wolfswest

Hi Guys,

My car's left side rear end was much lower then the passenger side, more then one inch... (4 cm's, so that's about 1,5") I thought it was a tired spring so full of excitement I started to upgrade the suspension. I've installed koni shocks and new lowering springs... just to find out the car has the same problem!

I've checked everything again, tires are okay, springs are seated like they should. Then I've started to search here and it seems it's a typical problem...

Now, what should I do? I want to upgrade all the bushings with polyurethan bushings in the future so will that solve something?

I like the height of the lower side, so installing some mazdatrix shims wouldn't be my first thought... Are these still on their site? I've checked but only found the ones for the front.

Or should I just go plain dirty and just cut a dead coil of the passenger side's spring?

Or should I bring it level with the shims and cut both springs? that's probably the best way I guess.

Stories like loosen all the bolts en retighten them seems romantic but will it change something? Have anybody solved the problem with this procedure? I mean it's not a fun job, every bolt is tight as f**k.

hope to have some input from you guys,

Dem

Arcolithe

I will let you know once I change out my rear diff. and replace a few with polyurethane bushing while I'm at it.

But I did buy the complete bushing set for about $120, and plan to change all of them when I have the time.

dougingraham

My left front was low to the point that the stock tire would touch the fender if the wheel was turned a little and you hit a tiny bump. In this case the left front spring had lost about an inch and replacing it made a huge difference. The left rear was also a little low so when I replaced the shocks I figured that spring was probably low also. The springs looked the same when out of the car and just to be sure I swapped them from left to right. While doing all this the manual is clear that when tightening the links they should be done with the weight of the vehicle on them. The rubber bushings do act as soft springs and I can see that they could affect the level of the vehicle. Mine sits a lot better after swapping the springs and re-tightening the control links correctly. It could be that the rubber bushings are shot on the one side. The ones on this particular car don't look too bad. Of course it is always possible the chassis is tweaked a little and no amount of screwing around with springs and bushings will correct it.

Good luck.

peejay

You must have an FB. FBs were welded together crooked, so they all look like that. Putting everything on the left side of the car (battery, steering, engine, fuel tank) only makes this worse. Fix the weight distribution and they still lean left. You have to actually jack the left side up to make it look "normal" but then the car functionally is leaning right.

sa7

iTrader: (13)

It can't be just he fb's that are like that, cause my 79 sa is the same. It's a lot more noticeable on the rear though. The right front is a little higher than the left but not too bad. The right rear is quite a bit higher than the left though. Not an inch and a half difference but still visually noticeable.

snivley whiplash

iTrader: (4)

my fb does not have this problem, but i have changed all the suspension to se components, added springs and shocks, and it has no rust and has never been crashed.

wolfswest

Yeah, maybe my driveway isn't 100% flat but it's safe to say it's an inch lower on the left, but it's a bit more. Absolutely visible from the rear AND the HUGE wheel gap on the right...

Everybody who enters the drive way starts with saying, hey, what's up with the suspension? So I need to fix it or reduce it to a minimum.

would cutting a dead coil be a solution?

And, what's a dead coil? the coils on top of the spring or the ones on the bottom?

dougingraham

The car was designed as a right hand drive vehicle. I bet those have fewer problems. My gsl-se was the bad one. It sits pretty level now with the new spring in the left front and after replacing shocks and swapping springs in the rear. But that car was in an accident before I got it and that is part of what caused the left front to be low. To get it level I put in two of the Mazda spacers on the left front strut tower.

If it is just the rear swap the springs in the rear left to right and right to left. It is an easy thing to do. While it is apart you can change out the shocks if they need it and unless you changed them just a few years ago they need it. That should give you some more years of life from them. The front is different. At least the springs have different part numbers.

wolfswest

the rear left was sagging with the old spring setup, and with the new LOWERED springs it's just the same, it didn't even drop! in fact, the difference between left and right is even more visible with the new springs, because the springs aren't tired yet. Changing springs from left to right will do nothing IMHO.

MosesX605

Have you tried loosening and re-tightening the rear suspension bolts? You mentioned it above but I don't know if you've tried it yet.

Rather than cut the springs, maybe you should look at a threaded spring perch like this one:

http://www.summitracing.com/int/part...6119/overview/

That should work with stock-sized springs and give you height adjustability. It's relatively close to the part that Re-Speed used to sell before they turned bad.

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

Mazdatrix sells the shim to even out the car. The shim is installed on top of the strut tower.

http://www.mazdatrix.com/getprice.as...m=34-0130-1011

wolfswest

No, I haven't tried to loosen and re-tighten all the bolts in the rear suspension, that's my next move. I started today but the bolts are pretty stuck, can't get them loose, I'm gonna use an air gun from a friend this week.

wolfswest

I've loosened all bolts this afternoon but it's still the same... The 4 link system isn't even connected to the axle anymore (only with one link, 3 are loose) nothing changed. I really had it...

It looks like the left under link is a little bit bent, I can't confirm this 100% but I think so. Could this be the reason? I can't get this last link loose or else I could rule that out.

input?

thx,

Dem

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

you may want to look at the front too, as raising one corner of the front will lower the other side rear...

mine has coil overs on the front, and it sits completely level. well without weight in it, its slightly higher on the left, but it should even out with a driver

rwatson5651

iTrader: (5)

I had this problem and tried the shims, cutting my stock springs, RB lowering springs, Eibac springs, I tried it all, I even took the car to a frame shop and paid to have them check it 'cause it had been wrecked. They said everything was perfect, I did manage to change the problem by switching, cutting springs etc. Sometimes it was worse, sometimes better and sometimes it moved from one corner to the other, it drove me nuts.

Like J9fds, my problem disappeared when I went to coil overs.

If I were in the situation the op is in I would buy the rear adjustable spring mounts. This will allow to tweak the ride height of all four corners and it is way easier than removing the front struts to install spacers.

rk970

iTrader: (1)

Disconnect one end of the sway bars and see if that helps.
rk

wolfswest

the sway bar is completely disconnected, so that's not the problem.

wolfswest

OMG, my final solution would have been to cut one spring... so even that didn't fix it for you? With coilovers you mean coil overs for the back? Who supplies them?

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

Nope. We've tried that in the past. The issue was solved with a shim that i mentioned above

MosesX605

No one supplies rear threaded adjusters specifically for RX-7's, but the product I linked to above should work (although I haven't tried it yet)

http://www.summitracing.com/int/part...6119/overview/

To adjust, you unload the suspension and turn the nut, just like a coilover. The weight of the car prevents the nut from turning once it's loaded up.

wolfswest

As far as I can see that's a shim for the front, or I'm a wrong? the front is 100% level...

Or can I use that shim also for the rear?

wolfswest

Yeah, I need to check that out, sounds interesting...

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

Go to mazdatrix website http://www.mazdatrix.com/h3.htm.