suspension upgrade/paint job
10-06-07, 03:49 PM
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suspension upgrade/paint job
Ok so this is not another guide or walk-through of my suspension project, just a few pics of what i did different. I didn't take a lot of pictures, especially at the beginning of the project, i was more interested in getting the project done than taking pics of it, since i only had limited weekend time to work on it, and i was getting tired for driving my grandfathers 199X Ford Escort POS. Plus i was using my sisters camara, and she was using it during the first weekend when the disassembly/cleaning/painting took place.
Basically, pulled out the struts, hubs, and control arms. I replaced the whole strut assembly with new parts, put in all new bushings, and while i had the control arms out, i had them sand blasted and painted. I think dirty rusty parts just look crappy and i know after sandblasting, some parts (like the rear control arm) have a protective layer of paint or whatever and can get really dirty and rusty again. After sandblasting i painted them with black enamel to prevent rust and just make them look good. Once they were painted i was very plaesed with how they turned out. I apologize again for not having any dirty before shots, or cleaned up shots, i instead only have the done shots. First of all, here's what was bought:
Racing Beat Springs and Stabalizer bars;
Tociko struts;
Energy Suspension Hyper-Flex kit;
DTSS eliminator bushings;
New rear bearings
And this is the main reason i did the upgrade:
The right rear strut was blown. Not only did the shaft go down and stay down, but it went down easily as if there was only air inside :/ After pulling the front struts apart, i found the left front was also blown. Driving even a little spirited became a scary experience.
Here is a fully assembled front and rear strut, arent they purty?
The biggest pain about these were finding new upper rubber seats. The old ones were trashed and i ended up looking thro Mazdatrix's catalog to find them since they arent on their site. The part number's (if your curious) are 28-0400-FB01 for the rear spring mounts and 34-0120-FB01 for the front rubber spring seat. The metal mounts/seats were reused, since they were in good shape, but I replaced the strut tops for the fronts and got all new bumpstops/dust covers. The old ones were ok but i dont want them falling apart in a few years because they were the only things i didn't replace.
here are a some pics of the front pieces painted/assembled:
and some of the rear:
sorry about the last two, i couldn't really get rid of the glare and i was more interested in just getting it done. After that day was done i had to give the camara back so i dont have any shots with the brakes or wheels on, but we've all seen pics of rusty rotors and calipers anyways.
I was warned by a friend of mine(who also has an rx7) that i shouldn't bother replacing the bushings because they were a PITA to remove. Most werent that hard at all, i was able to remove all of them without too much trouble using various pullers, a vise, and my friends 12-ton hydraulic press. The stabalizer bar endlinks were the parts that needed to be scraped a bit to get all the old rubber out. The new bushings, once greased went in with no problems at all, i pressed them all in by hand. Although, the rear control arm bushings did give me some trouble; after i pushed out the old bushings i tried to squeeze in the new ones but found that they were about 2-3 mm to large. I couldn't squeeze them in by hand and i didn't feel comfortable forcing them in by clamping or pressing. They were one of the last bushings i did and i had no problems with any of the others. After some forum searching and closer inspection i figured out the old rubber bushings had a metal sleeve around them, shown here:
This is how they are sort of oriented after they would come out (new bushings are already installed, showing this was thought of right before the arm went in):
I was very relieved when each sleeve came out with only a few taps with a hammer and screw driver, since the parts were a littel rust-covered.
Everything went back together smoothly with Locktite where it was needed. I would have done the brakes at the same time, since the rotors are almost out of spec, but money and time were tight, so that will be the next project. Once it was all asembled and re-checked, it was taken to an alignment shop and re-aligned with Yokohama Advan ES100 205/55R15's on the stock rims. So far it feels like a different car altogether. It's a slightly bumpier ride but i dont mind, i like to feel the road as im driving. In a few weeks ill be crawling back under to make sure all the bolts are still torqued down and nothing is falling off :P I will also be getting into the alignment shop again soon to make sure everything is still ok and aligned.
Basically, pulled out the struts, hubs, and control arms. I replaced the whole strut assembly with new parts, put in all new bushings, and while i had the control arms out, i had them sand blasted and painted. I think dirty rusty parts just look crappy and i know after sandblasting, some parts (like the rear control arm) have a protective layer of paint or whatever and can get really dirty and rusty again. After sandblasting i painted them with black enamel to prevent rust and just make them look good. Once they were painted i was very plaesed with how they turned out. I apologize again for not having any dirty before shots, or cleaned up shots, i instead only have the done shots. First of all, here's what was bought:
Racing Beat Springs and Stabalizer bars;
Tociko struts;
Energy Suspension Hyper-Flex kit;
DTSS eliminator bushings;
New rear bearings
And this is the main reason i did the upgrade:
The right rear strut was blown. Not only did the shaft go down and stay down, but it went down easily as if there was only air inside :/ After pulling the front struts apart, i found the left front was also blown. Driving even a little spirited became a scary experience.
Here is a fully assembled front and rear strut, arent they purty?
The biggest pain about these were finding new upper rubber seats. The old ones were trashed and i ended up looking thro Mazdatrix's catalog to find them since they arent on their site. The part number's (if your curious) are 28-0400-FB01 for the rear spring mounts and 34-0120-FB01 for the front rubber spring seat. The metal mounts/seats were reused, since they were in good shape, but I replaced the strut tops for the fronts and got all new bumpstops/dust covers. The old ones were ok but i dont want them falling apart in a few years because they were the only things i didn't replace.
here are a some pics of the front pieces painted/assembled:
and some of the rear:
sorry about the last two, i couldn't really get rid of the glare and i was more interested in just getting it done. After that day was done i had to give the camara back so i dont have any shots with the brakes or wheels on, but we've all seen pics of rusty rotors and calipers anyways.
I was warned by a friend of mine(who also has an rx7) that i shouldn't bother replacing the bushings because they were a PITA to remove. Most werent that hard at all, i was able to remove all of them without too much trouble using various pullers, a vise, and my friends 12-ton hydraulic press. The stabalizer bar endlinks were the parts that needed to be scraped a bit to get all the old rubber out. The new bushings, once greased went in with no problems at all, i pressed them all in by hand. Although, the rear control arm bushings did give me some trouble; after i pushed out the old bushings i tried to squeeze in the new ones but found that they were about 2-3 mm to large. I couldn't squeeze them in by hand and i didn't feel comfortable forcing them in by clamping or pressing. They were one of the last bushings i did and i had no problems with any of the others. After some forum searching and closer inspection i figured out the old rubber bushings had a metal sleeve around them, shown here:
This is how they are sort of oriented after they would come out (new bushings are already installed, showing this was thought of right before the arm went in):
I was very relieved when each sleeve came out with only a few taps with a hammer and screw driver, since the parts were a littel rust-covered.
Everything went back together smoothly with Locktite where it was needed. I would have done the brakes at the same time, since the rotors are almost out of spec, but money and time were tight, so that will be the next project. Once it was all asembled and re-checked, it was taken to an alignment shop and re-aligned with Yokohama Advan ES100 205/55R15's on the stock rims. So far it feels like a different car altogether. It's a slightly bumpier ride but i dont mind, i like to feel the road as im driving. In a few weeks ill be crawling back under to make sure all the bolts are still torqued down and nothing is falling off :P I will also be getting into the alignment shop again soon to make sure everything is still ok and aligned.
10-07-07, 02:46 AM
#4
Coolant everywhere!
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when i do my brake job yes i will be painting the calipers. you can see in a couple of the pics my front calipers are already painted red. i may repaint them a different color, im not sure yet.
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