other is unidentified as the part # is not showing. They are both likely heavier than you would want. Personally, I would say stick to the single rate springs. A light long travel spring and drag shocks would be the ticket for what you are wanting to do. Experimenting with different weights and lengths will likely be in your future.

 

Appreciate the offer, but I think that'll be rougher than what I have.

Any reason you suggest staying away from the variable rate? I didn't read this until now and they had a "Scratch and dent" sale on those "100/200" springs above for $50 each. So I pulled the trigger. Not out a fortune if they don't work, but I thought most modern springs were variable rate?

I loved how my OEM FB drove. The corner weights are actually really similar with the alum block 5.3, CD009, and no accessories. The rear is a grannies speed 8.8 solid axle conversion with solid heim joints and no bushings. So thats bound to be a bit rougher as well. This cars not a race car by any means. I'd love mushy smooth OEM like handling and suspension. Not sure how to accomplish that at this point. Really takes away from the fun of the car with the crap roads in my town. I can feel my blood pressure rise a few points every time I hit a jarring bump, lol.

 

Stock rubber bushed lower control arms will fit your Granny's 8.8!

The front struts on my sbc powered FB have been fitted with stock 101lb/in FB rear springs. Upper seats are steel adjustable 5" seats from Speedway, fab'd my own lower seats to fit the stock strut...



Lots of adjustment left on those sleeves if I wanted to raise it another 2".

I have also installed 2" long spacers on the upper strut mount, basically 2" long sections of 1" dia aluminum rod that was drilled/tapped on both ends to screw onto and extend the stock strut mount bolts. Flange head bolts were then used to bolt the extensions to the body...



A while back I put a couple Nexen SB802 front skinnies on my FB, they were a little over 25" tall. I had to cut some sheet metal to get them to clear with the wheels turned at the ride height I wanted. Everything was great about how they road/drove and how they stopped but in the end I just didn't like how they looked on my car, too tall...



Ended up swapping to Firestone 135r15 at 23.5" tall, couldn't be happier. Was able to remove the upper bolt extensions and replace them with 1/2" thick spacers made from Delrin...



Anybody wants a couple low mile SB802's for free, I'm in NW WA

Grant

 

Thanks for the detailed response!

Happen to know where one might go about sourcing lower FB control arms or the equivalent? Or am I stuck cruising used classifieds for 40 year old OEM parts? Hoping to find something like this...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224493351766


I used similar upper adjustable mounts from speedway on mine, though I went with the 2.5" versions Can't figure out why the car rides so damn stiff with a 120 lbs spring in the first place. I can push down on the strut tower and bounce the care relatively easily similar to factory. With GB factory replacement shocks. Did you end up using 12" springs? 10" maybe?

maybe I have these preloaded too much to get a 12" in there. Don't recall it being overly compressed but def had to use the spring compressors.

 

Mainly because the front end seems to settle a little more consistently after launch on the 1/4 mile. Not a big deal though. At $50 those are definitely worth a try. Yes, fitting modern rubber under the 1st gen is a PITA. Most modern performance tires are close to or larger than 25". To me tires that size look slightly odd in the stock wheel wells. The original was designed for tires that were 23.2". If you are going for extreme handling, like I am, you have no other real options when you require wide sticky rubber though. It figures, I stored my stock rear control arms for years and finally tossed them a while back, because nobody wanted them.

 

Have a couple others I drag race so not worried about the launch. Was thinking of more road friendly wheel/tire setup on this one as well. The skinnies and drag radials came with the black car when I picked it up as a roller.

Just want a hot rod I can easily jump in/out of that drives like a stocker to cruise to work and events around town.

I really liked how the FC 16" spares on my SA. Fit well around the TII brakes as well. Wanna say 135/70-16

 

I put oem FB rear springs on my front struts, free length is about 12-3/4". I was also fortunate in that my original rebuildable struts were still original, had not been converted to cartridge. When cartridges you lose some travel, which might make the spring harder to install.

Grant