OK I'm back with another question.I took the advice from here and got a complete set of tokico hps for my 83 rx7.I was going to wait a bit before upgradign my bushings,but the guy who was helping me suggested to get the bushings now and do it all at once.I have checked the RE speed shop and they have a completer kit for 165.http://www.mrcmfg.com/respeed/catal...980f20de7abf01c

Is this the way to go or is it a bit overkill?I don't plan on racign my car yet,mostly street racign or just bombign around.is this a bit overboard?I just want to stiffen the ride and improve handling a bit.

The other one I was looking at is http://www.mazdatrix.com/h6_79-85.htm the watts linkage bushing kit item H-117102,I like the price $40 but I don't want to cheap out.

Thanks again.

 

If you are going to do the bushings... you might as well do all the steering components since you're going to have it all off and it can be a pain to take the tie rods off. I had to go get a special pitman puller since my gear puller just couldn't get a good angle on it. The only way to put the bushing in on the suspension arm is to pull that stuff anyways. You're going to need a 27mm wrench for the tension rods also and at least where I am that wrench / socket isn't exactly standard but I'm sure you can find it if you really try

I would wait on the bushings until you are ready to do the whole job. Taking the struts / springs off is fairly easy compared to doing the bushings imo. I had both sides off in less than 1 hour but took me the rest of the day to deal with my suspension bushings and that was just the front... and that was just getting it off.

 

Decide if you are going to want to replace the springs too. Now is the time to do it, since you have to tear the struts down anyway. The rears are simple, so you could do those anytime you feel like it.

In the rear end, there are some places where you do not want poly bushings. Check with respeed, or with Billy here on the forum, and they will steer you in the right direction with this (pardon the pun).

 

Well,I can't afford to do all of it at once,just the struts,and bushings for now.I know the struts are shot,[the shop told me plus a friend who is a part time mechanic said so too]the shop didn't say if my sprigns were bad ,they are probly worn but not shot,so they will have to wait.

I just want to tighten the supsention little and improve handling a bit,the first step[and cheaper]appears to be, replace the struts and bushings.so would the 40 dollar kit have all the parts needed to do a basic bushing replacment,or would I need to get teh $160 kit?I don't want to go overboard,I don't plan on auto crossing with it,at least for a not for awhile.

Thanks.

 

The $160 kit is a polyeurathane kit... stiffer, longer lasting, feels more like a race car etc. The regular rubber kit is what comes with the car and is fine for giving the car its original nature. You will have to disengage the tie rods but honestly that isn't all that bad so this isn't a bad route to go. My steering was so bad I decided just to do that first and my struts / shocks and springs later.

 

Oh... other reason I decided to do steering too was I have odd tire wear and alignment shop will laugh at me if I bring it in with all worn components

 

My suggestion would be to at least do the front urethane bushings while you are doing the front shocks. Front control arm bushings, stay rod bushings, sway bar bushings and sway bar end links. You should take the money left over and replace your tie rods and idler arm bushings. This will take car of the front and you can do the rear in a step 2 project. I would suggest using the urethane replacements rather than stock replacements.

PM me if you are interested and I will work up a front only kit price for you.

-billy