yeah the kit from re-speed is really nice

 

Some rear adjustable link bars would help center your rear axle in the car...at least a set of upper adjustable arms...

Just my 2 cents-If my axle sits like that once I set my car on the ground, that's the first thing I'll fab up for my rear suspension...

 

Let me say this, when you are over 50 getting in and out of those lowered 7s is a bitch.

They were built pretty low in the first place, do you really want to get any better than this?



This is what you want a 7 too look like, the way the Mazda engineers planned:

 

Emailed Racing Beat. They have no intention of re-introducing the "Front End Lowering Kit"....as there is not enough demand. I bet if enough people asked, they would make a run.

If you don't remember this kit, it raised the shock towers/upper mounting points and included bump spacers at the bottom. It lowered the front of a stock car 1.4" with NO LOSS IN TRAVEL! We need this kit again. That's nearly 3" lowering in front using uncut aftermarket lowering springs. It was some work to install, but it was well worth it.

 

i remember that kit fondly. i didn't know it was NLA, but sadly, i'm not surprised.

we are a rare breed. in this day of orange Vin Diesel FD's, it's another nail in our coffin. the SA/FB's are now in the realm of people that MUST know what they are doing (and quitters), not the aftermarket and we are the minority. RB will never see the demand again to make their kit from back in the day because specialty shops like RE Speed, Ground Control, ISC Racing, etc. are doing what us dinosaurs want.

 

hey i live in reno too if you want u can have my old stock springs. so you can try again and just cut off a little less.

 

damn dude, that **** is slammed. you dont have any problems with the tires rubbing on the fender when you turn?

 

If you are just after looks you are on the right track with some of these suggestions. If you actually expect your suspension to "work" there is nothing you can do short of moving chassis pick up points to make the suspension work at that ride height.

Your roll centers are way down in the front and way up in the back at this point. You have no bump travel left and the bouncing is probably from riding on the bump stops and from the shocks not being able to control the high spring rate you've created. Cutting springs is no problem if you do the math and know what you are ending up with. Front strut spacers(bottom) will help a lot to raise the front roll center and a panhard bar will help to lower the rear one.

Your pinion angle is off as well when you get that low, that can cause driveshaft problems down the road.

And don't put delrin anywhere on an FB. In the front you can get away with very narrow pieces on the inside but even that spot has to articulate in more than one axis. In the rear you can't use it anywhere. Everything has to move in more than one axis. If you put delrin into any of the rear arms they effectively become a sway bar because they will twist when the car leans.

So over all for looks, I like it. But I can run circles around it in the turns with a worn out stock FB at the stock ride height.

 

RCA's really need to be used with raised upper mounts as well to keep the travel the same or nearly the same as stock. Just using RCA's doesn't do much.

That why that old RB kit included bump steer spacers.

 

RCA ? roll center adjuster?

 

+ for re-speed front coil over kit and rear adjustable spring perches. i thought my car was lowed but dammmmmmmmmm. my front tires are not tucked up like yours at all and i cant get a jack under the cross member. which reminds me i need to dig a hole in my drive way to jack the car back up and raise the front end.

 

I woulda done the same thing lol like it lowered

 

No the tires don't rub. I'm going to be getting a full setup from G-Force Engineering once i get some green.

 

Yup. The spacer blocks. Put them on my coil-overed Rx2...there's a little difference, but not much. You really need to raise the top of the strut insert to get more travel.

 

The RCA blocks have nothing to do with travel. They simply put the roll center back where it was before the car was lowered.

The top mounts always seemed like an extreme way to fix the loss of travel to me. We always accomplished the same thing by modifying the strut housing for a shorter shock insert.

RB has no desire to bring them back so it seems they have not had demand for them. I have not seem enough demand on our end either.

-billy

 

So you're using, say a 2-inch shorter insert, cutting the housing (above ore below the spring adjustment?) to drop the car and using the RCA's to improve the angle of the arms?

 

I started out with the RB springs, and yes they raised my car. Not a bad spring, but not what I was looking for. So I moved up to the Respeed coilovers and love them. I also added the adjustable rear perches, which are great.

I looked at the Ground Control coilovers, but went with the Respeed model instead because I felt (and still do) that they are a better design.

What I've learned over the years is, do it once and do it right. Doing anything half assed just means that you will have to address the problem again sometime down the road.

 

Kentetsu
iam in the same boat as you. why do some thing half way, then remove it and replace it with what you really needed costing you more in the long run.

i also have the adjustable rear perches, the street coil over kit with new shocks/struts,all new bushings and respeed front sway bar. my car is not on the road yet. still waiting on my break lines to show up from billy.
any way's i moved the car out of the tent to clean up a bit.useing my e break as my break lol. my driveway is all p-stone and pretty rough but just pulling it forward the 30ft and remembering how rough my car was on the stock springs vs how nice it felt now is making me drool waiting to get the car back on the road.
i thought my car road nice befor, but just moving it that short amount made me realize how much my car should of been. now i just need to talk billy into making a rear sway bar.

 

how many coils did you cut off? i'm thinkin about dropping a half a coil or so for a lower stance.

 

I cut alot off. If i remember correctly i cut two coils off the front. And...2 coils off the back.

O_O Now i am wary to cut my bump stops...my chassis is riding on them. !!!

So i am afraid that cutting out the bumpstop about 2 inches will only just lower the rear end another 2 inches instead of giving me a little travel. What od you guys think? I have no idea what my spring rate is on the back but i know it's the stock shocks, and they are horribly matched with these high spring rates...SO BOUNCY.

Although i did slightly fix the problem by filling my large tires up to 42 PSI. So as to limit the tire dampening force.

Now with the back sitting on the rear axle....i have obtained Posi-traction. The wieght is equal across the axle...so i can drift. LOL


Yes i know...drifitng outside a sanctioned area in a fixed event is stupid but it's nonetheless pretty fun. =P

 

i plan on choppin my springs a bit when i get new shocks, just to add a little rate and lower it a tad. if you cut 2 coils i will probably just cut one half.

 

Sounds like a plan. Goodluck.

The top of the spring is only for placement so take that into account.

 

i was planning to trim my springs to i was told to fill the tank up put some weight inside the car around center to imitate my weight.

then messure how much drop i want and mark it on the springs while there under weight for more accurate marking

 

You guys are heading down a path of doom the way you are going. If you are on the bump stops at rest your suspension isn't needed because it isn't doing anything for you. The shocks can't control the bounce of riding on the stops and tires have a spring rate of around 1600lbs/in +or -

Measure your stock springs, do some math, cut them the right way. You don't lose ride height in a linear way when you cut springs. As you remove coils the spring gets stiffer so the first coil gives you a certain amount of drop, but the second one gives you less. You have a lot less free height when the spring out of the car but the spring will compress less and less as you cut more off.

If you guys don't care how the car performs that's fine, I won't waste my time. If you want to know the right way to figure out how much to cut I can help. As these cars sit they won't handle for **** and they will do strange things at the worst times in a corner. Think of the worst handling unmodified car you can, these ride heights make yours worse.

 

jgrewe, I couldn't have said it better myself. Very well put...and some good info to boot.