Anyone run the T3 or racing beat adjustable lower control arms with the stock springs or RB springs? My ball joints and all rubber in the suspension is original, and totally shot. I'm considering installing the T3 lower control arms to get some extra camber, especially since the price is so reasonable. I live up in the mountains and will be using the RX-7 for canyon carving. However, I'm not looking to go all in with coilovers. At most I'd update the springs to RB and some nice struts.

I searched, but all I could find was people using the T3 arms with coilovers. Any feedback is welcome!

 

I do, it works quite well, it is nice to be able to give more camber, the car behaves much better in canyon runs.

I shot both ball joints pretty quickly, I do not know why.
T3 has sent me for free new ones to press in, it is not an easy operation, but when you have an issue they have a good support and will not let you down.

Now I am back on the road, I hope for a long time.

 

Awesome, thanks for your reply. You are running stock springs and dampers?

 

its probably unusual to do the fancy arm and have a stock spring and damper, but it will work just fine

 

I guess I'd be replacing all of the bushings up front first personally, whether staying with OEM rubber bushings or swapping for polyurethane bushings. I'm sure these would work for you on stock suspension; but, as already mentioned, it would be unusual to do something like this first before replacing more front end parts. To each their own though!

 

I agree with him ^^^. You might save yourself some $$$ if you just invest in the Suspension Techniques poly bushing set and then pick and choose what you want and where you want it. Doing so will restore the driveability of the car, and you'd need to replace those bushings for the upgraded suspension parts to work correctly, anyway.

Personally, I found that I prefer the poly front radius arm bushings, OEM rubber steering ball joints, OEM rubber LCA joints (upright and pivot bushing), and a MOOG greasable Idler Arm assembly. This tightens up the front of the car and with near zero toe-in also gives good traction without sacrificing tire wear on the street. If you're going for crazy camber, recognize that you're giving up a lot for cornering performance and your tires will be worn excessively and in short order. Couple that with soft tires, and you may want to reconsider unless you spend a lot of time on the track. Then there's the noise component of Heim-jointed suspension arms...

You could probably replace what you need for about $300, and that's still a fraction of what you're talking about spending on all the go-fast parts.

 

I think T3 is a good long term investment in hardware. The LCA's and tension rods will run you $660 but you get two brand new assemblies with very nice grease-able ball joints that are replaceable down the road.

But I agree with bang for buck like LongDuck says. All of those components will go much further than just new LCA's (and tension rods). But will also require removal and reconditioning of all your OEM parts, a press, and I believe also new ball joints for OEM LCA's mean tack welding them in place.

Best to do it all when you're in there! Rock auto has a lot of the good quality MOOG steering components.

 

This is my main reason for looking at something like the T3 solution. By the time I remove the LCA, pop out the old bushings, remove the ball joints and weld in new ones ... I could have saved a lot of time by just popping in a brand new LCA assembly that's ready to go. Especially when looking at something like the GTX2 assembly with tension arms included.

To address other people's comments, I'll obviously be replacing/upgrading all of the steering links and bushings as well. The roads I live on have a lot of banking and destroy the outer shoulder of the tires on my daily driver. So added camber actually improves cornering grip and tire wear on the roads near my house...I just want to be able to play around with it. Down the road I will likely look at upgrading the springs/dampers as well, but i'm reluctant to throw $1000 at the car without a lot of seat time yet....Of course all of this assumes I get the carburetor put back together, but that's another story haha.

 

I forgot to mention, all the bushings have been replaced with PU, all the steering stuffs that could wear have been replaced, and I am on Racing Beat springs with Tokico shock absorbers, so yes, not completely stock with those T3 control arms, but no major mods either.