I have read that you can get them through mazdaspeed. But if they are just for an MR2 couldn't you land a pair anywhere? Also no one mentioned what generation of MR.2 they used.

Danke.

note: On the mazdacomp comp. parts list they have a #BZ1086 listed for a tokico, respeed has this listed as well. These don't happen to be the MR2 tokicos?

 

I'm not totally getting the ? You can get tokico shocks off of www.racingbeat.com or www.mazdatrix.com.

 

From what I've heard there are Tokico Illuminas you can run made for MR2s. These are supposedly stiffer than the Illuminas made for 1st gens. I want them and the question was, how do I land them?

I searched and found a thread that just mentioned it idley at the end, saying that mazdacomp sells them. I went to the mazdacomp parts list, and they have an 'up-rated' Tokico that it says works for springs > 300.

This part number is the one listed above. Respeed also has this part number listed, so I was wondering if it was perhaps the MR2 shock. This way I buy from Respeed and don't have to hassle with Mazda.

Better?

 

Oh, ok. Well are you going to be drag racing, autocross, street dd(dailydriver), etc. If it hasn't been covered before than I wouldn't give it a shot. I don't know how to help you. I would just go with the tokico illuminas, blues and RB springs for a dd If you want good tough suspension through mazdatrix or RB

 

Perfectly ok my man.

I want to track it and auto-x. I won't be driven on the street other than for fun on occasion. I'd rather it be a overly harsh ride than end up too soft. I was considering bilstens but apparently to use them the strut has to be modded, and it seemed that these MR2 shocks fit as long as camber plates were used. So I figured it might be the better route.

 

Ya, defintaely do what you want and try it out if you think its ok. Could turn out really good. Pm kentetsu and ask him what he's running suspension wise on his 7. He autocrosses all the time. Good luck with what you do and let us know how everything goes. God bless

 

Danke.

 

If you are building this for a dedicated track car with occasional street use, look into the GC or ISC coilovers. From what I understand, the ISC ones have the heaviest struts, but the strut housings need modded.

 

I'm using the first gen non-turbo MR2 Tokico rear strut inserts for my SE with ground control 200 pound coilovers. These seem to be a much better match for higher rate springs than the RX-7 tokicos. The inserts fit without any problem into the SE housings. You may need a small shim to fit the strut's rod to the bearing on your strut top or camber plate. Call Ground Control for the best info. They can advise you on all of this.

 

Yea I believe they are 1st gen Mr2 struts. They had 2 flavors as you mentioned. IIRC maybe the prefix was HZ for the other ones? I know there were 2 different ones. Maybe the race section might be of more help since theres more track people there and my memory sux lol.

 

I had to read this a couple of times to see if I am clear on what you are saying. So you are using the rear inserts on the front and why only 200 lb springs?

 

Also from my understanding the rod on the MR2 strut was shorter than the Rx one and allows the car to be lower with less risk of the strut bottomingout and distroying the strut. So you could run a smaller bump stop and get more suspension travel at a lower stance.

 

If you really want these, just go ahead and get them through respeed. You probably won't be able to find them cheaper anywhere else, and Billy can answer any questions you may have concerning installation and application.

On the other hand, if this is going to be pretty much a dedicated track car, then I would advise you to go ahead and look into coilovers if your budget will allow it.

The setup I'm running now performs very well, but I can see that I'll be upgrading to coilovers in the future. But that will be after many other mods are completed (camber plates, 3 link rear, etc.). Good luck with your upgrading.

 

i talked to billy about my shock options(illuminas, brand new koni reds i already have, and bilsteins). he informed me about the mr2 strut option. he told me hell be running struts on the strut dyno soon to see what he gets. maybe you should wait and see then. as im sure you know, billy is a great guy and easy to work with. i prefer to deal with him over any other source if i can.

if youre seriously wanting a mostly strictly race car with the best set up, then no questions asked you need the bilsteins and coil overs. period. that route will be the most expensive, but the best. youll need coil overs regardless. billy will be having these on the market soon as well. if the bilsteins arent an option then id go for koni reds. if theyre not an option, then id go with the mr2 shocks. if you end up wanting koni reds. let me know. i need something to make my shock decision for me. if you want mine thatll make my life easier. the bad side, i only have fronts. the good side, theyre hard to find and mine are brand new. i installed them in the strut tubes a few months ago and have only driven the car for about 1/4-1/2 mile. as far as spring rates, talk to billy.

 

To answer the question, yes they are simply front and rear inserts from an MR2.

They are "stiffer" than the tokico replacement for the Rx7. I do not have my notes in front of me so I will not say which is which but one of the MR2 inserts is very close to the same, body length, extended length and travel as the stock Rx7 replacement. The other one is slightly shorter in a few of the dimension. This would help for lowered cars by not bottoming out the shock under extreme bump condition, as Hyper4mance2k posted.

AWS is correct, during the holiday we will be running a number of shocks on the shock dyno. We have Rx7 Illuminas, MR2 front Illuminas, MR2 Rear Illuminas, Factory valved Bilstien race insert and "Special" valved Bilstiens to run. These will be back to back test on the same machine. We will be able to tell you the range of all the inserts and where they fall against each other. If someone wants to donate a set of Konis, we will run them as well.

We will also be doing this with rear shocks and rear coil over shocks to test a few things on possible rear coil over setups we are working on.

After the holidays I will post our findings. We do offer the Tokico inserts, same thing listed in mazda comp.

-billy

 

ive looked up the parts # of those illuminas. they turned out to be 85-86 rear mr2 shocks.

 

What is more important IMO is finding an insert that has a shorter body, so the strut housing can be cut and rewelded.

Bottoming will ALWAYS be a problem unless you have a shortened strut, or a relocated strut tower (RB lowering setup), or move the strut tops to the top of the towers instead of underneath, or some combination of the three.

 

Agreed. The Bilstiens we use to run were over and inch short body length. They are not sold any longer. We still feel the exercise of mapping out all the current possibilities is warranted. I believe allot of guys are using the incorrect shocks with there setups.

-billy